Daniel John Dobbek (December 6, 1934 – November 28, 2023) was an American

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 baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player. An

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 cat ...

, he played one full season and parts of two others for the Washington Senators /

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

franchise of

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), ...

; his only full major league campaign was in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

, as a member of the last edition of the 1901–1960 Washington Senators franchise that moved to the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...

for 1961. Dobbek appeared in 110 games for that team, including 58 in

center field A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the Baseball positions, baseball and softball fielding position between Left fielder, left field and Right fielder, right field. In the numberi ...

batting Batting may refer to: *Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs *Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ru ...

.218 in 288 at bats with 10

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 ...

and 30

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 bat ...

. Dobbek attended

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

and signed with Washington in 1955. He threw right-handed, batted left-handed, and was listed at and . His first professional season, with the 1956 Hobbs Sports of the Class B

Southwestern League The Southwestern League was the name of four former minor league baseball leagues that operated in the Southwestern United States. The second league, also known as the ''Oklahoma State League'', was in operation for the 1904 season. The third l ...

, was his finest: he batted .340 with 23 home runs in 129 games. He then missed the 1957–58 seasons due to military service. After hitting 23 home runs in the Southern Association, he was recalled from the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts in September 1959. But while Dobbek showed some power during his major league service, he batted only .208 in 198 games and 433 at bats, including a lowly .168 for the Twins in their 1961 debut season in Minnesota. He spent part of that season with the Twins' Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs affiliate, then was traded in a waiver deal to the

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 ...

for

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

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 196 ...

in January 1962. Dobbek spent the remainder of his playing career in the minors, retiring after the 1963 season. Dobbek also played for the Elefantes de Cienfuegos of the Cuban Winter League and was a member of the

1960 Caribbean Series The twelfth edition of the Caribbean Series (''Serie del Caribe'') was a baseball tournament held from February 10 through February 15, 1960 featuring the champion teams from Cuba (Cienfuegos), Panama (Marlboro), Puerto Rico (Caguas) and Venezuel ...

champion team. Dobbek died of congestive heart failure and complications of dementia on November 28, 2023, at the age of 88.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobbek, Dan 1934 births 2023 deaths Baseball players from Michigan Charlotte Hornets (baseball) players Chattanooga Lookouts players Cienfuegos players Hobbs Sports players Macon Peaches players Major League Baseball outfielders Minnesota Twins players People from Ontonagon, Michigan San Diego Padres (minor league) players Syracuse Chiefs players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Western Michigan Broncos baseball players Wilson Tobs players American expatriate baseball players in Cuba