Anna Sebastian "Pete" Compton (September 28,1889 –February 3,1978) was an American Major League Baseball outfielder who played in parts of six seasons from 1911 to 1918 with five major league teams. In all,Compton would spend 20 years in professional baseball,including two seasons as a player-manager.
Compton was born in San Marcos,Texas. After three seasons in the minors (beginning as a 19-year-old in 1909),Compton hit .352 for Battle Creek,Michigan-based Battle Creek Crickets in the Class C Southern Michigan League before being signed to the St. Louis Browns,where he hit .271 in 28 games.
Compton spent all of 1912 in St. Louis,splitting time in left and right field and also logging 34 games as a pinch hitter. Compton batted .280 but committed nine errors in left field,fourth-worst in the AL despite spending only 49 games there. (That season,Compton also became a part of a strange quirk of the record books:one of his pinch-hit appearances was credited to a nonexistent player named "Lou Proctor",and thus Proctor was listed in the encyclopedias until the 1960s. According to legend,the real Lou Proctor was a telegraph operator who inserted his own name into the box score.) [1]
After spending the next three seasons bouncing up and down between the Browns and their top minor league team in Kansas City,Compton went across town and jumped to the St. Louis Terriers of the Federal League. After playing just two games with the Terriers (both ends of a doubleheader on July 24),an injunction forced Compton to return to Kansas City;he was then sold to the Boston Braves in August,remaining there for the rest of the 1915 season. The following year,the Braves sold Compton to the Pittsburgh Pirates in July,only to have Pete return to Boston 11 days later;he hit just .184 in the major leagues,but managed a .291 mark for Louisville. After spending the entire 1917 season in the minors,Louisville sold Compton to the New York Giants in 1918,where he hit just .217 in 21 games;this would be his final big-league stop.
Although his MLB days were done,Compton would stay in the game for another decade;he played for four Pacific Coast League clubs from 1919 to 1923,then headed south to Houston of the Texas League,where he took over as manager near the end of the 1925 season. After stops in Ft. Worth,Wichita and Denver,Compton headed in 1928 to Miami,Arizona,managing the Miami Miners of the Arizona State League to a 30–38 record and batting .310. After the season,Compton finally retired after two decades in pro ball.
Compton returned to Kansas City,where he died on February 3,1978,at the age of 88.
Donald Lee Blasingame,nicknamed "Blazer",was an American professional baseball second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1955–1959),San Francisco Giants (1960–1961),Cincinnati Reds (1961–1963),Washington Senators (1963–1966),and Kansas City Athletics (1966). Blasingame threw right-handed,batted left-handed and was listed as 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and 160 pounds (73 kg).
The following are the baseball events of the year 1982 throughout the world.
James Leroy Thomas was an American first baseman and right fielder,coach and front-office executive in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for six teams from 1961 to 1968,most notably the Los Angeles Angels,then went on to a successful tenure as general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. Traded to the Angels one month after the expansion franchise began play in 1961,he tied for third in Rookie of the Year voting after batting .285 with 24 home runs and 70 runs batted in (RBI),primarily playing in the outfield. The following year,he was named to the American League (AL) All-Star team after shifting to first base,and appeared in both All-Star games played that year as a pinch hitter and late-inning defensive replacement. He finished the year with career highs in batting (.290),home runs (26) and RBI (104),but a sharp decline in 1963 led to his being traded to the Boston Red Sox in mid-1964,the first of four trades before the 1968 season.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1969 throughout the world.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1965 throughout the world.
Charles Richard Lau was an American professional baseball player and a highly influential hitting coach. During his playing career in Major League Baseball,Lau appeared in 527 games as a catcher and pinch hitter over all or portions of 11 seasons for four clubs. Then,beginning in 1969,he spent 15 years as a coach for five American League teams,most notably the Kansas City Royals. He was the incumbent hitting coach of the Chicago White Sox when he died,aged 50,from colorectal cancer in 1984.
