Robert Charles Nieman (January 26, 1927 – March 10, 1985) 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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

and scout. 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 ...

, he spent all or parts of a dozen

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), ...

seasons with the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...

(1951–52), Detroit Tigers (1953–54),

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 ...

(1955–56),

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 ...

(1956–59),

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 ...

(1960–61),

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

(1961–62) and

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 Y ...

(1962). He also played one season in Japan for the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

(1963). He threw and batted

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 ...

, stood tall and weighed .

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

"Bob Nieman"
/ref>

Baseball Reference Baseball-Reference is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is often used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advan ...

"Bob Nieman Major, Minor & Japanese Stats"
/ref>

Career

Minor leagues

Nieman was born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. After attending

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in ...

, he was signed by his hometown

Reds Reds may refer to: General * Red (political adjective), supporters of Communism or socialism * Reds (January Uprising), a faction of the Polish insurrectionists during the January Uprising in 1863 * USSR (or, to a lesser extent, China) during th ...

as an amateur free agent in 1948. He spent three full seasons and part of a fourth in the Cincinnati farm system, although he played only 38 games above the Class A level. In June 1951, he was acquired by the unaffiliated Oklahoma City Indians from the Reds'

Tulsa Oilers The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tuls ...

farm team, and he played 109 games for the 1951 Indians and batted .328. (His combined average, his tenure with Tulsa included, of .324 won him the batting title of the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

Major leagues

Nieman then was purchased by the Browns and was added to their active roster in September 1951, setting the stage for his dramatic big league debut. On

September 14 Events Pre-1600 *AD 81 – Domitian becomes Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus. * 629 – Emperor Heraclius enters Constantinople in triumph after his victory over the Persian Empire. * 786 – "Night ...

, at

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Bas ...

, Nieman hit two

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 his first two major league at-bats.MLB.com: "Best Debuts in Baseball History
/ref> The blows—a solo home run in the second inning and a two-run shot in the third—were hit off

Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

left-hander Mickey McDermott. Nieman added a single and drove in three runs on the day, but Boston won the game, 9–6. Nieman became the first player in big league history to hit two homers in his first game.

Bert Campaneris Dagoberto Campaneris Blanco (born March 9, 1942), nicknamed "Bert" or "Campy", is a Cuban American former professional baseball shortstop, who played Major League Baseball (MLB) for four American League (AL) teams, primarily the Kansas City / ...

(1964), Mark Quinn (1999), J.P. Arencibia (2010) and

Trevor Story Trevor John Story (born November 15, 1992) is an American professional baseball second baseman and shortstop for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Colorado Rockies. He made his MLB debut ...

(2016) are the only others to accomplish the feat. Also, Nieman is one of two players in MLB history to homer in each of his first two big league at bats. Keith McDonald, in 2000, became the other. Nieman became an everyday outfielder for the Browns, later played regularly for the Tigers and Orioles, and overall he fashioned a 12-year career as a semi-regular outfielder and pinch hitter. In his 1,113-game career he batted .295, with 125 home runs, 544 RBI, 455 runs, 1,018 hits, 180 doubles, 32 triples and 10 stolen bases. He batted over .300 three times, twice as a regular outfielder with more than 400

at bats In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

. In his final MLB campaign, he collected eight pinch hits to help the Giants win the 1962 National League pennant. In the

1962 World Series The 1962 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1962 season. The 59th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the defending American League (AL) and World Series champion Ne ...

, and in his only postseason opportunity and last big-league plate appearance, Nieman pinch hit for

Ed Bailey Lonas Edgar Bailey, Jr. (April 15, 1931 – March 23, 2007) was an American professional baseball player and later served on the Knoxville, Tennessee city council. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from through . A six-time All-S ...

in the seventh inning of Game 4 at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

. He drew a base on balls against left-hander Marshall Bridges and was removed for a pinch runner, Ernie Bowman. Bowman would soon score when Giants' second baseman Chuck Hiller hit the first grand slam home run ever struck by a National League player in World Series history.

br>box score: 1962-10-08
/ref> The Giants won that contest, 7–3, but dropped the series in seven games.

Scout

After retiring from the field, Nieman served as a scout for over two decades, working for the Indians, Dodgers,

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

, White Sox and

Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

. He died from a heart attack in Corona, California, at 58 years of age.

References

External links