James Herschel Kirby (May 5, 1923 – July 17, 2009) was a

pinch-hitter 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, America ...

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), ...

who played 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 ...

during the season. Listed at , 175 lb., Kirby batted and threw right-handed. He was born in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. Kirby began his career in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

in 1942, but missed the next three years due to military service. Returning to baseball action in 1946 he played until 1958, compiling 13 years of Post-World War II, including another nine and a half seasons after being drafted by the Cubs in the 1948 rule 5 draft. In three major league games, Kirby had one hit in two at-bats for a .500 career

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

. Kirby died in his home town of Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 86.

External links

Baseball Almanac
Chicago Cubs players United States Army personnel of World War II Baseball players from Nashville, Tennessee 1923 births 2009 deaths Nashville Vols players Allentown Red Sox players Augusta Rams players Bluefield Blue-Grays players Burials in Tennessee Cordele Reds players Dallas Eagles players Gainesville Owls players Landis Senators players Paris Indians players Port Arthur Sea Hawks players Shreveport Sports players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players Tyler East Texans players Tyler Trojans players {{US-baseball-bio-stub