![\"goodman\"](\"https:\/\/baseballroundtable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/goodman.jpg\")
<\/a>Throughout most of his MLB career, Billy Goodman<\/strong><\/span> was a player without a position.\u00a0 In 1950, for example, Goodman (with the Red Sox) played 45 games in left field, 27 at third base, 21 at first base, five at second base and one at shortstop (12 as a pinch hitter). Okay, a good utility man is not that unusual.\u00a0 In 1950, however, Goodman became the first (and still only) true utility player to capture a league batting title. Goodman played in 110 games and raked at a .354 pace (150 hits, 91 runs scored, four home runs, 68 RBI \u2013 second place in the AL MVP voting).\u00a0 It didn\u2019t seem to matter where he played or where in the lineup he batted, Goodman just continued to hit. In fact, if you exclude positions on defense or in the lineup in which he played just one game, 1950 saw him hit .300 or better wherever he played and wherever he batted.<\/p>\nBilly Goodman averaged a nice, round .300 over a 16-season MLB career.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Once he began his professional career, there was little double that Goodman was going to hit for average. In 1944, as an 18-year-old \u2013 playing at High A for the Atlanta Crackers of the Southern Association, the 5\u201911\u2019, 165-pound (he wasn\u2019t going to be a power hitter) Goodman got into 137 games and hit a healthy .336 (the league batting average was .279). After a year off for military service, Goodman was back at Atlanta (now Double A) hitting .389 in 86 games.<\/p>\n Then, in 1947, he started slowly (as a part-timer with the Red Sox), before going down to Triple A Louisville, where he hit .340 in 89 games. He was back in Boston, full-time, in 1948 \u2013 where he eventually took over the first base position and hit .310 as a rookie.\u00a0 Despite his steady bat, Goodman seem to be constantly challenged for playing time (usually by hitters with more power), but thanks to his versatility, he also seemed to consistently \u201cwork\u201d his way into the lineup. One thing was for sure, with Goodman around the Red Sox had little to worry about when it came to slumps or injuries \u2013 they could just slot Goodman into the position of need and count on him to handle the glove and bat with high professional skill.<\/p>\n In his 16-season MLB career, Goodman played for the Red Sox (1947-57). Orioles (1957), White Sox (1958-61) and Astros (1962).\u00a0 He appeared in 623 games at second base, 407 at first base, 330 at third base, 69 in left field, 42 in right field, seven at shortstop and 227 times as a pinch hitter. He hit over .300 five times and over .290 eleven times (ten times in the eleven seasons in which he played at least 100 games). He was a two-time All Star. His final line was 1,623 games played, 1,691 hits (.300 average), 807 runs scored, 591 RBI, 19 home runs and 37 stolen bases.<\/p>\n<\/a>Billy Goodman set the stage for his major league utility role early in life \u2013 reportedly playing all nine positions over the course of his high school career.\u00a0 (Note: I prefer to call it his MLB versatility<\/strong> role.)<\/em> His versatility as an athlete went beyond the baseball field, as he was also top player on his high school basketball and football squads.<\/p>\n