Daniel Kravitz (December 21, 1930 – June 19, 2013) 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. He was a

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 ...

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), ...

from 1956–60 for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

and

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 seas ...

. Kravitz batted left-handed, threw right-handed, stood tall and weighed . Born in

Lopez, Pennsylvania Lopez is an unincorporated community located in Colley Township, Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, United States. The community is located on Pennsylvania Route 487. As of the 2010 census, the population of ZIP code 18628 was 501. Lopez is nam ...

, to Eva (Hubiak) and John Kravitz, Danny Kravitz was a reserve catcher for the Pirates from 1956 through 1959, and he also began the 1960 season with the Bucs, but was traded to the Athletics on June 1, 1960 for

Hank Foiles Henry Lee Foiles Jr. (born June 10, 1929) is an Americans, American former professional baseball player. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball between and . He had an eleven-year career for seven different teams in Major League Basebal ...

and therefore was not with the Pirates during the

1960 World Series The 1960 World Series was played between the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates season, Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League (NL) and the 1960 New York Yankees season, New York Yankees of the American League (AL) from October 5–13, 1960. In Game 7, ...

. With the Athletics the remainder of the season, Kravitz was part of a catching platoon with Pete Daley and received the most playing time of his career, batting .234 with 4

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 ...

s and 14

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 ...

in 175

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 ...

. After the 1960 season, his contract was sold 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 ...

. However, he never again played in the major leagues. Kravitz played three more seasons in the minor leagues before retiring. His first major league home run occurred on May 11, 1956 in the bottom of the ninth inning with the bases loaded and the Pirates trailing the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

5-2. Kravitz' walk-off grand slam gave the Pirates a 6-5 win. His MLB totals included 130

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

, with 22 doubles, seven

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

, ten home runs and 54

. He

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

.236 lifetime in 215

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

. He died on June 19, 2013.Obituary for Daniel Kravitz
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References

External links

* 1930 births 2013 deaths Baseball players from Pennsylvania Charleston Rebels players Columbus Jets players Greenville Pirates players Hollywood Stars players Jersey City Jerseys players Kansas City Athletics players Major League Baseball catchers Mayfield Clothiers players New Orleans Pelicans (baseball) players People from Sullivan County, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Pirates players Richmond Virginians (minor league) players Rochester Red Wings players Waco Pirates players {{US-baseball-catcher-1930s-stub