Long before he became a baseball legend, Jimmie Foxx was a farm boy from Sudlersville in Queen Anne’s County.

Born in 1907 to tenant farmers Dell and Mattie Foxx, Foxx grew up on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, where he developed a love of baseball and a remarkable talent for it. He was also an accomplished track and soccer athlete at Sudlersville High School, even setting Maryland state records in the 80- and 220-yard dashes.

At just 16, Foxx signed his first professional contract with the nearby Easton minor league club. His talent quickly drew attention, and in 1925, at just 17, Foxx made his Major League debut with the Philadelphia Athletics, before the end of his junior year of high school.

Over the next two decades, the young player from Sudlersville became one of baseball’s most feared hitters.

Foxx played for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, and Philadelphia Phillies, eventually compiling 2,646 hits, 534 home runs, and 1,922 RBIs over 20 Major League seasons. He won the American League MVP Award three times and captured the Triple Crown in 1933.

And then there was Babe Ruth.

In 1932, Foxx launched 58 home runs, coming just two shy of Ruth’s then-record of 60. The performance earned Foxx his first MVP award and cemented his reputation as one of the most powerful hitters of his generation. Known by the nicknames “Double X” and “The Beast,” Foxx retired in 1945 with 534 career home runs, second only to Ruth at the time.

But his baseball career was far from over.

In 1952, Foxx took over as manager of the Fort Wayne Daisies of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, leading the team to a first-place finish during his only season as manager. Baseball Hall of Fame That chapter of his career would later provide some of the inspiration for Jimmy Dugan, the manager played by Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own.

For Queen Anne’s County, Foxx’s legacy is still very much at home. Today, visitors to Sudlersville can learn more about the hometown hero at the Sudlersville Train Station Museum, which houses Jimmie Foxx memorabilia. A life-size bronze statue of Foxx also stands at the intersection of Main and Church Streets, commemorating the local boy who went from an Eastern Shore farm to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

And there’s a timely opportunity to celebrate that legacy this weekend. On Saturday, October 3, the Sudlersville Train Station Museum will host a Jimmie Foxx Celebration from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. The celebration continues on October 10 with the “Sudlersville Showdown,” a vintage baseball game at Sudlersville Park.

Foxx was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1951, but his most fitting tribute still stands in the small Queen Anne’s County town where his story began. More than a century after his birth, Sudlersville still celebrates the baseball legend who put this corner of Maryland on the national sports map.

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