Danny Breeden
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Danny Breeden | ||
|---|---|---|
| Catcher | ||
| Born: June 27, 1942 | ||
| Batted: Right | Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | ||
| July 24, 1969 for the Cincinnati Reds |
||
| Final game | ||
| June 17, 1971 for the Chicago Cubs |
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| Career statistics | ||
| Batting average | .151 | |
| Home runs | 0 | |
| RBI | 5 | |
| Teams | ||
| Career highlights and awards | ||
Danny Richard Breeden (Born: June 27, 1942 in Albany, Georgia) is a former righthanded Major League Baseball catcher who played in 1969 and 1971 for the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs.
The brother of former Major League Baseball first baseman Hal Breeden, Danny attended Troy State University before being signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1963.
Even before making the Majors, Breeden had a long history of transactions: in December of 1963, he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the first-year draft. Then just over a year later, he was purchased back from the Cubs by the Cardinals. On December 3, 1968, he was traded with minor leaguer Phil Knuckles, Ron Davis and Ed Spiezio to the San Diego Padres for Dave Giusti, and on June 30, 1969, he was purchased by the Reds from the Padres.
Less than a month after being purchased by the Reds, he made his big league debut (on July 24 at the age of 27) against Gary Gentry and the New York Mets. It was an intense 12-inning affair, with Breeden going 1-for-4 as the starting catcher. The Reds ended up beating the Mets 4-to-3 on a Tony Perez home run.
His single on July 24 of that year would be his only big league hit that season - he would end up playing in only that series against the Mets that year, as starting catcher Johnny Bench was not available - and he would go 0-for-4 in his final two games of the season.
Breeden did not play in the Majors in 1970, and on November 30 of that year he was traded from the Reds to the Cubs for Willie Smith.
In 1971, Breeden played in 25 games for the Cubs. That year was his brother Hal's rookie season - with the Cubs no less - so they played on the field together for five games. Danny batted .154 in 65 at-bats, hitting no home runs and driving in four runs. He hit the only extra base hit of his career in his very first game of the season, on May 1 against Rick Wise and the Philadelphia Phillies. His brother did even worse than him in 1971, however - Hal hit only .139 in 36 at-bats.
1971 was Breeden's final season in the Majors - he played his last game on June 17 of that year. Although he did not appear in the Majors following the 1971 season, he stuck around in the minors for quite a while. After moving to the Padres organization before the 1973 season in an unknown transaction, Danny was part of a huge three-team trade involving the Padres, Cardinals and Detroit Tigers that initially took place on November 18, 1974. The Padres sent a player to be named later (Breeden) to the Cardinals. The Padres then sent Nate Colbert to the Tigers. The Tigers sent Bob Strampe and Dick Sharon to the Padres. The Tigers sent Ed Brinkman to the Cardinals and the Cardinals sent Alan Foster, Rich Folkers, and Sonny Siebert to the San Diego Padres. Breeden was sent to the Cardinals on December 12 of that year.
