Samuel Douglas Taylor (February 27, 1933 – October 8, 2019) 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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

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 ...

, a Major League catcher who appeared in 473 games over six seasons from 1958 to 1963 for the Chicago Cubs,

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

, Cincinnati Reds 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 Fi ...

. The

left-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 subject ...

-batting Taylor was listed as tall and . Signed by the Milwaukee Braves in 1956, Taylor was traded with

Taylor Phillips William Taylor Phillips (born June 18, 1933), nicknamed "T-Bone", is an American former professional baseball left-handed pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Braves, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and Chica ...

to the Cubs for Eddie Haas, Don Kaiser and Bob Rush on December 5, 1957. He made his big league debut on April 20, 1958 against the

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 ...

. Appearing as a pinch hitter for

Gene Fodge Gene Arlan "Suds" Fodge (July 9, 1931 – October 27, 2010) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played briefly for the Chicago Cubs during the season. Listed at , Weight: 175 lb., Fodge batted and threw right-handed. He was born in ...

, he drew a walk in his first plate appearance. Overall, Taylor appeared in 96 games in 1958, hitting .259 with 78 hits, six home runs and 36 RBI. In 110 games in 1959, Taylor hit .269 with 13 home runs and 43

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 ba ...

in 110 games. His 13 intentional walks were the fourth most that season. Taylor was involved in a rather peculiar situation in a game on June 30 of that year, between the

and Chicago Cubs. Stan Musial was at the plate, with a count of 3–1. Pitcher Bob Anderson's next pitch was errant, evading Taylor and rolling all the way to the backstop. Umpire Vic Delmore called ball four, however Anderson and Taylor contended that Musial

foul tip In baseball, a foul tip is defined as "a batted ball that goes sharp and direct from the bat to the catcher and is legally caught. It is not a foul tip unless caught, and any foul tip that is caught is a strike and the ball is 'in play'." A ''fo ...

ped the ball. Because the ball was still in play, and because Delmore was embroiled in an argument with the catcher and pitcher, Musial took it upon himself to try for second base. Seeing that Musial was trying for second,

Alvin Dark Alvin Ralph Dark (January 7, 1922 – November 13, 2014), nicknamed "Blackie" and "The Swamp Fox", was an American professional baseball shortstop and manager. He played fourteen years in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston/Milwaukee Bra ...

ran to the backstop to retrieve the ball. The ball wound up in the hands of field announcer Pat Pieper, but Dark ended up getting it back anyway. Absentmindedly, however, Delmore pulled out a new ball and gave it to Taylor. Anderson finally noticed that Musial was trying for second, took the new ball, and threw it to second baseman Tony Taylor. To Anderson's disappointment, the ball flew over Tony Taylor's head into the outfield. Dark, at the same time that Anderson threw the new ball, threw the original ball to shortstop

Ernie Banks Ernest Banks (January 31, 1931 – January 23, 2015), nicknamed "Mr. Cub" and "Mr. Sunshine", was an American professional baseball player who starred in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs between ...

. Musial, though, did not see Dark's throw and only noticed Anderson's ball fly over the second baseman's head, so he tried to go to third base. On his way there, he was tagged by Banks, and after a delay he was ruled out. Taylor slumped in 1960, hitting only .207 in 150 at-bats. He lost his starting catching role that year and played in only 74 games. Taylor was the team's second most used catcher in 1961, behind Dick Bertell. In 1961, he hit .238 with eight home runs and 23 RBI in 235 at-bats (89 games). Taylor began the 1962 season with the Cubs, hitting .133 in 15 at-bats with them. On April 26, he was traded to the Mets for Bob Smith. In 68 games with the Mets, he hit .222 with three home runs and 20 RBI. Overall, he hit .214 in 173 at-bats that season. In 1963—his final season—Taylor played for three different teams. He began the year with the Mets and hit .257 in 41 at-bats with them. On July 1, he was traded with

Charlie Neal Charles Lenard Neal (January 30, 1931 – November 18, 1996) was an American professional baseball baseball player, player, a second baseman and shortstop who had an eight-season career (1956–1963) in Major League Baseball. Signed by the Brookl ...

to the Reds for another catcher,

Jesse Gonder Jesse may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jesse (biblical figure), father of David in the Bible. * Jesse (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Jesse (surname), a list of people Music * ''Jesse'' ( ...

. He played in three games for the Reds, collecting no hits in six at-bats. On August 1, he was traded to the Indians for Gene Green. He collected three hits in 10 at-bats for the Indians. Overall, he hit .235 with no home runs and seven RBI in 51 at-bats. He played his final game on August 6. Overall, Taylor played six years in the majors, hitting .245 with 309 hits, 47 doubles, nine triples, 33 home runs and 147 RBI in 473 games. Taylor 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 the

Korean Conflict The Korean conflict is an List of ongoing armed conflicts, ongoing conflict based on the division of Korea between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and South Korea (Republic of Korea), both of which claim to be the sole legit ...

. He died October 8, 2019.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Sammy 1933 births 2019 deaths Baseball players from South Carolina Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Chicago Cubs players Cincinnati Reds players Cleveland Indians players Dallas–Fort Worth Spurs players High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms players Jacksonville Suns players Major League Baseball catchers New York Mets players People from Woodruff, South Carolina San Diego Padres (minor league) players Topeka Hawks players United States Navy personnel of the Korean War