Eric Hugh Mackenzie (born August 29, 1932) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

retired

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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

. A former

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 ...

, he played professional ball for eight seasons, but appeared in only one Major League game and had only one at bat for the

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 sea ...

in . He batted left-handed, threw right-handed and was listed as tall and (13

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

, 3 pounds). Mackenzie's career extended from 1951 to 1958 and included 632 games played, all but 105 of them in the Athletics' organisation. He signed with them when the team was still based in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, and made his debut and lone appearance with them during their inaugural season in Kansas City. On April 23, 1955, against the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

at Municipal Stadium, he

pinch hit In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, Americ ...

for A's catcher Joe Astroth in the eighth inning against

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 ...

Harry Dorish Harry "Fritz" Dorish (July 13, 1921 – December 31, 2000) was an American professional baseball player. Born in Swoyersville, Pennsylvania, he was a right-handed pitcher over all or parts of ten Major League seasons (1947–56) with the Boston ...

and grounded out to second baseman

Nellie Fox Jacob Nelson “Nellie” Fox (December 25, 1927 – December 1, 1975) was an American professional baseball player. Fox was one of the best second basemen of all time, and the third-most difficult hitter to strike out in Major League Baseball (M ...

. Mackenzie stayed in the game and caught the ninth inning. Chicago thrashed Kansas City, 29–6.1955.04.23 box score
from

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

Mackenzie then split the remainder of the season between the Class A Savannah Athletics and the Class B

Lancaster Red Roses The Lancaster Red Roses baseball team, originally known as the Maroons, changed its name at the start of the 1906 season during a bitter match with the York, Pennsylvania-based White Roses. Some sources indicate that the rival teams were named fo ...

. He currently lives in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.

References

External links

Baseball Reference page on Eric Mackenzie

Eric Mackenzie Baseball Stats by Baseball Almanac
1932 births Amarillo Gold Sox players Baseball people from Alberta Binghamton Triplets players Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Columbia Gems players Kansas City Athletics players Lancaster Red Roses players Living people Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball players from Canada Rome Colonels players St. Hyacinthe A's players Savannah A's players Tarboro A's players {{Canada-baseball-catcher-stub