In 1932, the Cardinals’ top slugger also was their most effective bunter.
Rip Collins, a first baseman and outfielder, paced the 1932 Cardinals in home runs (21) and tied with pitcher Dizzy Dean for the team lead in sacrifice bunts (eight).
Collins, 28, was in his second big-league season with the Cardinals. A switch-hitter, Collins primarily batted fourth (80 games) or fifth (42 games) in the St. Louis order in 1932.
According to author Robert E. Hood in the book “The Gashouse Gang,” Collins earned his nickname as a youth in Altoona, Pa., “when a line drive from his bat stuck on a nail in the right-field fence.”
Collins was a favorite of Cardinals manager Frankie Frisch because he had a sly, engaging personality that fit well in the Gashouse Gang clubhouse, and he knew how to handle a bat. The latter skill explains why Collins was adept at slugging as well as bunting.
In the book “The St. Louis Cardinals: The 100th Anniversary History,” author Rob Rains wrote, “One (Cardinal) who knew how to play and when to be serious, Frisch’s type of guy, was the versatile Collins.”
In “The Gashouse Gang,” Hood described Collins as “a chunky, powerful man who hit long home runs even though he choked up on the bat.”
To put Collins’ achievement in perspective, consider that the Cardinals’ career home run leader, Stan Musial, only once had as many as eight sacrifice bunts in a season (10 in 1943) during a 22-year big-league career.
The instigator behind many of teammate Pepper Martin’s legendary pranks, the baby-faced Collins could be as an innovative off the field as he was with a baseball bat in his hand.
In “The Gashouse Gang,” Hood wrote, “Rip Collins was clever. Although he had little formal education, he started out the 1934 season writing daily news stories for the East St. Louis (Ill.) Journal and the Rochester (N.Y.) Times Union. Part way through the season, he suspended his writing career when, after he struck out one day, manager Frisch shouted at him, ‘Next time, swing your typewriter.’ “
RetroSimba 
Great post…very cool site. We need to talk about the Saint Louis Baseball Historical Society. Please contact me at email address below.
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Thank you for the article. Rip Collins was my grandfather, and i have been collecting articles on him. Q: do you happen to know his jersey number during this time frame? i believe it was #12, but not sure.
Hi, Colin. Thank you for your comments and for reading my blog. According to my research, your grandfather wore No. 8 in 1932 (the first year the Cardinals used numbers on the backs of uniforms) and wore No. 12 from 1933-36 with the Cardinals. Here are links to other articles I wrote about Rip Collins:
https://retrosimba.com/2012/06/13/carlos-beltran-challenges-78-year-old-cardinals-record/
https://retrosimba.com/2012/08/08/cardinals-rode-avalanche-of-fans-to-13-doubles-in-game/
Mark
Thank you.
Colin