Alfred Frederick Joseph Platte (April 13, 1890 – August 29, 1976), was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player. He played professional baseball for 17 years from 1910 to 1926, including nine games in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

with the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

during their 1913 season. He appeared in 1,755 minor league baseball games between 1910 and 1926 and had 1,983 hits for a .313 batting average.

Early years

Platte was born in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

, in 1890.

Professional baseball

Platte began his professional baseball career playing for the Cadillac Chiefs in the

Michigan State League The Michigan State League was a minor league baseball league that operated in various seasons between 1889 and 1941. The league franchises were based exclusively in Michigan, with the league forming on six different occasions. Twenty two different ...

from 1910 to 1912. He compiled batting averages of .339 in 1911 and .346 in 1912. He advanced to the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

, playing for the

Providence Grays The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National Leagu ...

from 1912 to 1914. He compiled a .306 batting average in 1913. At the end of the 1913 season, Platte played for the

. He made his major league debut on September 1 and appeared in his last major league game on September 18. He appeared in nine games, five as the backup left fielder, and the rest as a pinch-hitter and pinch-runner, and compiled a .111 career batting average. He returned to Providence in 1914 and compiled a .318 average with 23 triples in 597

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s. Platte continued to play in the minor leagues until 1926, including stints with the

Louisville Colonels The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that also played in the American Association (AA) throughout that league's ten-year existence from 1882 until 1891. They were known as the Louisville Eclipse from 1882 to 1884, and as ...

(1915-1917), Chattanooga Lookouts (1917), Kansas City Blues (1918), Omaha Rourkes (1920), and Peoria Tractors (1921-1926). His best season was 1922 when he appeared in 124 games for Peoria in the Three-Eye League and compiled a .369 batting average with 59 extra base hits, including 23 triples.

Later years

Platte died in 1976 at age 86 in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Platte, Al Detroit Tigers players Baseball players from Grand Rapids, Michigan Major League Baseball left fielders 1890 births 1976 deaths Cadillac Chiefs players Providence Grays (minor league) players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Chattanooga Lookouts players Omaha Rourkes players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Peoria Tractors players Elmira Colonels players Dubuque Speasmen players