Taylor Lee Douthit ( ; April 22, 1901 – May 28, 1986), nicknamed "The Ballhawk", was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player. He played 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) as 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 c ...

from 1923 to 1933, most notably as a member of 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 ...

team with whom he won a

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

championship in . Douthit set a record for single-season putouts by an outfielder (547) in 1928. Late in his career, Douthit played for the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago Cubs. He retired from baseball in 1933 rather than accepting a trade to the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

, and he moved back to California to work in the family insurance business.

Early life

Douthit was born in

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

, and he graduated from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

in 1923.

Career

Douthit started out in the Cardinals organization and became a major league regular in 1926. The year before, he had hit .372 for Milwaukee of the

. As a rookie, he hit .308 and then .267 in the

to help St. Louis win the championship. Before Douthit made his second appearance in a World Series in 1928, Cardinals manager Bill McKechnie compared him favorably to star outfielder

Tris Speaker Tristram Edgar Speaker (April 4, 1888 – December 8, 1958), nicknamed "the Gray Eagle", was an American professional baseball player. Considered one of the greatest players in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB), he compiled a career ba ...

. "He has been compared to Speaker, but, in my opinion, it should be the other way," McKechnie said. "Speaker at his best should be compared with Douthit. outhitcovers an almost unbelievable amount of ground and is a sure catch. He leads off for us and has shown rare ability in 'getting on'." In 1931, Douthit was traded to the Reds. He played in 95 and 96 games for the Reds in 1931 and 1932, respectively. The team waived him in late April 1933; he had made only one appearance (as a pinch runner) with the Reds that year. The Cubs claimed Douthit off waivers on April 29, but he did not stay in Chicago for long. The Cubs traded him to Kansas City of the

on June 29, 1933. Douthit thought that he should still be able to play in the major leagues, and he retired days later rather than reporting to Kansas City. Douthit is the all-time record holder for range factor by a center fielder. His 547 outfield putouts in 1928 is the record for most outfield putouts in a season. His baseball glove was displayed at the Baseball Hall of Fame in an exhibit that discussed the putouts record. He is in the University of California Hall of Fame for his baseball and basketball play there. In 1,074 games played, Douthit compiled a .291

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 ...

(1201–4127) with 665 runs, 29 home runs, 396 RBI, an on-base percentage of .364 and a slugging percentage of .384 in 11 seasons. In 13

games, he batted .140 (7–40) with 5 runs and 4 RBI. He posted a .972 fielding percentage at all three outfield positions.

Later life

After his baseball career ended, Douthit worked for his family's insurance business in California. He died in Fremont, California, on May 28, 1986.

References

External links

''New York Times'' obituary
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Douthit, Taylor 1901 births 1986 deaths Sportspeople from Little Rock, Arkansas Major League Baseball outfielders Baseball players from Arkansas California Golden Bears baseball players California Golden Bears men's basketball players St. Louis Cardinals players Cincinnati Reds players Chicago Cubs players American men's basketball players

Early life

Career

Later life

See also

References

External links