Roy Joseph Cullenbine (October 18, 1913 – May 28, 1991) 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 ...

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 ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He played ten seasons in

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), ...

(MLB) for 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 ...

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...

, Washington Senators,

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

, and

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

between 1938 and 1947. Cullenbine was among the

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 ...

leaders in walks for seven consecutive seasons from 1941 to 1947, and holds the major league record for most consecutive games (22) with a walk.

Career

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 ...

but raised in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, Michigan, Cullenbine was a switch-hitter and one of the most prolific recipients of

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

in major league history. In his ten-year career, he collected almost as many walks (853) as he did hits (1,072). He was among the

leaders in walks for seven consecutive seasons from 1941 to 1947. He was once walked four times in the same game by Yankee ace

Lefty Gomez Vernon Louis "Lefty" Gomez (November 26, 1908 – February 17, 1989) was an American professional baseball player. A left-handed pitcher, Gomez played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1930 and 1943 for the New York Yankees and the Washingt ...

, in August 1941.
Roy Cullenbine
In a July 1941 game, he scored 5 runs in only 2 official at bats. Driven largely by his ability to draw walks, he had a career

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 ...

of .408, 132 points higher than his 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 ...

of .276. This on-base percentage ranks 38th best in major league history, higher than many Hall of Fame legends, including

Honus Wagner Johannes Peter "Honus" Wagner (; February 24, 1874 – December 6, 1955), sometimes referred to as "Hans" Wagner, was an American baseball shortstop who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1897 to 1917, almost entirely for the Pitts ...

Joe DiMaggio Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "The Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yank ...

Willie Mays Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid" and "Buck", is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-tim ...

and

Hank Aaron Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021), nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. One of the gre ...

Early years

He played football for Detroit's Eastern High School, and was a Tiger batboy in 1930. In 1932, legendary scout

Wish Egan Aloysius Jerome "Wish" Egan (June 16, 1881 – April 13, 1951) was a Major League Baseball player and scout. Playing career Born in Evart, Michigan, Egan played three seasons as a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers (1902) and St. Louis Cardinals (1 ...

saw him working out on Navin Field and signed him. His minor league career ran from 1932 to 1937, for Shreveport, Louisiana; Greenwood, Mississippi; Springfield, Illinois; Beaumont, Texas; and Toledo, Ohio. After starting his major league career in 1938-39 for his hometown Detroit Tigers, he was among several major league players declared free agents in January 1940 by Commissioner

Kenesaw Mountain Landis Kenesaw Mountain Landis (; November 20, 1866 – November 25, 1944) was an American jurist who served as a United States federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death. He is remembered for his h ...

and was given a $25,000 bonus to sign with the

the following month. After playing only 22 games for the Dodgers, he was traded in May 1940 to the

for Joe Gallagher.

Breakout season in 1941

He had a strong 1941 season for the Browns, hitting .317 with 121 walks for a .452 on-base percentage, 2nd only to

Ted Williams Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 ...

in the AL. Cullenbine also drove in 98 runs, made the All-Star team (in Detroit, ending with a two-out ninth-inning come-from-behind walk-off three-run blast by Williams off

Claude Passeau Claude William Passeau (April 9, 1909 – August 30, 2003) was an American starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. From 1935 through 1947, Passeau played with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1935), Philadelphia Phillies (1936–39) and Chicago Cu ...

) and finished 10th in AL Most Valuable Player voting.

1942: Four teams and a World Series

After that career year with the Browns, he was bounced around to three different teams in 1942. He started the season with the Browns, but was traded to the Washington Senators on June 1. The

then claimed him off waivers on August 31, 1942. This was a stroke of luck for Cullenbine, sending him to the

1942 World Series The 1942 World Series featured the defending champion New York Yankees against the St. Louis Cardinals, with the Cardinals winning the Series in five games for their first championship since and their fourth overall. The 1942 Cardinals set a f ...

with a .300 on-base percentage and three runs scored for the Yanks, who were upset 4-1 by the overachieving

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

. He was then traded on December 17, 1942 to the

, his fourth team that calendar year.

1943 and 1944: An All-Star for the Cleveland Indians

He played for the Indians throughout 1943-44, putting up solid numbers both years: .289 & .284, with on-base percentages of .407 & .380. He made the All-Star team for a second time in 1944.

1945: A World Series Championship with the Tigers

Shortly after the start of the 1945 season, the Indians traded him back to his hometown

where he had started his major league career. As was the case in 1942, he was fortunate enough to be traded in 1945 to a team that went on to win the American League pennant. In 1945, Cullenbine put up his best numbers in many offensive categories (with many stars still in World War II service). He led the American League with 113 walks, and was 2nd with a .402 on-base percentage. He also hit for power with 18

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s (2nd), 93

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 ...

s (2nd), 51

extra base hit 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 ...

s (4th) and a .444

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

(3rd). After leading the Tigers to the pennant, he helped the Tigers win the World Series over 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 ...

. Despite hitting only .227 in the Series, he drew eight walks for a .433 on-base percentage and scored five runs.

1946 and 1947: Solid offensive production for Detroit

Cullenbine continued his solid offense for the Tigers in 1946 & 1947, with career-high .335

and .477

in 1946. In 1947, he hit a career-high 24 home runs and set a Tiger record with 137 walks, while his .407 on-base percentage was third best in the American League. From July 2–22, 1947, he drew walks in 22 consecutive games, breaking

' 19 in 1941 (as the last .400 hitter at .406), a record still standing at the end of the 2019 season

But with only 104 hits, his batting average dropped to .224 in 1947, and the Tigers released him after the season.

Retirement

Seeking to rebound from his release, he was picked up briefly by the

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 ...

only to be released again just three weeks into the 1948 season on April 19 without getting into a game.

Career statistics

In 1,181

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

, Cullenbine batted .276 (1072 hits in 3879 at bats) with 627

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls ...

, 209 doubles, 32 triples, 110 home runs, 599 runs batted in, an

of .408 and a slugging percentage of .432 over 10 seasons. He finished his career with a .977

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

. In 12 World Series games, he hit .244 (10-41) with 8 runs and 6 runs batted in.

Death

Cullenbine died of heart disease at 77 in 1991 at Mount Clemens Hospital in

Mount Clemens, Michigan Mount Clemens is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 16,314 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is the county seat, seat of government of Macomb County, Michigan, Macomb County. History Mount Clemens was first s ...

, and was buried at the Christian Memorial Cultural Center Cemetery in

Rochester Hills, Michigan Rochester Hills is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 76,300. It is the 14th-largest city in Michigan. The area was first occupied by settlers of European descent in 1 ...

References

External links

New York Times Obituary
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cullenbine, Roy 1913 births 1991 deaths Detroit Tigers players Brooklyn Dodgers players St. Louis Browns players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players New York Yankees players Cleveland Indians players American League All-Stars Major League Baseball outfielders Baseball players from Nashville, Tennessee Major League Baseball right fielders Major League Baseball left fielders Shreveport Sports players Greenwood Chiefs players Fort Worth Cats players Springfield Senators players Beaumont Exporters players Toledo Mud Hens players