Charles Frederick "Boots" Day (born August 31, 1947) is an American former professional

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 t ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

. He played 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), ...

(MLB) for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, Chicago Cubs, and

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

. Until recently, Day was bench coach for the

Evansville Otters The Evansville Otters are a professional baseball team based in Evansville, Indiana. They compete in the West Division of the independent Frontier League. Since their establishment in 1995, the Otters have played at historic Bosse Field, which o ...

of the

Frontier League The Frontier League is a professional independent baseball league with teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Formed in 1993, it is the oldest currently running independent league in the United States. The le ...

. A native of Ilion, New York, Day played

for all or parts of six seasons (1969–74), with the bulk of that time spent with the

. He threw and batted left-handed, stood tall and weighed .

Biography

Day originally signed with the

in 1966, and received a major league trial with the Cardinals in

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, playing in 11 games and going hitless in six

at bats 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 ...

. At the close of the season, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for left-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Rich Nye. He made the Cubs' opening day

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

roster, but was soon traded again, in May, to Montreal for veteran

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

Jack Hiatt Jack E. Hiatt (born July 27, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player and minor league manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1964 to 1972, most prominently as a member of the San Francisco Giants. After his ...

. After further seasoning in Triple-A, at Buffalo and

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

, he was recalled by the Expos and played the next three-plus seasons as Montreal's

platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may rang ...

center fielder. In 1971, his best major league season, he reached career highs in hits (105), home runs (4),

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

(33), and

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(.283) in 122 games played. After slumping in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

, he returned to form the following season, batting .275 in 101 games in

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

. But the following season, after the Expos acquired veteran center fielder Willie Davis in an offseason blockbuster trade with the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

, Day lost his semi-regular job. After only 52 games and 72 at-bats in 1974, he returned to the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in No ...

for the remainder of his playing career. His #8 uniform was then issued to rookie

Gary Carter in 1975; Carter went on to a Baseball Hall of Fame career and the Expos retired the number in his honour. Day appeared in 471 MLB games (449 of them with Montreal), and batted .256 with 295 hits, 28 doubles, eight home runs and 98 runs batted in, in 1,151 at-bats.

Coaching career

After finishing his playing career in the Detroit Tigers' organization, he became a scout, minor league manager and instructor in the Detroit system. He also scouted for the Kansas City Royals. He was also the first ever manager for the

of the

in 1995. In 2010, he was the hitting coach of the

Calgary Vipers The Calgary Vipers were a professional baseball team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They were part of the Western Division of the independent North American League. The Vipers played all of their home games at Foothills Stadium. Previously, ...

of the

Golden Baseball League The Golden Baseball League was an independent baseball league based in San Ramon, California, with teams located in the western United States, western Canada and northwest Mexico. The GBL was not affiliated with Major League Baseball or the orga ...

and in 2011 he held the same position with the Normal CornBelters of the

. In 2012, Day returned to the Otters as a hitting coach, later becoming the bench coach and remaining with the club through the 2021 season. Day retired from coaching on September 13, 2021, age 74, after a winning game with the Evansville Otters against the Lake Erie Crushers with a final score of 3–1. Day was lead off batter for the game.

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
o
Pura Pelota
{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Boots 1947 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Arkansas Travelers players Baseball players from New York (state) Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Cangrejeros de Santurce (baseball) players Chicago Cubs players Detroit Tigers scouts Evansville Triplets players Florida Instructional League Cardinals players Kansas City Royals scouts Lakeland Tigers players Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente outfielders Major League Baseball outfielders Minor league baseball managers Montreal Expos players Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela People from Ilion, New York Rock Hill Cardinals players St. Louis Cardinals players St. Petersburg Cardinals players Tigres de Aragua players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players Winnipeg Whips players