John Ludy Riddle (October 3, 1905 – December 15, 1998) 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 coach. He appeared in 98 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 reserve

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

for the

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 ...

(1930), Washington Senators (1937),

Boston Bees The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During ...

(1937–38), Cincinnati Reds (1941 and 1944–45) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1948). At the age of 42 in 1948 (as a player-coach), he was the oldest player to appear in a

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

game that season. He was the older brother of

Elmer Riddle Elmer Ray Riddle (July 31, 1914 – May 14, 1984) was an American professional baseball player. A right-handed pitcher, he appeared in all or parts of ten Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons (1939–45; 1947–49) for the Cincinnati Reds and Pit ...

, a star

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the early 1940s as a member of the Reds. Johnny Riddle was born in

Clinton, South Carolina Clinton is a city in Laurens County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 8,490 as of the 2010 census. It is part of the Greenville– Mauldin– Easley Metropolitan Statistical Area. Clinton is the home of Presbyterian Col ...

. His playing career was unusual in that not only did he once go seven years between major league appearances, it also took a span of nineteen years to appear in seven major league seasons. In those seven seasons, he got into an average of 14 games per year. Riddle spent 19 years in minor league baseball, including a dozen seasons as a member of the Indianapolis Indians of the top-level American Association. Riddle made his major league debut on April 17, 1930 (Opening Day) against the

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 ...

at Comiskey Park. His last game was September 11, 1948 against the Chicago Cubs at

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago ...

. In his

MLB 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), ...

career he was 51-for-214 (.238) with four doubles, a

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

, 11

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 18 runs scored. On defense, he made only five errors and had a fielding percentage of .983. Riddle spent all or parts of three seasons as a player-manager in minor league baseball (1942–44), and later worked for 10 years as a coach in the National League, for the Pirates (1948–50),

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 ...

(1952–55), Milwaukee Braves (1956–57),

Cincinnati Redlegs 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 w ...

(1958) and Philadelphia Phillies (1959). He won a

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 ...

championship ring as the first base coach of the Braves in 1957. Riddle died at the age of 93 in Indianapolis, where he ultimately made his home after his long tenure with the Indians.

References

* 1953 Baseball Register published by

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

External links

Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riddle, Johnny 1905 births 1998 deaths Baseball coaches from South Carolina Baseball players from South Carolina Baseball coaches from Indiana Baseball players from Indianapolis Birmingham Barons managers Birmingham Barons players Boston Bees players Chicago White Sox players Cincinnati Redlegs coaches Cincinnati Reds players Indianapolis Indians players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball first base coaches Milwaukee Braves coaches People from Clinton, South Carolina Philadelphia Phillies coaches Pittsburgh Pirates coaches Pittsburgh Pirates players Quincy Indians players St. Louis Cardinals coaches Washington Senators (1901–1960) players

See also

References

External links