Herman Thomas Davis Jr. was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a left fielder and third baseman from 1959 to 1976 for ten different teams,most prominently for the Los Angeles Dodgers where he was a two-time National League batting champion and was a member of the 1963 World Series winning team.
Ralph Pierre "Pete" LaCock Jr. is an American former Major League Baseball first baseman/outfielder. He batted and threw left-handed. In 1975,LaCock hit the only grand slam of his career during the final appearance of St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1942 throughout the world.
Norman Leroy Siebern was an American professional baseball player and scout. He appeared in 1,406 games over a 12-year career in Major League Baseball as a first baseman and left fielder for the New York Yankees,Kansas City Athletics,Baltimore Orioles,California Angels,San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox between 1956 and 1968. A two-time World Series champion and four-time American League All-Star,his best season came in 1962 with the Athletics when he hit 25 home runs,with 117 runs batted in and a .308 batting average. He might be most remembered,however,as being one of the players the Yankees traded for Roger Maris on December 11,1959.
James Otis Crandall was an American right-handed pitcher and second baseman. He was the first player to be consistently used as a relief pitcher. Consequently,he was given the nickname Doc by Damon Runyon who said Crandall was "the physician of the pitching emergency". He played from 1908 to 1918,debuting with the New York Giants. He was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1913,but made only two pinch-hitting appearances for them before being sold back to the Giants 13 days later. He also played for the St. Louis Terriers in the Federal League in 1914 and 1915,the St. Louis Browns in 1916,and for the Boston Braves in 1918. That same year he flirted with a no-hitter in the morning game of a double-header in Los Angeles against Salt Lake City of the Pacific Coast League. He carried the no-hitter into the 9th inning when,with two out,his outing was spoiled by Karl Crandall,his brother.
Robert Dale "Hawk" Taylor was an American professional baseball player who appeared in 394 games over all or part of 11 Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons as a catcher and outfielder for the Milwaukee Braves,New York Mets (1964–67),California Angels (1967) and Kansas City Royals (1969–70). Born in Metropolis,Illinois,he threw and batted right-handed,and was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 187 pounds (85 kg).
Tharon Leslie "Pat" Collins was an American baseball catcher who played ten seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. Louis Browns,New York Yankees and Boston Braves from 1919 to 1929. Collins batted and threw right-handed and also played five games at first base.
Ellis Ferguson "Cot" Deal was an American pitcher and coach in Major League Baseball. Listed at 5 ft 10.5 in (1.79 m),185 lb (84 kg),Deal was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. A native of Arapaho,Oklahoma,he grew up in Oklahoma City and was nicknamed "Cot" for his cotton-top hair color.
The 1948 Cleveland Indians season was the 48th in franchise history. When the regular season resulted in a first place tie,the Indians won a one-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox to advance to the World Series. Cleveland won the championship by defeating the Boston Braves 4 games to 2 for their first World Series win in 28 years. The Sporting News ranked the 1948 Indians the ninth-best team.
Donald Raymond Bollweg was an American professional baseball player who appeared in 195 games in Major League Baseball as a first baseman and pinch hitter for three teams between 1950 and 1955. Born in Wheaton,Illinois,Bollweg threw and batted left-handed;he stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 190 pounds (86 kg).
Peter Michael Kozma is an American professional baseball shortstop who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals,New York Yankees,Texas Rangers,Detroit Tigers,and Oakland Athletics. The Cardinals selected him in the first round of the 2007 MLB draft from Owasso High School in Oklahoma,and he made his MLB debut for them on May 18,2011. He is 6 feet 0 inches (1.83 m),weighs 190 lb (86 kg),and bats and throws right-handed.
Jorge Carlos Soler Castillo is a Cuban professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Chicago Cubs,Kansas City Royals,Atlanta Braves,Miami Marlins,and San Francisco Giants.
Peter Robert O'Brien is an American professional baseball left fielder for the Pericos de Puebla of the Mexican League. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Miami Marlins.
Juan David Yepez is a Venezuelan professional baseball outfielder and first baseman for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the St. Louis Cardinals.