Marion Lee "Tim" Talton (January 14, 1939 – July 22, 2021) 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 ...

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who appeared in 83

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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), ...

as a

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

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and

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

for the Kansas City Athletics in 1966 and 1967. He threw right-handed, batted left-handed, and was listed as tall and . Born in Pikeville, North Carolina, Talton attended

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university, public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a Normal school, teacher training school, East ...

and began his pro career in the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

' organization in 1959. Acquired by the Athletics in January 1965, he was in the midst of his eighth straight year in minor league baseball when he was recalled from Triple-A

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in July 1966. He then spent the rest of 1966 and all of 1967 on the Kansas City roster, largely in pinch hitting roles. He was in the starting lineup for only six of his 83 MLB games, but batted .417 (1966) and .303 (1967) as a pinch hitter, with 20 total

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in 57 at bats (.351), including one pinch

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 ...

. All told, he batted .295 in the majors; Talton's 33 hits included six doubles, two

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

and two home runs. He returned to the minors in 1968 and retired after the following year, his eleventh in professional baseball. Talton died on July 22, 2021, in

Goldsboro, North Carolina Goldsboro, originally Goldsborough, is a city and the county seat of Wayne County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 33,657 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of and is included in the Goldsboro, North Carolina Metropol ...

, at the age of 82.

References

External links

* 1939 births 2021 deaths Baseball players from North Carolina Birmingham A's players El Paso Sun Kings players Iowa Oaks players Kansas City Athletics players Major League Baseball catchers Mobile A's players People from Wayne County, North Carolina Rio Grande Valley Giants players St. Cloud Rox players Springfield Giants players Tacoma Giants players Vancouver Mounties players Victoria Giants players {{US-baseball-catcher-1930s-stub