Elvin Clark "Buster" Adams (June 24, 1915 – September 1, 1990) was a major league

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 ...

for the

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 ...

and

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

in and between and .

Early life

Adams was born in 1915 in

Trinidad, Colorado Trinidad is the home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Las Animas County, Colorado, United States. The population was 8,329 as of the 2020 census. Trinidad lies north of Raton, New Mexico, and ...

. He graduated from

Bisbee High School Bisbee High School is a high school in Bisbee, Arizona Bisbee is a city in and the county seat of Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, United States. It is southeast of Tucson and north of the Mexican border. According to the 2020 censu ...

Bisbee, Arizona Bisbee is a city in and the county seat of Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, United States. It is southeast of Tucson and north of the Mexican border. According to the 2020 census, the population of the town was 4,923, down from 5,575 ...

, in 1935. He spent a year playing in the Western Association before moving to the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Ba ...

(PCL) for the 1936 season.

Early professional career

In 1936, Adams began playing for the

Sacramento Solons The Sacramento Solons were a minor league baseball team based in Sacramento, California. They played in the Pacific Coast League during several periods (1903, 1905, 1909–1914, 1918–1960, 1974–1976). The current Sacramento River Cats began pl ...

of the PCL; he played in the PCL off-and-on for the next 16 seasons. When Adams broke his leg during the 1936 season, he had been leading the PCL in

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe o ...

s, but he missed much of the season with that injury. Adams was in spring training with the St. Louis Cardinals in March 1939 when his jaw was fractured after he was struck with a thrown ball. He still made his major league debut on April 27, 1939 for the Cardinals, but appeared in only two games that season. He was cut in early May. In May 1941, Alan Ward of the ''

Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the declin ...

'' wrote that Adams had been playing with a stomach illness for a couple of seasons. He was hitting .423 for the Sacramento Solons at the time. Adams finished the season with a .285 batting average in 1941 and then hit .309 the next season.

Later career

Adams returned to the majors with the Cardinals in 1943, playing in eight games before being traded to the Phillies. He played the rest of that season, all of 1944, and the first 14 games of 1945 with the Phillies. Though Adams had been able to play through his stomach ailment, the illness rendered him ineligible to serve in the military in 1944. In May 1945, Adams was traded back to the Cardinals for John Antonelli and Glenn Crawford. Adams played mostly in center field; a slot had opened up in the outfield because

Stan Musial Stanley Frank Musial (; born Stanislaw Franciszek Musial; November 21, 1920 – January 19, 2013), nicknamed "Stan the Man", was an American baseball outfielder and first baseman. Widely considered to be one of the greatest and most consis ...

was serving in the military. Adams put together his best season with the Cardinals in 1945 and finished 18th in voting for the

MVP Award In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

. He finished the season with 109 runs batted in; his 101 RBI with the Cardinals was a record for a Cardinals center fielder until 1987. Adams also played in 1946 with the Cardinals and 1947 with the Phillies. He returned to the PCL after that and played until 1951. In 576 major league games over six seasons, Adams posted a .266

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 ...

(532-for-2003) with 282 runs, 96

doubles Men's doubles, Women's doubles or Mixed doubles are sports having two players per side, including; * Beach volleyball * Doubles badminton * Doubles curling * Footvolley * Doubles pickleball * Doubles squash * Doubles table tennis * Doubles te ...

, 12 triples, 50

home runs 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 ...

, 249 RBI and 234

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Sec ...

. He recorded a .979

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, di ...

playing at all three outfield positions.

Later life

Adams died of

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

Rancho Mirage, California Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 17,218 at the 2010 census, up from 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal (part-time) population can exceed 20,000. Incorporated in 1973 and locate ...

, in 1990.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Buster 1915 births 1990 deaths Baseball players from Colorado Columbus Red Birds players Major League Baseball outfielders People from Trinidad, Colorado Philadelphia Phillies players Rochester Red Wings players Sacramento Solons players St. Louis Cardinals players San Diego Padres (minor league) players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Springfield Cardinals players