Robert Virgil Swift (March 6, 1915 – October 17, 1966) was an

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professional baseball player,

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and

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. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher, standing tall and weighing . He threw and batted right-handed. Swift is pictured in one of the most famous photographs in American sporting history. He was the catcher for 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 ...

on August 19, 1951, when St. Louis Browns owner

Bill Veeck William Louis Veeck Jr. ( ; February 9, 1914 – January 2, 1986), also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was an American Major League Baseball franchise owner and promoter. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Br ...

sent midget Eddie Gaedel to pinch hit during an actual MLB game. The stunt occurred in the second game of a doubleheader at Sportsman's Park, inspired by the James Thurber short story ''You Could Look It Up''. Gaedel was allowed to bat when the Browns showed the umpires a legitimate baseball contract issued by the American League office. Swift knelt on the ground to receive pitcher

Bob Cain Robert Max "Sugar" Cain (October 16, 1924 – April 8, 1997) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher with the Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Browns between 1949 and 1954. He batted and threw left-handed. Cain was the pitc ...

's offerings—it is this kneeling stance that is captured in the photo—and Gaedel took a

base on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

. He was immediately replaced at first base by a

pinch runner In baseball, a pinch runner is a player substituted for the specific purpose of replacing another player on base. The pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base-running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been sub ...

and he never appeared in a big league game again.

Playing career

While Gaedel was a novice, Swift, a native of Salina, Kansas, played 14 consecutive seasons (1940–53) in the big leagues and all or parts of 22 years in professional baseball (1934–53; 1955–56). During his big-league career, he toiled for the Browns (1940–42),

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oaklan ...

(1942–43) and Tigers (1944–53), appearing in 1,001 games and

hitting A strike is a directed physical attack with either a part of the human body or with an inanimate object (such as a weapon) intended to cause blunt trauma or penetrating trauma upon an opponent. There are many different varieties of strikes. A ...

.231. His 635

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included 86 doubles, three

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and 14

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

. Defensively, he recorded a .985

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

. Swift was primarily a second-string catcher, although he started 83 of the 1945 world champion Tigers' official American League games. During the seven-game

1945 World Series The 1945 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1945 season. The 42nd edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion Detroit Tigers against the National League champion Chicago Cubs. T ...

, however, he started only in Game 3, with Paul Richards handling that assignment in the remaining six contests.

Coaching and managing career

Swift became a coach and

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manager upon the end of his MLB playing career, coaching for the Tigers (1953–54; 1963–66), Kansas City Athletics (1957–59), and Washington Senators (1960). During the 1959 season, Swift filled in for Kansas City manager Harry Craft when Craft missed 15 games due to illness, and the Athletics won ten straight games and went 13–2. But Swift was bypassed at season's end when the A's changed managers.Newspaper article
The Associated Press, October 17, 1966 Swift was in his second stint as a Detroit coach in when manager Chuck Dressen was felled by a mild heart attack during

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

. As acting manager, Swift led Detroit to a 24–18 record until Dressen was able to return to duty on May 31. The next season, on May 16, 1966, Dressen suffered his second coronary in as many seasons. Again, Swift took the reins, but in mid-July (with the Tigers 32–25 under his command) he fell ill and was hospitalized during the All-Star game break for what appeared to be food poisoning. Tests revealed, however, that Swift was suffering from inoperable lung cancer. Coach Frank Skaff took over July 14 as the team's second acting manager and finished the campaign. Three months after stepping aside, on October 17, Bob Swift died in Detroit at the age of 51. (Dressen had predeceased him, on August 10.) His record in 1965–66 as an interim manager was 56–43 (.566), giving him a career record of 69–45 (.605).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, Bob 1915 births 1966 deaths Albuquerque Dukes players Augusta Tigers players Baseball players from Kansas Charleston Senators players Deaths from lung cancer in Michigan Detroit Tigers coaches Detroit Tigers managers Detroit Tigers players Detroit Tigers scouts Henderson Oilers players Kansas City Athletics coaches Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball pitching coaches Major League Baseball third base coaches Muskogee Tigers players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Palatka Azaleas players Philadelphia Athletics players St. Louis Browns players San Antonio Missions players Seattle Rainiers players Sportspeople from Salina, Kansas Syracuse Chiefs managers Washington Senators (1901–1960) coaches