Clyde Eugene "Jersey" Beck (January 6, 1900 - July 15, 1988) was a right-handed

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

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 the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

and

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

from 1926 to 1931. Beck spent the first five seasons of his career with the Cubs. After making his major league debut on May 19, 1926, Beck was used as a reserve second baseman for the Cubs, playing in 30 games and finishing with a .198

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 ...

, only one extra-base 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 4 RBI. The next season, he was in the Cubs' lineup more often than not, playing in 117 games. He saw some time at third base and shortstop as well as his familiar second base position. His .258 average would prove to be the best of his career, as would his tally of doubles (20) and triples (5). During the 1928 campaign, Beck saw considerably more time at third base (87 games) and shortstop (47 games) than second base (1 game).

Freddie Maguire Frederick Edward Maguire (May 10, 1899 – November 3, 1961) was an American professional baseball player and scout. He played six years as a second baseman in Major League Baseball: 1922–23 with the New York Giants, 1928 with the Chicago Cubs, ...

had become the everyday second sacker, but Beck had certainly become an infield fixture for the Cubs. He posted career highs in at-bats, runs, hits, and RBI, batting a solid .257 as Chicago fell just four wins short of first place and a trip to 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 1929,

Rogers Hornsby Rogers Hornsby Sr. (April 27, 1896 – January 5, 1963), nicknamed "The Rajah", was an American baseball infielder, manager, and coach who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1915–1926, 1933 ...

Norm McMillan Norman Alexis "Bub" McMillan (October 5, 1895 – September 28, 1969) was an American Major League Baseball shortstop, third baseman and second baseman with the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Browns and the Chicago Cubs between 1922 ...

and

Woody English Elwood George English (March 2, 1906 – September 26, 1997) was an American professional baseball shortstop and third baseman. He played twelve seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1927 and 1938 for the Chicago Cubs and Brooklyn Dodgers ...

proved to be a dependable trio of infielders for the club and Beck was again relegated to backup status. He played in just 54 games and batted only .211, collecting a mere seven extra-base hits all year, all of them doubles. Though the Cubs made the World Series after the season, Beck did not appear in any of the Series' five games as the

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 ...

won four games to one. Beck saw some increased playing time in 1930; in fact, he played more games at shortstop than any Cub except English, who split his time almost evenly between shortstop and third base. He also saw somewhat of a power surge, hitting a career-high six home runs in 244 at-bats. In fact, that matched the total number of home runs he'd hit in 1,145 at-bats over his first four seasons. However, his batting average was again low at .213, and the Cubs put Beck on waivers after the season ended. Claimed by the Cincinnati Reds for 1931, Beck found himself as a backup third baseman and occasional shortstop, and his numbers plummeted. He managed to hit just .154 in 53 games and played his last game in the majors on September 11, 1931. Beck died on July 15, 1988 in

Temple City, California Temple City, officially the City of Temple City, is a city in Los Angeles County, California located northeast of downtown Los Angeles and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. Temple City is part of a cluster of cities, along with Pasadena ...

References

Baseball-reference page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beck, Clyde 1900 births 1988 deaths Baseball players from California Chicago Cubs players Cincinnati Reds players Major League Baseball infielders Gardena High School alumni Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Milwaukee Brewers (AA) players Mission Reds players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Seattle Indians players St. Paul Saints (AA) players Wichita Izzies players