James Wayne Causey (born December 26, 1936) is a retired 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 ...

baseball player 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 te ...

. An infielder, he appeared in 1,105 games 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), ...

as a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

, second baseman and

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

over 11 seasons for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 sea ...

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

, California Angels and

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...

between 1955 and 1968. He batted

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 ...

, threw

right-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 subjecti ...

, and was listed as 5 feet, 10 inches (1.8 m) tall and weighed .

Major League Baseball

Born in Ruston, Louisiana, Causey signed a bonus contract with the Orioles as an 18-year-old and was compelled to spend the first two years of his pro career on Baltimore's MLB roster per the rules of the time. His inexperience showed: he batted only .187 in 135 games with the Orioles between 1955 and 1957. Then, after almost four full years of minor league seasoning, he was traded to the Athletics prior to the season. In Kansas City he would have his most sustained success, batting .270 with 640 hits in 689 games played. Causey finished 21st in voting for the American League MVP Award. He played in 139 games and had eight home runs, 44

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 ...

, and a .280 batting average. He then finished 25th in voting for AL MVP, and leading the league in times on base (265). He had eight homers, 49 RBI, and a .281 average that year. In his 11 MLB seasons and 1,105 games, he had 819 hits, 35 home runs, 285 RBI, 12 stolen bases, and a .252 batting average.

Education

Causey is a 1955 graduate of

Neville High School Neville High School is a high school in Monroe, Louisiana, United States. It is administered by the Monroe City Schools Board. It is located 1/2 mile from the Ouachita River. Its mascot is the Tiger. Academics Neville offers a wide variety of aca ...

, Monroe, Louisiana. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from

Northeast Louisiana State College The University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) is a public university in Monroe, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System. History ULM opened in 1931 as Ouachita Parish Junior College. Three years later it became the Northeast Cen ...

in 1965, after taking classes during each off-season from 1956 on. In 1964, he was named to "Who's Who in American Universities and Colleges."

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Causey, Wayne 1936 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Colombia Atlanta Braves players Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Louisiana California Angels players Chicago White Sox players Kansas City Athletics players Kansas City Royals scouts Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball shortstops Major League Baseball third basemen San Antonio Missions players Sportspeople from Ruston, Louisiana University of Louisiana at Monroe alumni Vancouver Mounties players