Jake Daubert

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Jacob Ellsworth Daubert
Jacob Ellsworth Daubert
First base
Batted: Left Threw: Left
MLB Debut
April 14, 1910 for the Brooklyn Superbas
Final game
September 20, 1924 for the Cincinnati Reds
Career Statistics
Batting Average     .303
Home Runs     56
Runs Batted In     722
Teams

Brooklyn Superbas (1910 - 1918)
Cincinnati Reds (1919 - 1924)
Career Highlights and Awards
  • 1913 National League Most Valuable Player
  • 1913 & 1914 National League Batting Title
  • 2nd All-Time in Sacrifice Hits (392)
  • Named to The Baseball Magazine All-American team 7 times.

Jacob Ellsworth Daubert (April 7, 1884 - October 9, 1924) was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Brooklyn Superbas[1] and Cincinnati Reds. His career lasted from 1910 until his death in 1924.

Daubert was recognized throughout his career for his performances on the field. He won the 1913 and 1914 batting titles and won the 1913 Chalmers Award. Between 1911 and 1919, The Baseball Magazine named him to their All-American team seven times.[2]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Daubert was born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania to Jacob and Sarah Daubert. The lack of child labor laws enabled Daubert to go to work early in his life. In 1895, at the age of eleven, the young Daubert joined his father and two brothers at work in the local coal mines.[3]

In 1906, Daubert left his job at the mines and signed a contract with a baseball team in Lykens, Pennsylvania. He was originally a pitcher on the team before he converted to first base.[3]. At the end of the 1906 season, Daubert left Pennsylvania and traveled west to Ohio. There, he spent the 1907 season on teams in Kane, Ohio and Marion, Ohio.

[edit] Baseball career

In 1908, Daubert was signed by the Cleveland Indians. However, Daubert never played for Cleveland as they released him shortly thereafter. He left Cleveland and signed with the Nashville club of the Southern Association. He spent the remainder of the season with Nashville.

Daubert returned to Ohio for the start of the 1909 season. After playing the first part of the season with Toledo of the American Association, Daubert went back to Tennessee and joined the Memphis club. Like Nashville, Memphis' team played in the Southern Association. While playing for Memphis, Larry Sutton, a scout for the Brooklyn Dodgers, observed his play. Shortly there after, the Dodgers purchased Daubert's contract and brought him to Brooklyn for the 1910 season.[3]

While Daubert hit just .264 in 1910, he hit over .300 in each of the next six seasons. He was placed second in the batting order for most of his career.[citation needed]On May 6, 1910, Daubert recorded 21 putouts in a single game, one short of the major league record.[4]

In 1911 and 1912, Daubert placed ninth and eighth in the Chalmers Award voting.[5][6] The following year, he won the prize. In 1916 he batted .316 and Brooklyn won their first NL pennant; but he hit only .176 in the 1916 World Series and Brooklyn lost the series to the Boston Red Sox.

Daubert hit .261 in 1917 in baseball, but the following year he hit .308 and led the NL in triples. When the season was cut short due to World War I and the influenza epidemic, major league owners prorated player salaries. Daubert, who had been among the founding members of the Players' Fraternity, sued for the balance of his salary. Eventually, Jake recovered most of the $2,150 he was due.[3] After the dispute started, Brooklyn owner Charles Ebbets traded him to Cincinnati for outfielder Tommy Griffith. Once in Cincinnati, Daubert served as the Reds' captain for the remainder of his career.[citation needed]

In 1919, although he hit only .276, Daubert was second in the league in runs scored and third in triples. The Reds won their first pennant since the inaugural season of the American Association in 1882. In the 1919 World Series, noted for the Black Sox Scandal, he batted .241. In the 9-1 Game 1 victory, he had three hits including a triple, and he had two hits and scored twice in the final 10-5 victory in Game 8.

Daubert hit over .300 in the next three seasons. In 1922, Daubert hit for a .336 average, led the NL in triples and had a career-high 12 home runs. By 1923, at age 39, he was the oldest regular position player in the major leagues,[citation needed] and he hit .292 that season.

In his career, he had 56 home runs, 1117 runs, 722 runs batted in, 250 doubles and 251 stolen bases. When he left Brooklyn for Cincinnati, Daubert held the Brooklyn franchise record for games played at first base (1206). The record was broken by Gil Hodges in 1956.

[edit] Daubert's life outside baseball & death

While Daubert was in Brooklyn, he was nominated for city Alderman.[3] He also spent time as a businessman and invested in several business ventures. His holdings included a pool hall, a cigar business, a semi-pro baseball team, a moving picture businesses, and a coal washery. His most profitable business was reportedly the coal washer, which was located in his hometown.[3]

Daubert left the Reds late in the 1924 season after falling ill during a road trip to New York. [7] Against his doctor's advice, he returned to play in the the team's final home game of the season.[7] On October 2, he had an appendectomy performed by Dr. Harry H. Hines, the Reds' team doctor.[7] Complications from the operation arose, and a blood transfusion did not improve his health.[7] He died one week after the operation in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the doctor citing "exhaustion, resulting in indigestion, [as] the immediate cause of death".[7] He was interred at the Charles Baber Cemetery in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.[8]

During his career, Daubert compiled a .303 lifetime batting average. At the time of his death, he ranked among the major league career leaders in games (4th, 2001), putouts (4th, 19,634), assists (5th, 1128), total chances (4th, 20,943) and double plays (3rd, 1199) at first base; he was also among the NL's leaders in hits (7th, 2326), triples (9th, 165), at bats (9th, 7673), games played (10th, 2014) and total bases (10th, 3074). Daubert currently holds the NL record for most sacrifice hits (392). He was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1966.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The team also went by the nicknames Dodgers and Robins during Daubert's time with Brooklyn.
  2. ^ Deadball Era Resources. "The Baseball Magazine All American Teams". Retrieved 2006-11-09.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Sandoval, Jim. Jake Daubert. TheDeadballEra.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-09.
  4. ^ SABR [1]
  5. ^ The Chalmers Award was Major League Baseball's first iteration of the Most Valuable Player Award.
  6. ^ Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
  7. ^ a b c d e The Obit for Jake Daubert. TheDeadBallEra.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-10.
  8. ^ Jake Daubert. Retrosheet.org. Retrieved on 2006-11-10.

[edit] References

  • Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia (2000). Kingston, NY: Total/Sports Illustrated. ISBN 1-892129-34-5.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Heinie Zimmerman		 National League Batting Champion
1913-1914		 Succeeded by
Larry Doyle
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