Jim Proctor | |
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Pitcher | |
Born: Brandywine, Maryland | September 9, 1935|
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
September 14, 1959, for the Detroit Tigers | |
Last MLB appearance | |
September 26, 1959, for the Detroit Tigers | |
MLB statistics | |
Win–loss record | 0–1 |
Earned run average | 16.88 |
Strikeouts | 0 |
Teams | |
James Arthur Proctor (born September 9,1935) is an American former professional baseball player. A pitcher,he appeared in two games for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball during the 1959 season. He is one of the last major-leaguers to play in the Negro leagues,and one of the first African-Americans to appear in a Tiger uniform. [1]
Proctor was born in Brandywine,Maryland. He graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in Prince George's County and attended the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. The 6 ft (1.8 m),165 lb (75 kg) right-hander began his professional career in the Milwaukee Braves' organization in 1955,but was released after five games in the Class D Florida State League,enduring the strict racial segregation of the Jim Crow era. [2] He then signed as a free agent with Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League,where he won 16 games and lost only seven. After the season,the Clowns sold Proctor's contract to the Detroit Tigers' organization. [1]
Upon his return to "Organized Baseball" in 1956,Proctor reached double-figures in games won in three of the next four seasons. Finally,in 1959,in the Sally League,he posted a 15–5 record,led the circuit in complete games (20),finished second in earned run average (2.19), [3] and was named Pitcher of the Year. [1]
When rosters expanded to 40 men after September 1,1959,the Tigers called him to the majors. The 15th of the then-16 MLB teams to break the color line,the Tigers had been integrated by Afro-Latino Ozzie Virgil Sr. in 1958;Baseball Hall of Famer Larry Doby had become the club's first U.S.-born Black player as a 35-year-old veteran on April 10,1959,during his brief stint with the team. [4] The 24-year-old Proctor became the first African-American to graduate from the Tiger farm system. [1]
Hampered by a sore shoulder,Proctor appeared in two games over the 1959 campaign's final month. He debuted September 14 against the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium,throwing two innings of relief and allowing four hits and one earned run. [5] Then,12 days later at Detroit's Briggs Stadium,he was the starting pitcher against the league champion Chicago White Sox. He retired Chicago's first two men,including future Hall-of-Famer Nellie Fox,but then allowed the next six players to reach base on four hits and two bases on balls. He left the mound trailing 4–0 [6] and was tagged with the loss,his only decision in the majors.
Proctor returned to the minor leagues in 1960 and promptly won 15 games in the Double-A Texas League. But his career was winding down;he struggled at Triple-A in 1961,missed the 1962 season entirely,and left Organized Baseball after eight games in the Double-A Sally League in 1963. In the majors,he allowed eight hits,three bases on balls,and five earned runs in 22⁄3 innings pitched, for an ERA of 16.88. His stellar minor league record was 59–41 in 190 games pitched.
Proctor's grandson James is a Princeton University graduate who pitched in the Cincinnati Reds' organization in 2021 and 2022 before a shoulder injury ended his career. He remained in baseball in 2023 as a young executive in the office of the Commissioner of Baseball. [7]
In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine complete innings recorded no hits. A pitcher who prevents the opposing team from achieving a hit is thereby said to have "thrown a no-hitter". In most cases, no-hitters are recorded by a single pitcher who throws a complete game; one thrown by two or more pitchers is a combined no-hitter.
The following are the baseball events of the year 2002 throughout the world.
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William Frederick Hoeft was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball whose career spanned 15 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Milwaukee Braves, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants. Born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Hoeft threw and batted left-handed, stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed 180 pounds (82 kg).
Russell Charles Meyer was an American professional baseball player. A right-handed pitcher, Meyer's professional career lasted for 16 seasons, including 319 games pitched over all or part of 13 years in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies (1949–52), Brooklyn Dodgers (1953–55), Cincinnati Redlegs (1956), Boston Red Sox (1957) and Kansas City Athletics (1959). The native of Peru, Illinois, was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 175 pounds (79 kg). His hot temper earned him the nickname "Mad Monk".
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David Michael Sisler was a professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1956 through 1962. Early in his career, Sisler was a starter, then later was used as a middle reliever and occasionally as a closer. He reached the majors in 1956 with the Boston Red Sox after he completed a two-year obligation in the active military. After three-and-a-half seasons with the Red Sox, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers in 1959 and served the team through the 1960 season. Before the 1961 season, he was selected by the Washington Senators in the 1960 Major League Baseball expansion draft, for whom he played the 1961 season. He was then traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 1962, playing one season at the major league level, and one in their minor league system.
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Joe Donald Stanka was an American professional baseball player. The right-handed pitcher from Hammon, Oklahoma played for the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball (1959), and the Nankai Hawks and Taiyo Whales in the Japanese professional leagues (1960–66). He stood 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) tall and weighed 201 pounds (91 kg).
Jerry Allen Walker is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Athletics, and Cleveland Indians between 1957 and 1964. Born in Ada, Oklahoma, the right-hander was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 195 pounds (88 kg). He signed with the Orioles as a "bonus baby" out of Ada's Byng High School on June 28, 1957, and continued his education at East Central University.
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Robert Gilchrist Smith was an American professional baseball player, a left-handed pitcher who played for the Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball in all or part of four seasons spanning 1955 through 1959. Born in Woodsville, a village of Haverhill, New Hampshire, he was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 190 pounds (86 kg).
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