Al Weis

Albert John Weis (born April 2, 1938 in Franklin Square, New York) is a former Major League Baseball infielder.

Weis grew up in Bethpage, New York, and graduated from Farmingdale, New York, High School in 1955. He was a high school teammate of Jack Lamabe, who pitched for several major league teams including the Red Sox, Mets, Pirates and Cardinals.

Weis played for the Chicago White Sox from 1962 to 1967 and the New York Mets from 1968 to 1971. He was a switch hitter until the end of the 1968 season, after which he batted exclusively right-handed.

Signed by the White Sox as an amateur free agent, Weis played 99 games as a utility infielder in his rookie season of 1963, with 48 of those games at second base and 27 at shortstop. In 1964 he and Don Buford shared second base duties after the trade of the popular Nellie Fox. Weis batted .247 and established career highs with 81 hits and 22 stolen bases; that year the White Sox finished second in the American League, one game behind the New York Yankees for the pennant.

Weis resumed his utility infielder duties with the White Sox for the next three years; the most at-bats he compiled during this period was 187 in 1966. He suffered a broken leg as the result of a violent collision at second base with Frank Robinson of the Orioles in mid-season in 1967. After the 1967 season he and Tommie Agee were traded to the New York Mets for four players (among them Tommy Davis and Jack Fisher).

Weis was a member of the 1969 Miracle Mets team that unexpectedly won the World Series. In that Series, which the Mets won over the Baltimore Orioles in five games, Weis played a major role in both of Jerry Koosman’s victories, with Dave McNally being the victim both times. In Game 2 his 9th-inning single scored Ed Charles for the winning run in a 2–1 victory; in the clincher, Game 5 at Shea Stadium, after hitting only six home runs for his career to that point, all on the road, he homered off McNally in the seventh inning to tie the game at 3–3. (Ironically, one of Weis' six previous home runs had also been hit off McNally, on June 18, 1964.) The Mets scored two runs in the eighth to complete their improbable World Series victory.

The 1969 World Series was Weis’ last moment of glory; he was released by the Mets July 1, 1971. He had batted .218 with 346 hits, only seven of which were home runs, and 115 RBIs in 800 games played.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference