Robert Benjamin Schmidt (April 22, 1933 – May 2, 2015) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

, a

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 ...

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), ...

for seven seasons (1958–63; 1965) for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

, Cincinnati Reds, Washington Senators and

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

.Bob Schmidt at Baseball Reference
/ref> He threw and batted right-handed and was listed as tall and .

Major League career

Born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, Schmidt signed with the New York Giants in 1951, and rose methodically through their minor league system. He missed the 1953 and 1954 seasons due to military service, but when he returned to baseball he was selected all-star catcher in successive years in the Double-A

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

(1956) and the Triple-A

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

(1957). Concurrently the Giants' catchers of the 1950s,

Wes Westrum Wes or WES may refer to: * Westmorland, county in England, Chapman code __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Wes (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Wes Madiko (1964–2021), Cameroonian musi ...

Ray Katt Raymond Frederick Katt (May 9, 1927 – October 19, 1999) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball during the 1950s, and later became the longtime and highly successful head baseball c ...

and

Valmy Thomas Valmy Thomas (October 21, 1925 – October 16, 2010) was a Major League Baseball catcher. Thomas was the first Virgin Islander to play in the major leagues; his mother gave birth to Thomas in Santurce, Puerto Rico, because of better medical care ...

, were aging or proving ineffective, and the franchise itself transferred to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. As a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

with the 1958 San Francisco Giants, Schmidt was selected to be on the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

team in the 1958 All-Star Game. On August 31, 1958, Schmidt hit a

home run 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 ...

and had six

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 ...

against future Baseball Hall of Fame member,

Sandy Koufax Sanford Koufax (; born Sanford Braun; December 30, 1935) is an American former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played his entire career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966. He has been hailed as one of t ...

, of 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 ...

, including a first- inning

grand slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

. But by , Schmidt was sharing the Giants' catching job with left-handed-hitting

Hobie Landrith Hobart Neal Landrith (born March 16, 1930) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1950 through 1963 for the Cincinnati Reds/Redlegs, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, San Franci ...

. In

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

, he was traded with

Don Blasingame Donald Lee Blasingame (March 16, 1932 – April 13, 2005), nicknamed "Blazer", was an American professional baseball second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1955–1959), San Francisco Giants (1960� ...

and

Sherman Jones Sherman Jarvis Jones (February 10, 1935 – February 21, 2007), nicknamed "Roadblock", was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who went on to a career in Kansas politics. He was listed at tall and . Baseball Career Born i ...

to the Cincinnati Reds for catcher

Ed Bailey Lonas Edgar Bailey, Jr. (April 15, 1931 – March 23, 2007) was an American professional baseball player and later served on the Knoxville, Tennessee city council. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from through . A six-time All-S ...

. Schmidt appeared in 27 games as a reserve to regular catcher

Jerry Zimmerman Gerald Robert Zimmerman (September 21, 1934 – September 9, 1998) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played all or part of eight seasons in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds and Minnesota Twins from 1961 to ...

during the Reds' pennant-winning season of 1961, but he batted only .129, spent part of the year at Triple-A, and was not included on the post-season roster when the Reds lost to the 1961 Yankees in the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

. In

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

he was traded along with

Dave Stenhouse David Rotchford Stenhouse (born September 12, 1933) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Washington Senators from to . Stenhouse batted and threw right-handed. Stenhouse attended Westerly High School, where he was ca ...

to the Washington Senators for

Marty Keough Richard Martin Keough (born April 14, 1934) is an American former professional baseball player. He played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox (1956–60), Cleveland Indians (1960), Washington Senators (1961), Cincinn ...

and

Johnny Klippstein John Calvin Klippstein (October 17, 1927 – October 10, 2003) was an American professional baseball pitcher (mostly a reliever), who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for a number of teams, over an 18-season career. The most prominent portio ...

. Schmidt ended his career with the New York Yankees in 1965.

Career statistics

In a seven-year major league career, Schmidt played in 454 games, accumulating 317 hits in 1,305

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 ...

for a .243 career batting average along with 39

s and 150

. Schmidt led the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

in fielding percentage in while playing for the Senators. He had a career fielding percentage of .988. He holds the Major League record for most putouts in an

extra inning Extra innings is the extension of a baseball or softball game in order to break a tie. Ordinarily, a baseball game consists of nine regulation innings (in softball and high school baseball games there are typically seven innings; in Little Lea ...

game with 22, set on June 22, .June 22, 1958 Giants-Phillies box score at Baseball Digest
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Bob 1933 births 2015 deaths Baseball players from St. Louis Cincinnati Reds players Dallas Eagles players Danville Leafs players Indianapolis Indians players Lenoir Red Sox players Major League Baseball catchers New York Yankees players Oshkosh Giants players Richmond Virginians (minor league) players San Francisco Giants players Toledo Mud Hens players Washington Senators (1961–1971) players