Donald Leon Choate (July 2, 1938 – February 4, 2018) 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. The right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

appeared in four Major League

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

, all in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

, 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 Yor ...

in . He stood tall and weighed . Choate was originally signed by the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, and posted a 19–8 record in his second professional season with the Class C

Billings Mustangs The Billings Mustangs are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. They are located in Billings, Montana, and have played their home games at Dehler ...

in 1957. After splitting the next year between Double-A and Triple-A Cardinal affiliates he was traded to Giants as a prospect as part of a major off-season trade that netted

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

Bill White, future

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 s ...

president, for the Redbirds. White became a star player — a five-time NL All Star and seven-time

Gold Glove The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in bo ...

winner — as well as a team leader of the 1964 world champion Cardinals. Choate's only Major League service came in September 1960 when he was recalled from the Triple-A Tacoma Giants. In eight MLB

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

, he gave up two

earned runs In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an err ...

, seven hits and four

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

, with seven

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

. He hurt his shoulder moving a cabinet out of spring training in 1961. The cabinet opened and caught him on his shoulder.

Personal life and death

Choate had four children with his wife, Norma, who preceded him in death in 1995. After his professional career in baseball ended, due to an injury to his pitching arm, Choate became a firefighter in East St. Louis, Illinois, retiring after 27 years. Choate died at his home on February 4, 2018 of lung cancer, at the age of 79.

References

External links

1938 births 2018 deaths Baseball players from Missouri Billings Mustangs players Houston Buffaloes players Major League Baseball pitchers People from Potosi, Missouri Omaha Cardinals players Peoria Chiefs players Phoenix Giants players San Francisco Giants players Tacoma Giants players Deaths from cancer in Illinois Deaths from lung cancer {{US-baseball-pitcher-1930s-stub