| Thurman Tucker | |
|---|---|
| Center fielder | |
| Born: September 26, 1917 Gordon, Texas |
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| Died: May 7, 1993 (aged 75) Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
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| Batted: Left | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| April 14, 1942 for the Chicago White Sox | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| April 29, 1951 for the Cleveland Indians | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .255 |
| Hits | 570 |
| Stolen bases | 77 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Thurman Lowell Tucker (September 26, 1917 – May 7, 1993) was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for nine seasons in the American League with the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians. In 701 career games, Tucker recorded a batting average of .255, had 24 triples, 9 home runs, and 179 runs batted in (RBI). He was nicknamed "Joe E." Tucker because of his resemblance to comedian Joe E. Brown.[1]
Born and raised in Texas, Tucker first played professionally with the Siloam Springs Travelers. He gradually progressed through minor league baseball until he was signed by the Chicago White Sox before the 1941 season. He made his major league debut for the team a year later and spent two seasons as their starting center fielder before enlisting in the armed forces for World War II. Upon his return, Tucker played two more seasons for the White Sox. Subsequently, he was traded to the Cleveland Indians, for whom he played four seasons, and continued to play minor league baseball throughout the 1950s. After his retirement, he became a major league scout and insurance agent. He died in 1993.
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Thurman Tucker was born and raised in Gordon, Texas. At high school, he was a three-sport athlete, playing baseball (where he was a second baseman), basketball, and track and field. After graduating in 1935, he played semi-professional baseball, and enrolled in a baseball school located in Hot Springs, Arkansas. At the age of 18, in 1936, Tucker signed as a professional with the Fayetteville Bears of the Arkansas-Missouri League, but remained with the team for only two weeks and did not play a game. Soon after, he was signed by the Siloam Springs Travelers of the same league, where he began his professional career.[2]
In 1936, his first season with the Travelers, Tucker changed fielding positions and became an outfielder.[2] In 117 games, he had a .319 batting average and 25 doubles.[3] The following year, he was to play for the El Dorado Lions of the Cotton States League, but a back injury caused him to miss nearly the entire season.[2] Despite the injury, Tucker continued to progress through the minors, and spent the 1938 season with two separate clubs; he played 55 games for the Abbeville A's of the Evangeline Baseball League and 50 games for the Greenville Bucks of the Cotton States League.[3] He remained in the Cotton States League for 1939, playing for the Clarksdale Red Sox, at the time a minor league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox In 136 games for Clarksdale, Tucker had a .298 batting average and 10 triples.[3]
Tucker's breakthrough minor league season came in 1940, his second with Clarksdale. By the end of June, he was leading the Cotton State League with a batting average of .374.[4] After playing in 97 games, finishing with an average of .390, Tucker played in 40 games for the Oklahoma City Indians.[3] At the end of the season, Chicago White Sox farm manager Billy Webb was impressed enough to purchase Tucker's contract from Oklahoma City.[5] At the beginning of the 1941 season, Tucker failed to win the final outfield spot on the White Sox roster from Dave Short,[6] and consequently spent 1941 at Oklahoma City, where he was coached by Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby.[7] In 141 games for the Indians, Tucker had a batting average of .246 and 12 triples.[3]
At spring training for the 1942 season, Tucker competed with Dave Philley for the final outfield spot.[8] Tucker was on the major league roster on opening day, and made his major league debut on April 14, 1942.[9] He played in two games for the White Sox, then was sent down to the Fort Worth Cats of the Texas League.[10] He spent most of the season with the Cats, hitting .313 in 144 games.[3] After the minor league season ended, he was brought back up to the major league squad, and finished the year with seven games played for the White Sox.[9]
Of the Chicago White Sox outfielders at the beginning of the 1943 season, only Wally Moses was assured of a place. During spring training, manager Jimmy Dykes liked what he saw from Tucker while competing for the starting center fielder position alongside Moose Solters.[11] As a result, after spring training Tucker became the starting center fielder for 1943, and the team's leadoff hitter.[12] Partway through the season, Tucker's performance caught the eye of American League President Will Harridge, who noted him as someone the public came out to watch in the absence of stars serving in World War II.[13] Among Tucker's achievements during the season were a walk-off home run to win a game against the New York Yankees on July 26, 2–1.[14] Tucker finished the season with a .235 batting average, six triples, and 79 walks in 135 games. He also stole 29 bases, the third best total in the AL, and was caught stealing 17 times, which was second in the league.[9]
Tucker passed a physical examination for the United States Navy before the 1944 season began, and was projected to be called up to serve in the war that year.[15] However, he was not called in, and played the entire season for the White Sox. Tucker hit very well during the first month of 1944; he had a .403 batting average on May 16, which comfortably led the American League.[16] His hitting and fielding abilities, combined with the possibility of joining the Navy at any time, led to sportswriter Fred Lieb noting him as a breakout performer that year.[17] Tucker and Dixie Walker led their respective leagues in batting average throughout June; at the end of the month, Tucker had an average of .369 in the American League while Walker had an average of .377 in the National League.[18] Owing to his achievements, Tucker was named to the All-Star roster for the only time in his career.[19] He was the leadoff hitter in the 1944 Major League Baseball All-Star Game and went hitless in four at-bats.[20]
