Phil Weintraub
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Philip Weintraub, nicknamed Mickey (October 12, 1907 - June 21, 1987) was an American baseball player who had, as of April 2007, the second most runs batted in (RBI) 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 2006, 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.
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[edit] Minor leagues
Weintraub was a heavy hitter in the minors.
In 1934, he was helped to the first .400 season in Southern Association history by Nashville 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 RBI. He followed in 1940 by hitting .347 with 27 home runs and 109 RBI.[2]
[edit] Major league career
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Cincinnati Reds (1937)
In August 1936 he was purchased by the Cincinnati Reds from the Cardinals.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 rbi, 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.
[edit] 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.[3]
- One year in the 1930s during spring training when a Florida hotel refused entry to Weintraub and fellow Jew Harry Danning, Giants manager Bill Terry threatened to take the entire team to another hotel unless his Jewish players were given lodging. The hotel's management backed down.[4]
- On Yom Kippur of 1938, Phil Weintraub and his Phillies teammate Morrie Arnovich opted to take the day off.[5]
- His nickname was "Mickey."
- 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 in the air to Giant players. Weintraub managed to make a catch.[6]
- Later became a manager.
- Weintraub died on June 21, 1987, in Palm Springs, California.
