David Beals Becker (July 5, 1886 – August 16, 1943) was an American

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 catch ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

from 1908 to 1915.

Biography

Becker was born in

El Dorado, Kansas El Dorado ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Butler County, Kansas, Butler County, Kansas, United States. It is situated along the Walnut River in the central part of Butler County and located in south-central Kansas. As of the 2020 Unit ...

in 1886. He attended Wentworth Military Academy in

Lexington, Missouri Lexington is a city in, and the county seat of, Lafayette County, Missouri, United States. The population was 4,726 at the 2010 census. Lexington is in western Missouri, within the Kansas City metropolitan area, approximately east of Kansas C ...

and is the only Wentworth graduate ever to play major league baseball. At Wentworth, Becker was a Lieutenant in Company A and was a member of the Bugle Corps. He played left end for the football team, was center on the basketball team, and pitched and played the outfield on the baseball nine. Becker was the recipient of Wentworth's Champion Athlete Award in 1903, his last year. From 1908 to 1915, Becker played for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

, the Boston Doves, 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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

, the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

, and the

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

. Often upset by hometown heckling, Becker usually played better on the road. He was a fair fielder and, as a left-handed batter who had trouble with southpaw pitching, he was often platooned to face right-handers. Becker made a name for himself in the major leagues as a hard-hitting outfielder, who four times placed in the top ten in

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s in the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

during the " deadball era." In 1909, he was second in the league with 6 homers; in 1913, he was sixth with 9 homers; in 1914, he was fifth with 9 homers; and in his final season, 1915, Becker was fourth with a career-high 11 homers. In 1910, Becker became the first player to hit two pinch-hit home runs in one season. On June 9, 1913, he tied a 20th-century major league record with two

inside-the-park home run In baseball, an inside-the-park home run is a rare play in which a Batter (baseball), batter rounds all four bases for a home run without the baseball leaving the baseball field, field of play. It is also known as an "inside-the-parker", "in-the-p ...

s in one game. His best all-around year was 1914, when he hit .325, second in the league, with 9 home runs and 66

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) 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 th ...

for the Phillies. He played in three

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

, two with the Giants in 1911 and 1912, and one with the Phillies in 1915. In 876 games over eight seasons, Becker posted a .276

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 ...

(763-for-2764) with 368 runs, 114 doubles, 43

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

, 45 home runs, 296 runs batted in, 129

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions 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 or out a ...

, 241

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

, .335

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

and .397

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

. He finished his career with a .954

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

playing at all three outfield positions. After his major league career ended, Becker bounced around the minor leagues for a number of years and was a member of the minor league champion Kansas City Blues in 1923. He died in Huntington Park, California in 1943 at the age of 57. On episode #1309, (airing March 23, 2009) of

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

's ''

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...

'', a man who claimed to be Becker's great-great nephew brought two photographs and a uniform belonging to Becker to the show for appraisal. The items were valued at US$50,000.

References

External links

Baseball ReferenceRetrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Beals 1886 births 1943 deaths People from El Dorado, Kansas Wentworth Military Academy and College alumni Major League Baseball outfielders Pittsburgh Pirates players Boston Doves players New York Giants (baseball) players Cincinnati Reds players Philadelphia Phillies players Baseball players from Kansas Clarksdale (minor league baseball) players Little Rock Travelers players Wichita Jobbers players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Seattle Indians players Sacramento Senators players Vernon Tigers players Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery 20th-century American sportsmen