James Marion Asbell (June 22, 1914 – July 6, 1967) nicknamed "Big Train", was 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 cat ...

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), ...

for 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 ...

. Nicknamed "Big Train", his career was a brief one, consisting of a single season, the Cubs'

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 ...

year of 1938. After a college career that included stints at both Tulane and

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

, Asbell signed with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

. After some time in the minors, the Cubs took Asbell in the 1937 Rule 5 draft. He made his major league debut with the Cubs on May 8, 1938. With the Cubs, Asbell appeared in just 17 games, playing only ten in the field. He committed no errors as a defender, but his offense was subpar, as he batted just .182 (6 for 33) with 2 doubles, 3 RBI, and no stolen bases. He played his last game as a Cub, and as a major leaguer, on October 2, 1938. He made no appearances with the club in the World Series. Asbell died on July 6, 1967, in

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ; ) is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough to the west, San Francisco Bay and Foster C ...

References

1914 births 1967 deaths Baseball players from Dallas Beckley Miners players Chicago Cubs players Des Moines Demons players Houston Buffaloes players Jersey City Giants players Knoxville Smokies players Major League Baseball outfielders Memphis Chickasaws players New Orleans Pelicans (baseball) players Portsmouth Truckers players Rice Owls baseball players Rochester Red Wings players Sacramento Solons players {{US-baseball-outfielder-1910s-stub