Clarence "Choo-Choo" Coleman (August 25, 1937 – August 15, 2016) was an American professional baseball

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 ...

, who played

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 Philadelphia Phillies and

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

Career

Clarence Coleman was born in Orlando, Florida on August 25, 1937. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Washington Senators at age 18. He was released by the Senators and signed by 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 ...

, then taken by the Philadelphia Phillies in the rule V draft. In 1961, he appeared in 34 games for the Phillies, getting hit by a pitch in his first Major League plate appearance. He batted only .128 for the Phillies that year in 47 at bats. The Phillies finished in last place that year, a spot soon to be taken by the expansion

. In the offseason the Mets selected Coleman in the

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansio ...

. He played parts of three seasons for the Mets, hitting .205 in 415 at bats. The authors of '' The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book'', Brendan C. Boyd & Fred C. Harris, Little Brown & Co, 1973, had this to say about Coleman on p. 37, next to a picture of his baseball card: "Choo-Choo Coleman was the quintessence of the early New York Mets. He was a 5'8", 160-pound catcher who never hit over .250 in the majors, had 9 career home runs, 30 career RBIs, and couldn't handle pitchers. Plus his name was Choo-Choo. What more could you ask for?"

Casey Stengel Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel (; July 30, 1890 – September 29, 1975) was an American Major League Baseball right fielder and manager, best known as the manager of the championship New York Yankees of the 1950s and later, the expansion New Y ...

once complimented Coleman's speed, saying that he'd never seen a catcher so fast at retrieving passed balls.

After baseball

Upon retirement, Coleman moved back to his home town of Orlando. After his first wife died, Coleman married into a family who owned a

Chinese restaurant A Chinese restaurant is an establishment that serves a Chinese cuisine. Most of them are in the Cantonese style, due to the history of the Chinese diaspora and adapted to local taste preferences, as in the American Chinese cuisine and Canad ...

Newport News Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. For over two decades, Coleman helped run the business and occasionally worked as a cook. Coleman eventually retired to

Bamberg, South Carolina Bamberg is a city in and the county seat of Bamberg County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 3,607 at the 2010 census. History Bamberg is named after early resident William Seaborn Bamberg. Members of the Bamberg family contin ...

where he lived in obscurity until 2012 when he was invited to the Mets 50th anniversary celebration in New York. During the event Coleman both confirmed and denied some of the stories told about him. During an interview, he also revealed that his friends gave him his nickname "Choo Choo" because as a child "I was fast." Coleman died on August 15, 2016 in Orangeburg, South Carolina after a battle with cancer.

References

External links

Choo-Choo Coleman
at Baseball Almanac
Choo-Choo Coleman
at Baseball Gauge
Choo-Choo Coleman
at Ultimate Mets Database *

New York Times Obituary {{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Choo Choo 1937 births 2016 deaths 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people African-American baseball players Baseball players from Orlando, Florida Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Deaths from cancer in South Carolina Jacksonville Suns players Macon Dodgers players Major League Baseball catchers Montreal Royals players New York Mets players Orlando Dodgers players Orlando Seratomas players Philadelphia Phillies players Spokane Indians players Syracuse Chiefs players Tidewater Tides players