He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a center fielder from 1929 to 1941, including 11 seasons for the Cleveland Indians.

Born in Snohomish, Washington, Averill broke into the Major Leagues in 1929 (at the age of 27) with the Cleveland Indians.

[2] He famously hit the line drive that broke Dizzy Dean's toe in the 1937 All-Star Game.

During a July 1 incident in 1935, Averill was lighting firecrackers with his four children as part of a pre-July 4 celebration.

While he did not campaign for induction, he did make the statement that, "Had I been elected after my death, I had made arrangements that my name never be placed in the Hall of Fame.

He made news of a different sort, according to Baseball Digest, in the early 1960s when he was boarding an airplane to fly to a site for an old-timers' game, insisting on bringing his own bat in a gun case.