Bob Boyd (baseball)
Bob Boyd | |
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File:Bob Boyd (baseball).jpg Topps baseball card – 1954 Series, #113 | |
First baseman | |
Born: Potts Camp, Mississippi | October 1, 1919|
Died: September 7, 2004 Wichita, Kansas | (aged 84)|
Batted: Left Threw: Left | |
Professional debut | |
NgL: 1946, for the Memphis Red Sox | |
MLB: September 8, 1951, for the Chicago White Sox | |
Last MLB appearance | |
September 24, 1961, for the Milwaukee Braves | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .293 |
Home runs | 19 |
Runs batted in | 175 |
Teams | |
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Career highlights and awards | |
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Robert Richard Boyd (October 1, 1919 – September 7, 2004) was an American first baseman in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball.[1]
Career
Nicknamed "Rope" for his line-drive hitting, Boyd served in the US Army during World War II,[2] and played in the Negro leagues with the Memphis Red Sox (1947–49), and in the major leagues for the Chicago White Sox (1951, 1953–54), Baltimore Orioles (1956–60), Kansas City Athletics (1961) and Milwaukee Braves (1961).
The 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m), 170 lb (77 kg) Boyd threw and batted left-handed, and he could shine with his glove. He was a contact hitter, slight of frame, and did not produce the kind of home run power expected from a major league first baseman. He started his professional career in the Negro leagues with the Memphis Red Sox, and played three seasons for them between 1947 and 1949, batting .352, .369 and .371, respectively.
In 1950, Boyd became the first black player to sign with the Chicago White Sox. He made his debut on September 8, 1951. Basically a backup player and pinch-hitter with the Sox, in 1954 he was sent to the St. Louis Cardinals, but did not play for them, spending 1954 and 1955 with Houston in the Double-A Texas League and hitting .321 and .310. At the end of the 1955 season, he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles from St. Louis in the Rule 5 draft. In 1956 with the Orioles, he hit .311 with two homers and 11 RBI in 70 games.
Boyd enjoyed a career season in 1957. Only eight batters reached the .300 mark in the American League, and he finished fourth in the batting race with a .318 average behind Ted Williams (.388), Mickey Mantle (.365) and Gene Woodling (.321), and over Nellie Fox, Minnie Miñoso, Bill Skowron and Roy Sievers. Beside this, Boyd became the first Oriole regular in the 20th century to hit over .300 in batting average. The following year, he batted .309 with a career-high seven home runs.
Boyd ended his majors career in 1961. He compiled a .293 batting average with 19 home runs and 175 RBI in 693 games. Thanks to his discipline at the plate and knowledge of the strike zone, he registered an outstanding 1.465 walk-to-strikeout ratio (167-to-114). At first base, he committed only 36 errors in 4159 chances for a .991 fielding average.
Bob Boyd died at age 84 in Wichita, Kansas.[3] He is a member both of the Negro League Hall of Fame and of the National Baseball Congress Hall of Fame. His nephew Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd[4] pitched for three MLB teams, most notably the Boston Red Sox, between 1982 and 1991.
See also
- List of Negro league baseball players
- List of Negro league baseball players who played in Major League Baseball
Sources
- Interview with Bob Boyd
- Negro League Baseball Players Association
- National Baseball Congress Hall of Fame
- Bob Boyd - Baseballbiography.com
- Retrosheet Official Web Page
References
- ^ Rives, Bob. "Bob Boyd". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
- ^ "Negro Leaguers Who Served With The Armed Forces in WWII". baseballinwartime.com. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
- ^ 'The Rope' delighted in fooling pitchers
- ^ Nowlin, Bill, "Oil Can Boyd." Society for American Baseball Research Biography Project
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference and Seamheads
- {{Find a Grave}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata.
- Articles with short description
- Find a Grave template missing ID and not in Wikidata
- 1919 births
- 2004 deaths
- African Americans in World War II
- Baltimore Orioles players
- Baseball players from Mississippi
- Charleston Senators players
- Chicago White Sox players
- Colorado Springs Sky Sox (WL) players
- Deaths from cancer in Kansas
- Houston Buffaloes players
- Kansas City Athletics players
- Louisville Colonels (minor league) players
- Major League Baseball first basemen
- Memphis Red Sox players
- Milwaukee Braves players
- Oklahoma City 89ers players
- People from Marshall County, Mississippi
- Sacramento Solons players
- San Antonio Bullets players
- Seattle Rainiers players
- Baseball players from Wichita, Kansas
- Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players
- United States Army personnel of World War II
- 21st-century African-American people
- African-American United States Army personnel