- Phil Weintraub
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Phil Weintraub First baseman/Outfielder Born: October 12, 1907
Chicago, IllinoisDied: June 21, 1987 (aged 79)
Palm Springs, CaliforniaBatted: Left Threw: Left MLB debut September 5, 1933 for the New York Giants Last MLB appearance August 5, 1945 for the New York Giants Career statistics Batting average .295 Home runs 32 Runs batted in 207 Teams Philip Weintraub, nicknamed Mickey (October 12, 1907 – June 21, 1987) was an American baseball player who had, as of February 2010, the second most runs batted in (RBIs) in a single game (11).
He was primarily a reserve outfielder, though he was platooned at first base in the last few years of his career. He batted .295 for his career, with a .398 on base percentage. Through 2008, he has the 4th-best career batting average of all Jewish major league baseball players, behind Hank Greenberg, Buddy Myer, and Lou Boudreau.[1] Blessed with an excellent eye and bat control, he walked 232 times in his career while striking out only 182 times.
Weintraub was born in Chicago, Illinois, and first played for Loyola University of Chicago.
Contents
Minor leagues
Weintraub was a heavy hitter in the minors, hitting 194 minor league home runs.
In 1934, he was helped to the first .400 season in Southern Association history by Nashville Vols manager Chuck Dressen's ability to tip him off to pitches.
In 1939 with the Minneapolis Millers in the American Association he hit .331 with 33 home runs and 126 RBIs. He followed in 1940 by hitting .347 with 27 home runs and 109 RBIs.[2]
Major league career
New York Giants (1933–35)
His professional debut was on September 5, 1933, for the New York Giants.
In 1934 he batted .351, with a .461 on base percentage, in 31 games.
St. Louis Cardinals
In December 1935 he was traded by the Giants with Roy Parmelee and cash to the St. Louis Cardinals for Burgess Whitehead.
Cincinnati Reds (1937)
In August 1936 he was purchased by the Cincinnati Reds from the Cardinals.
New York Giants (1937)
In July 1937 he was purchased by the New York Giants from the Reds. In November 1937 he was purchased by Baltimore (International) from the Giants.
Philadelphia Phillies (1938)
In June 1938 he was traded by Baltimore to the Philadelphia Phillies for Gene Corbett. In 1938 he was 3rd in the National League in on base percentage (.422), 9th in batting average (.311), and 10th in walks (64). In December 1938 he was purchased by the Boston Red Sox from the Phillies.
He did not play major league baseball from 1939–43.
New York Giants (1944–45)
In November 1943 he was drafted by the New York Giants from the St. Louis Browns in the Rule 5 draft.
In 1944, Weintraub returned to the majors with the Giants as a war-time player after a 6-year absence. He was 5th in the NL in OBP (.412), slugging percentage (.524) and at bats per home run (27.8), 6th in triples (9), 8th in batting average (.316), and 9th in home runs (13). On April 30, 1944, Weintraub had 11 RBIs, one short of the major league record, as the Giants defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers, 26–8. He had two doubles, a triple, and a home run. Amazingly, he missed the cycle because he didn't get a single.
Weintraub played his last game on August 5, 1945.
Through 2010, he was fifth all-time in batting average (behind Hank Greenberg, Ryan Braun, Buddy Myer, and Lou Boudreau) among Jewish major league baseball players.[3]
Miscellaneous
- He had the last hit in Philadelphia's Baker Bowl.
- There was no level playing field at Nashville's Sulphur Dell. The right fielder, if standing at the base of the fence, stood 22-1/2 feet above the playing field. Weintraub, playing the 'porch' in the 1930s, ran down the slope to field a hard-hit ground ball, only to have it go between his legs. As he turned to run up the hill to retrieve the ball, it bounded off the fence, and once again went between his legs. Finally grabbing the ball on his way back down the hill, he overthrew the third baseman while attempting to make a play on the batter who had rounded second, allowing him to score. Weintraub took three errors on the play.[4]
- In 1934 during spring training a Florida hotel refused entry to Weintraub and fellow Jew Harry Danning. "Hibiscus" was a code word for Hebrew in Florida — as in "we don’t have hibiscus in our hotel." Giants manager and All-Star first baseman Bill Terry threatened to take the entire World Champion team to another hotel unless his Jewish players were given lodging. The hotel's management backed down.[5][6]
- On Yom Kippur of 1938, Weintraub and his Phillies teammate Morrie Arnovich opted to take the day off.[7]
- Called "baseball's best-dressed pinch hitter" by journalist Fred Lieb.
- One cold, windy afternoon in spring 1944, the Giants played at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, and the Navy staged a sideshow by dropping baseballs from a blimp 400 feet (120 m) in the air to Giant players. Weintraub managed to make a catch.[8]
- Later became a manager.
- Weintraub died on June 21, 1987, in Palm Springs, California.
See also
External links
- Baseball Reference stats
- Baseball Cube stats
- Fangraphs stats
- BR Bullpen profile
- Baseball Library bio
- Baseball Almanac bio
- Jews in Sports bio
References
- ^ Career Batting Leaders through 2008, Jewish Major Leaguers website. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
- ^ "Minneapolis Millers Individual Statistics-1931-1940". Google.com. August 27, 2010. http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:C5mYLu-7bPAJ:stewthornley.net/millers_1931_1940.html+%22phil+weintraub%22+manager+baseball&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=25. Retrieved September 11, 2010.
- ^ "Career Batting Leaders through 2010". Career Leaders. Jewish Major Leaguers. http://www.jewishmajorleaguers.org/. Retrieved February 10, 2011.
- ^ "Sulphur Dell, the Nashville Vols". Google.com. June 20, 2008. http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:wXHObshsrqEJ:sulphurdell.blogspot.com/+%22phil+weintraub%22+manager+baseball&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4. Retrieved September 11, 2010.
- ^ http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:AOrdg7ohJe8J:www.jewishpress.com/page.do/17122/Media_Monitor.html+%22phil+weintraub%22+anti-semitism&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=7
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:AAEabRDNQ2kJ:www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml%3FitemNo%3D598163+%22phil+weintraub%22+anti-semitism&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4
- ^ ".". New York Times. http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:OHeW5uUcXyQJ:query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html%3Fsec%3Dtravel%26res%3D9A03EEDC1731F935A25750C0A9629C8B63+%22phil+weintraub%22+baseball+%22world+war%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
Categories:- 1907 births
- 1987 deaths
- New York Giants (NL) players
- Cincinnati Reds players
- Philadelphia Phillies players
- Jewish American sportspeople
- Baseball players from Illinois
- Major League Baseball first basemen
- Minor league baseball managers
- Rock Island Islanders players
- Danville Veterans players
- Waco Cubs players
- Terre Haute Tots players
- Dayton Ducks players
- Birmingham Barons players
- Nashville Volunteers players
- Rochester Red Wings players
- Columbus Red Birds players
- Jersey City Giants players
- Baltimore Orioles (IL) players
- Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players
- Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players
- St. Paul Saints (AA) players
- Toledo Mud Hens players
- Newark Bears (IL) players
- Jews and Judaism in Cincinnati, Ohio
- Loyola University Chicago alumni
- Jewish Major League Baseball players
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