Ralph Orlando "Socks" Seybold (November 23, 1870 – December 22, 1921) 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 c ...

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), ...

. He played over parts of nine seasons with the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Athletics."Socks Seybold Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-10. Known as a power hitter, Seybold set the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

record for

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 ...

s in 1902, which would not be broken until 1919. He stood at and weighed 200 lbs.Altieri, Vince
"Socks Seybold"
''bioproj.sabr.org''. Retrieved 2010-12-10.

Biography

Seybold was born in

Washingtonville, Ohio Washingtonville is a village in northern Columbiana and southern Mahoning counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 712 at the 2020 census. Southern Washingtonville is included in the Salem micropolitan area, while northern Washi ...

. He started his professional baseball career in 1892, and over the next few years he played in the Pennsylvania State League and Atlantic League. In 1896, he had a breakout season, hitting .352 at Lancaster, and in 1897, he led the team to the pennant by slugging a league-leading 14 home runs. Seybold led the Atlantic League in homers again in 1898 and was leading in 1899 when he was purchased by the Cincinnati Reds. Seybold made his major league debut on August 20. He did not hit well in Cincinnati, and returned to the minors in 1900. He led the American League in home runs, with 9. Seybold then got his second shot in the majors in 1901, with the Philadelphia Athletics, and this time, he stuck. That season, he hit .334 and had a 27-game

hitting streak In baseball, a hitting streak is the number of consecutive official games in which a player appears and gets at least one base hit. According to the Official Baseball Rules, such a streak is not necessarily ended when a player has at least 1 pla ...

in July and August. In 1902, Seybold batted .316 and set career-highs in home runs, with 16, and

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 ...

, with 97. The home run total led the league and stood as the AL record until

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

broke it in 1919. The Athletics also won the pennant. In 1903, Seybold's

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 ...

dipped below .300; however, his

OPS+ OPS may refer to: Organizations *Obscene Publications Squad, a former unit of the Metropolitan Police in London, England * Oceanic Preservation Society *Office of Public Safety, a former US government agency * Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg ...

stayed at exactly 138, and he ripped a league-leading 45 doubles. Seybold continued his solid hitting from 1904 to 1907. In 1905, he played in his only

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 ...

, which the Athletics lost to the New York Giants; Seybold went 2 for 16 at the plate. In 1908, Seybold tore some ligaments in his leg sliding into home in a pre-season game at New Orleans. He left the team in June 1908 saying, "I feel that I cannot do myself justice. I have decided to quit for the season." He later returned to the team, but struggled the rest of the year, batting just .215. He played his last major league game on October 7, 1908. In December 1908, Philadelphia manager

Connie Mack Cornelius McGillicuddy (December 22, 1862 – February 8, 1956), better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds untoucha ...

announced that he was releasing Seybold. In 997 games over nine seasons, Seybold posted a .294

(1085-for-3685) with 478 runs, 218 doubles, 54 triples, 51 home runs, 556 RBI, 66 stolen bases, 293 bases on balls, .353 on-base percentage and .424 slugging percentage. He finished his career with a .964 fielding percentage. Seybold then played and coached in several minor league and industrial teams for a few years. In January 1909, he signed a contract to play for the

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A Mud Hens team has played in ...

, but injuries continued to slow Seybold during the 1909 season. From 1910 to 1911, he coached industrial teams in Jeanette. On April 4, 1912, he signed with the Richmond Rebels of the United States Baseball League. His baseball career ended with the demise of the league in June. At the end of July 1919, Babe Ruth equaled Seybold's American League record of 16 home runs in a season; Ruth went on to hit 29 homers in 1919. Seybold was married but had no children. His wife, Wilhelmina "Minnie" Heitz, died in 1917. In his later years, Seybold was employed as a steward of a social club (

Fraternal Order of Eagles Fraternal Order of Eagles (F.O.E.) is a fraternal organization that was founded on February 6, 1898, in Seattle, Washington, by a group of six theater owners including John Cort (the first president), brothers John W. and Tim J. Considine, Harr ...

) in

Jeannette, Pennsylvania Jeannette is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Jeannette was founded in 1888. The city got its name from one of the original city fathers, who wished to honor his wife, Jeannette McLaughlin, by giving the new town her fi ...

. In 1921, Seybold was driving a car when it overturned at a sharp curve on the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913 ...

east of Jeanette; he was killed instantly. He left an estate valued at $20,000. Seybold was buried next to his wife at Brush Creek Cemetery in Irwin.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seybold, Socks 1870 births 1921 deaths Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball right fielders Cincinnati Reds players Philadelphia Athletics players Johnstown Terrors players Lancaster Chicks players Pottsville Colts players Lancaster Maroons players Richmond Bluebirds players Indianapolis Hoosiers (minor league) players Toledo Mud Hens managers Toledo Mud Hens players Richmond Rebels players 19th-century baseball players American League home run champions Baseball players from Ohio People from Washingtonville, Ohio Road incident deaths in Pennsylvania

Biography

See also

References

External links