Tucker's form faded after the All-Star Game; in early July, he had a hitless streak of 28 at-bats, causing his batting average to shrink from .375 to .327. In the process, he lost his status as league leader in batting average.[21] After his batting average fell to .320 after hitting once in 35 at-bats, he was benched for a weekend matchup against the Detroit Tigers in an attempt to halt his decline.[22] At the end of July, both Tucker and George Case participated in a 75–yard dash at part of the White Sox's annual benefit for the war; Tucker lost the race to Case by a yard.[23] Tucker finished the season with a batting average of .287 and six triples.[9] After the season ended, Tucker formally joined the Navy, and spent the 1945 season serving in the warI.[24]
When the players returned to their teams at the end of the war, Tucker was slated to be the starting center fielder for the 1946 season began, working alongside Wally Moses and Taffy Wright.[25] Unlike the previous season, he struggled with the bat at first, and was relegated to his original status as a good fielder but a poor hitter.[26] At the end of June, Tucker had a batting average of .229, nearly 150 points lower than his average at the same point in 1944.[27] He recovered in the second half of the season, finishing the year with a batting average of .288 and 20 doubles, both career highs.[9] As the 1947 Chicago White Sox season began, Tucker remained in his center field position after hitting .400 in the last month of the 1946 season, while rookie Dave Philley was in left field and Taffy Wright and Bob Kennedy platooned in right field.[28] However, he started the year by missing some playing time due to a stomach ailment, and did not play full time for the White Sox until the middle of May.[29] Tucker ended up splitting time with Philley due to his light hitting, and he finished the season with a .236 batting average in 89 games.[9]
On January 27, 1948, Tucker was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Ralph Weigel; the Indians regarded Tucker as "the finest defensive player in baseball."[30] He started off the year as the starting center fielder for the Indians, and in one early matchup against the Detroit Tigers, was the only player not to record a hit in an 8–2 victory.[31] He missed a couple weeks of playing time in June after breaking a finger when he was hit by a pitch.[32] Upon returning to the lineup, Tucker spent most of the second half of the season as a fourth outfielder, splitting time with Allie Clark and playing in the outfield alongside Larry Doby and Dale Mitchell.[33] He finished the season with a .260 batting average and 52 runs in 83 games, and also ended the season with a perfect fielding percentage of 1.000.[9] Tucker also participated in game six of the 1948 World Series, scoring a run in the sixth inning on a walk en route to a 4–3 win for the Indians.[34]
The Indians planned to use Tucker as their fourth outfielder for the 1949 season when he served mostly as backup to Doby.[35] He was relegated mostly to pinch hitting duties, and finished the season with a .244 batting average in 20 games and under 200 at-bats.[9] Due to his hitting struggles, Indians manager Lou Boudreau tried converting Tucker to a switch hitter to start off the 1950 season.[36] Tucker was again set to be a backup outfielder in 1950. His performances during the year included hitting a home run, the only one he hit that season, in an 8–5 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers; the teams raised $60,000 in that game to benefit sandlot teams in Cleveland.[37] Tucker finished the season with a .178 batting average in 54 games, the lowest mark of his career.[9]
Tucker and Allie Clark were both looking to crack the Indians roster to begin the 1951 season, as the additions of Harry Simpson and Minnie Miñoso made it likely that one or both of them would be traded or released.[38] Tucker played only one game for the Indians, on April 29 when he recorded a strikeout in his lone at-bat.[9] In early May, the Indians sent him to their Triple-A minor league affiliate, the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League, a move that ended his major league career.[39]
After being sent to the Padres, Tucker completed the 1951 season with them. In 88 games, Tucker had two triples and a .222 batting average.[3] In the offseason, Tucker began to operate a taxicab in Texas, and he contemplated retirement from baseball during a contract in February 1952.[40] He did end up playing 47 games for the now-unaffiliated Padres, hitting .225 in the process.[3] In mid-June, the Padres sold his contract to the Oklahoma City Indians of the Texas League.[41] Tucker played in 72 games for the Indians that season, hitting .263.[3] He retired from baseball during the 1953 season, and did not play with any professional team during that time.
Tucker returned to baseball in 1954 to play for the Lubbock Hubbers of the West Texas-New Mexico League. He played part-time for the team, serving as a replacement when players needed time off, whether through injury or to spend time with their families.[42] He hit .360 in 25 games for the Hubbers.[3] The following year, he served as player-manager for the Carlsbad Potashers of the Longhorn League. He noted during his time there that the Hobbs Sports were the top team in heckling.[43] Tucker hit .275 in 114 games for the Potashers, hitting 25 doubles and eight home runs.[3] He continued as player-manager for the Potashers in 1956, but the management considered firing him during a 14-game losing streak.[44] He finished the year with a .306 batting average in 128 games. The following season, he was the player-manager of the Hobbs Sports, but only played in 16 games for them, hitting .273.[3] In 1958, he ended his playing career, and became the general manager of the Hobbs team.[45]
After retiring, Tucker became an insurance agent and lived in Oklahoma City with his wife and four children.[1] His son Ronald served in the Vietnam War.[1] In 1962, he also became one of the Houston Astros' first scouts.[46] Tucker died on May 7, 1993 in Oklahoma City and is buried at Gordon Cemetery in his hometown of Gordon, Texas.[9]
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