Joseph Lawrence Abreu (May 24, 1913 – March 17, 1993) was an American

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), ...

infielder. He played nine seasons in

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 ...

, one at the major league level. He served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during World War II.

Early life

Abreu was the sixth of nine children in his family, and his parents immigrated from Portugal in 1906. He was born on May 24, 1913, in Oakland, California. Abreu had three brothers who were professional boxers. Abreu graduated from

McClymonds High School McClymonds High School is a public high school in the West Oakland neighborhood of Oakland, California, United States. In addition to being the third oldest high school in Oakland, it is the only comprehensive high school in West Oakland, opera ...

in 1934, and after graduation, Abreu coached a local American Legion Baseball team. He spent the summer of 1935 working as a

handyman A handyman, also known as a fixer, handyperson or handyworker, is a person skilled at a wide range of repairs, typically around the home. These tasks include trade skills, repair work, maintenance work, are both interior and exterior, and are so ...

at wholesale liquor firm in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. That summer, he played semi-professional baseball with the Central Banks of the Berkeley City League where he attracted attention from many professional scouts.

Professional career

New York Yankees

In , Abreu began his professional career with the Yakima Pippins where he batted .396, helping them win the

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Basebal ...

pennant. The next season, Abreu split time between the Class-B Spokane Hawks, and the Class-AA Oakland Oaks. With the Hawks, he hit .324 with 23 doubles, 12 triples, and 4 home runs in 91 games. He led the team in triples, was second in batting average, and was third in doubles. With the Oaks that season, Abreu batted .148 with 1 double, and 1 triple in 19 games. In , Abreu spent the entire season with the Oaks. He batted .299 with 28 doubles, 4 triples, and 11 home runs in 167 games. He led the Oaks in home runs, and was second in doubles that season. The next season, , he again spent the entire season with the Oaks batting .288 with 14 doubles, 9 triples, and 4 home runs in 140 games. Abreu played for the Class-A-1

Fort Worth Cats The Fort Worth Cats was a professional baseball team based in Fort Worth, Texas, in the United States. The Cats were a member of the South Division of the now disbanded United League Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Basebal ...

of the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

in . He batted .250 with 27 doubles, 6 triples, and 10 home runs in 158 games. Abreu began the season with the Fort Worth Cats and batted .235 with 3 triples in 13 games. He spent the second half of the 1941 season with the Milwaukee Brewers in the Chicago Cubs organization. He batted .284 with 12 doubles, 2 triples, and 11 home runs in 100 games.

Cincinnati Reds

Abreu was participating in spring training with the Brewers in when he learned by

telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

that he had been sold to the

Los Angeles 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 h ...

, and a week later was sold to the Birmingham Barons, who sent him to their parent club, the Cincinnati Reds. He made his major league debut on April 23, 1942, against the Pittsburgh Pirates. His next game, he hit his first home run off of

Lefty Wilkie Aldon Jay "Lefty" Wilkie (October 30, 1914 – August 5, 1992) was a Canadian-born professional baseball player. The native of Zealandia, Saskatchewan, was a left-handed pitcher who worked in 68 games pitched, 12 as a starter, in the Major Le ...

. In 9 games with the Reds, Abreu batted .214 with 1 double, 1 home run, and 3

RBIs 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 ...

Return to the Yankees

On July 16, 1942, the Reds traded Abreu along with Jim Turner to the New York Yankees with Frankie Kelleher. He was assigned to the Class-AA

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American minor league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. T ...

and that season Abreu batted .236 with 4 doubles, and 1 triple in 30 games.

World War II

Abreu began his service with the United States Navy in 1943. During his service in World War II, Abreu was stationed at Livermore Naval Air Station in California. In service, Abreu continued to play baseball in the Army and Navy League where he was selected as an All-Star. He also played with the Golden Glows of the Alameda Summer and Winter leagues. Abreu was coached under then-Reds'

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 ...

Ray Lamanno on the Livermore Naval Air Station baseball team, and he played with major leaguers

Bill Rigney William Joseph Rigney (January 29, 1918 – February 20, 2001) was an American infielder and manager in Major League Baseball. A 26-year big-league veteran, Rigney played for the New York Giants from to , then spent 18 seasons as the skipper o ...

