Hobie Landrith

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hobert Neal Landrith (born March 16, 1930 in Decatur, Illinois) is a former catcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1950 through 1963 for the Cincinnati Reds & Redlegs (1950-1955), Chicago Cubs (1956), St. Louis Cardinals (1957-1958), San Francisco Giants (1959-1961), New York Mets (1962), Baltimore Orioles (1962-1963) and Washington Senators (1963). He batted left handed and threw right handed.

For most of his career the well-traveled Landrith was a second or third string catcher, but he is probably best known as the first pick of the New York Mets in the 1961 expansion draft. He had been a valuable backup catcher for Andy Seminick and Smoky Burgess in Cincinnati, and was a regular with the Cubs in 1956 and hit a .221 batting average in a career-high 111 games. The following two years he backed up All-Stars Hal Smith and Walker Cooper with the Cardinals. His most productive season came as a regular on the 1959 Giants, when he hit .251 with three home runs and 29 RBI and posted career-highs in hits (71), runs (30), and doubles (14) in 109 games.

After being selected in the 1961 draft, Mets manager Casey Stengel justified the choice explaining that "You gotta have a catcher or you're gonna have a lot of passed balls." But in the 1962 midseason, the Mets would make a trade that typified their early years when they sent Landrith to the Baltimore Orioles to complete an earlier deal for Marv Throneberry, who soon became the living symbol of Met futility.

Landrith played in part of two seasons with Baltimore and ended his major league career with the expansion Washington Senators in 1963. Following his playing career, he coached for the Senators in 1964.

In a 14-season career, Landrith was a .233 hitter with 34 home runs and 203 RBI in 772 games.