- Heinz Becker
Heinz Reinhard Becker (
August 26 ,1915 -November 11 ,1991 ) was aMajor League Baseball first baseman who played for theChicago Cubs (1943, 1945-46) andCleveland Indians (1946-1947). Born inBerlin ,Germany , he was one of only 28 German-born players inMLB history.Becker may be most well-known for being a key reserve on the last Chicago Cubs team to win a
National League pennant (1945). He got into 67 games and hit .286 with 2home runs , 27runs batted in , and 25runs scored . He played great defense, making no errors in 28 appearances atfirst base . In the1945 World Series he made three appearances as apinch hitter , going 1-for-2 with a walk. His hit was a single against winningpitcher Dizzy Trout in Game # 4.He was traded by the Cubs to the Cleveland Indians for first baseman
Mickey Rocco and cash on June 26, 1946 and hit .299 in 59 games that season. He was released by Cleveland on May 14, 1947. He signed with the Boston Braves two days later, but never again appeared in a major league game.Career totals include 152
games played , 92 hits, 2HR , 47RBI , 45 runs scored, and a lifetimebatting average of .263. Hison base percentage was .359, and he had aslugging percentage of .346. He had a lifetime fielding percentage of .994 in 90 appearances at first base and participated in 64double plays .Becker died at the age of 76 in
Dallas, Texas .Becker had problems with his feet during his playing career, earning him the nickname "
Bunion s". He was referenced in Chicago columnistMike Royko 's annual Cubs quiz on April 18, 1968::Q: Which of these two players always had sore feet? Heinz Becker or the immortal
Dominic Dallessandro ?:A: Becker had sore feet. Dallessandro had tiny feet. It used to take him twenty jumps to get out of the dugout.("One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko", University of Chicago, 1999, p.29-31)
External links
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/beckehe02.shtml Baseball Reference]
* [http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/Pbeckh102.htm Retrosheet]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9277 Find A Grave]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.