Cookie Lavagetto Harry Arthur "Cookie" Lavagetto (December 1, 1912 – August 10, 1990) was an American professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a third baseman from 1934 to 1947. Lavagetto started his majo ...

, and

Ray Scarborough Rae Wilson Scarborough (July 23, 1917 – July 1, 1982) was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Washington Senators (1942–1943 and 1946–1950), Chicago White Sox (1950), Boston Red Sox (1951–52), New York Yankees ( ...

Later career

Abreu returned to professional baseball after the war. He was assigned to the Class-D Wellsville Yankees where he began his career as a

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

in . He batted .352 with 24 doubles, 1 triple, and 21 home runs in 106 games. Abreu was tied for first in the Pennsylvania–Ontario–New York League in home runs that season. After the season, Abreu was given an unconditional release. The next season, , Abreu split the season between the Class-D Newnan Brownies of the

Georgia–Alabama League The Georgia–Alabama League was a minor league baseball league that operated in its two namesake states. The circuit first operated from 1913 to 1917, was revived from 1928 to 1930, then returned to operation for a final time from 1946 through 1 ...

, and the Class-D

Dayton Indians The Central League was a minor league baseball league that operated sporadically from 1903–1917, 1920–1922, 1926, 1928–1930, 1934, and 1948–1951. In 1926, the league merged mid-season with the Michigan State League and p ...

of the

Ohio State League The Ohio State League was a minor league baseball league that operated in numerous seasons between 1887 and 1947, predominantly as a Class D level league. League franchises were based in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. Histo ...

. With the Brownies, Abreu both managed them and batted and played for them. He batted .290 with 28 doubles, 2 triples, and 8 home runs in 104 games with Newnan. During his tenure with Dayton, Abreu batted .228 with 3 doubles, 1 triple, and 1 home run in 25 games. In his final professional season in which he played, Abreu played and managed the Class-C

Tampa Smokers The Tampa Smokers was a name used between 1919 and 1954 by a series of minor league baseball teams based in Tampa, Florida. The nickname was a nod to the local cigar industry, which was the most important industry in Tampa during the years in wh ...

of the

Florida International League The Florida International League was a lower- to mid-level circuit in American and Cuban minor league baseball that existed from 1946 through July 27, 1954. It was designated Class C for its first three seasons, then upgraded to Class B in 1949 fo ...

. With Tampa, he batted .265 with 7 doubles, and 1 home run in 25 games.

Later life

After his professional playing career was over, Abreu managed one other team in professional baseball before exiting the pro-level. He was one of four managers of the Class-D Santa Rosa Cats in . Abreu asked to be released from Tampa to tend to issues back home in Oakland, California. He then returned to his native California to play for the semi-professional Guy's Drugs of Oakland who won the Bush Rod Winter League (the first league to use the

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by th ...

rule) pennant. During the mid-1950s, Abreu played softball with the Naval Supply Center team, and was involved in local baseball clinics in the area.

Personal

Abreu married Berenice Marshall on January 4, 1939. Abreu was an enthusiast of

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

, and was an amateur magician. His interest was sparked after former Detroit Tigers and Oakland Oaks'

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 ...

and professional magician

Carl Zamloch Carl Eugene Zamloch (October 6, 1889 – August 19, 1963) was an American baseball player, manager, and coach, and magician. The son of famed magician Anton Zamloch, he performed as a boy in his father's vaudeville magic act. He then played pro ...

put on a magic show at his high school. During his tenure with the Reds, Abreu claimed to know 400 card tricks and was a member of the National Society of Magicians. Abreu died on March 17, 1993, in Hayward, California at the age of 79 years, and was buried at Evergreen-Washelli Cemetery in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abreu, Joe 1913 births 1993 deaths Baseball players from Oakland, California Milwaukee Brewers (AA) players Cincinnati Reds players Fort Worth Cats players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players American people of Portuguese descent American magicians United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy sailors Newnan Brownies players Dayton Indians players Newark Bears (International League) players Spokane Hawks players Tampa Smokers players Wellsville Yankees players