Johnny Riddle

John Ludy Riddle (October 3, 1905 – December 15, 1998) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Chicago White Sox (1930), Washington Senators (1937), Boston Bees (1937–1938), Cincinnati Reds (1941, 1944–1945), and the Pittsburgh Pirates (1948). At the age of 42 in 1948 (as a player/coach), he was the oldest player to appear in a National League game that season. His younger brother was major league pitcher Elmer Riddle.

Johnny Riddle was born in Clinton, South Carolina. His playing career was unusual in that not only did he once go seven years between major league appearances, it also took a span of nineteen years to appear in seven major league seasons. In those seven seasons, he got into only 98 games, an average of 14 per year.

He made his major league debut on April 17, 1930 (Opening Day) against the Cleveland Indians at Comiskey Park. His last game was September 11, 1948 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. In his MLB career he was 51-for-214 (.238) with 4 doubles, 1 triple, 11 runs batted in, and 18 runs scored. On defense he made only 5 errors and had a good fielding percentage of .983.

He spent a 10¹⁄₂ years as a coach in the National League, for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1948–1950), St. Louis Cardinals (1952–1955), Milwaukee Braves (1956–1957), Cincinnati Redlegs (1958), and Philadelphia Phillies (1959). He won a World Series championship with the Braves in 1957.

Riddle died at the age of 93 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

See also

• List of St. Louis Cardinals coaches

References

• 1953 Baseball Register published by The Sporting News

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Retrosheet