Coot Veal

Coot Veal
Shortstop
Born: July 9, 1932 (1932-07-09) (age 79) Sandersville, Georgia
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
July 30, 1958 for the Detroit Tigers
Last MLB appearance
June 20, 1963 for the Detroit Tigers
Career statistics
Batting average	.231
Home runs	1
Runs batted in	51
Teams
Detroit Tigers (1958–1960; 1963) Washington Senators (1961) Pittsburgh Pirates (1962)

Orville Inman "Coot" Veal (born on July 9, 1932 in Sandersville, Georgia) is a former Major League Baseball shortstop. He was signed by the Detroit Tigers before the 1952 season, and later drafted by the Washington Senators from the Tigers in the 1960 American League expansion draft (December 14, 1960). He played for the Tigers (1958-1960, 1963), Senators (1961), and Pittsburgh Pirates (1962).

Veal was the first player to come to bat in modern Washington Senators history. On April 10, 1961, he led off the bottom of the 1st against Hall of Fame right-hander Early Wynn of the Chicago White Sox. He reached base on an infield single near third base, was advanced to second on a Marty Keough single to left, and then scored (along with Keough) on a Gene Woodling triple.

Other career highlights include:

• four 3-hit games, with the most impressive being two singles and a double vs. the Washington Senators, all against All-Star right-hander Camilo Pascual (August 19, 1958)
• hit a home run against All-Star left-hander Billy Pierce of the Chicago White Sox in front of 34,417 at Briggs Stadium (August 11, 1959)
• hit a combined .500 (15-for-30) against All-Stars Johnny Antonelli, Bob Grim, Billy O'Dell, and Camilo Pascual
• hit .333 (2-for-6) against Hall of Famer Whitey Ford

Veal was a very good defensive shortstop (.976), but his bat was somewhat weak. He had a lifetime average of .231, just one home run in 611 total at bats, and a slugging percentage of .288. He scored 75 runs and drove in 51 in his 247 big league games.

External links

• Retrosheet

Sources

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference

Persondata
Name	Veal, Coot
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 9, 1932
Place of birth	Sandersville, Georgia
Date of death
Place of death