John Ralph Warner (August 29, 1903 – March 13, 1986) was an American baseball

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. ...

. He played professional baseball player from 1921 to 1946, including eight seasons in Major League Baseball with the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

(1925–1928),

Brooklyn Robins The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californi ...

(1929–1931), and

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 ...

(1932).

Early years

Warner was born in Evansville, Indiana, in 1903.

Professional baseball

Minor leagues

Warner began playing professional baseball in 1921 for Waynesboro in the Blue Ridge League. From 1923 to 1925, he played for the Vernon Tigers in the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

. He compiled a .303 batting average in 159 games for Vernon in 1924 and .296 in 166 games in 1925.

Detroit Tigers

Warner made his major league debut with the

at age 22 on September 24, 1925. He became the Tigers' regular third baseman for the 1926 and 1927 seasons. His best year was 1927, when he appeared in 138 games at third base and finished among the American League leaders in at bats (559), outs (431), and

hit by pitch In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provided ...

(6). In the 1927 season, he also scored 78 runs and had 149 hits, including 32 extra base hits, 45

RBI RBI most often refers to: *Reserve Bank of India *Run batted in RBI may also refer to: Organisations *Radio Berlin International *Raiffeisen Bank International *Reed Business Information *Restaurant Brands International *Ruđer Bošković In ...

s, and 14

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

s. Warner did not hit for high average (.250 career batting average), but he was adept at drawing walks and had

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

s of .381, .342, and .330 in his first three major league seasons.

Brooklyn and Philadelphia

Warner spent most of the 1929 season with Toledo, compiling a .330 batting average in 145 games. He joined the Brooklyn Robins late in the 1929 season. In three seasons with the Robins, Warner became a utility infielder, playing in 47 games in three years. He finished his career with the Phillies in 1933, where he played in 107 games, mostly at second base, but saw his batting average drop to .224. Warner played his final major league game on September 30, 1933. Over his eight-year major league career, Warner appeared in 478 major games, including 334 games at third base, 71 at second base and 30 at shortstop. He had 949 assists, 582 putouts, 482 total bases, 387 hits, 199 runs, 120

s, 73 extra base hits, and one home run.

Later years

Warner was married to Wave (Bruce) Warner in approximately 1925.Census entry for John R. Warner, age 37, pro baseball player. Census Place: San Francisco, San Francisco, California; Roll: T627_308; Page: 63A; Enumeration District: 38-280. Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census atabase on-line They lived in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, by the time of the 1930 U. S. Census.Census entry for Frank Bruce and family. Son-in-law Jack Warner, age 26, employed by the Brooklyn ball club. Census Place: Mount Vernon, Jefferson, Illinois; Roll: 521; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 0017; Image: 732.0; FHL microfilm: 2340256. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census atabase on-line After his playing career, Warner was a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

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 managed and coached in their

farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

. He spent 12 seasons as a coach for the Los Angeles Angels of the

, a longtime Cub farm team, and also scouted for other MLB organizations. Warner died in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, at age 82 in 1986.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warner, Jack 1903 births 1986 deaths Brooklyn Robins players Chicago Cubs scouts Detroit Tigers players Galax Leafs players Jersey City Skeeters players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) managers Los Angeles Dodgers scouts Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball third basemen Minor league baseball coaches Montreal Expos scouts New York Yankees scouts Oakland Oaks (baseball) players People from Mount Vernon, Illinois Philadelphia Phillies players St. Paul Saints (AA) players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Baseball players from Evansville, Indiana Toledo Mud Hens players Vernon Tigers players Waynesboro Villagers players Zanesville Cubs players