Jarvis Tatum (October 11, 1946 – January 6, 2003) 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
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 is ...
. A native of
Fresno, California
Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...
, he was 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 ...
who threw and batted
right-handed
In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...
, stood tall and weighed . Tatum appeared in 102
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), ...
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 ...
, primarily as a
center fielder
A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the c ...
, over parts of three seasons for the
California Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...
(1968–1970).
Tatum was selected by the Angels in the 16th round of the
1965 Major League Baseball Draft
The 1965 Major League Baseball Draft is the first year in which a draft took place for Major League Baseball. It was held on June 8–9 in New York City.
In Major League Baseball's first Free Agent Amateur Draft, the Kansas City Athletics selec ...
after graduating from Fresno's
Edison High School. His first two partial seasons in MLB came in post-September-1 trials with the Angels, when rosters expanded to 40 players. But in , Tatum spent all but 13 games on the Angels'
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
roster. Getting into 75 games, with 44 starts in the outfield, he
batted .238. However, he failed to hit for power (with only seven
extra base hits
In baseball, an extra-base hit (EB, EBH or XBH), also known as a long hit, is any base hit on which the batter is able to advance past first base without the benefit of a fielder either committing an error or opting to make a throw to retire anot ...
, all
doubles) and
stole only one base. On October 11, 1970, the Angels packaged him with
second baseman Doug Griffin
Douglas Lee Griffin (June 4, 1947 – July 27, 2016) was an American professional baseball second baseman who played for the California Angels and Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Early life
Griffin played high school baseball at ...
and
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 ...
Ken Tatum
Kenneth Ray Tatum (born April 25, 1944) is an American retired professional baseball player. A right-handed relief pitcher, he appeared in 176 games pitched (all but two in a bullpen role) over six seasons (1969–74) for the California Angels ...
(no relation) to the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
for slugging outfielder
Tony Conigliaro
Anthony Richard Conigliaro (January 7, 1945 – February 24, 1990), nicknamed "Tony C" and "Conig", was a Major League Baseball outfielder and right-handed batter who played for the Boston Red Sox (1964–1967, 1969–1970, 1975) and California ...
, pitcher
Ray Jarvis and
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 ...
Gerry Moses. Jarvis Tatum never reported to the Red Sox; after getting his release from Boston in April 1971, he played for Yakult in the
Japanese Central League for one year. He returned to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
for a brief appearance at the
Triple-A level in 1972 and the
Mexican League
The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country.
The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...
in 1973.
As a big leaguer, Tatum batted .232 with 59 hits, 51 of them
singles
Singles are people not in a committed relationship.
Singles may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series
* ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe
* ''Singles'' ...
, and eight
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 ...
. He died at age 56 in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
.
External links
1946 births
2003 deaths
African-American baseball players
Algodoneros de Unión Laguna players
American expatriate baseball players in Japan
California Angels players
El Paso Sun Kings players
Hawaii Islanders players
Major League Baseball center fielders
Quad Cities Angels players
Seattle Angels players
Baseball players from Fresno, California
Yakult Atoms players
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people
American expatriate baseball players in Mexico
Florida Instructional League Phillies players
Arizona Instructional League Angels players
San Jose Bees players
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