Bob Swift
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Robert Virgil Swift (March 6, 1915 – October 17, 1966) was an American professional
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
player, coach,
manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...
and
scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...
. He played in
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 ...
as a
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 catc ...
, standing tall and weighing . 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 and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...
. Swift is pictured in one of the most famous photographs in American sporting history. He was the catcher for the
Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...
on August 19, 1951, when St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck sent midget Eddie Gaedel to pinch hit during an actual MLB game. The stunt occurred in the second game of a doubleheader at
Sportsman's Park Sportsman's Park was the name of several former Major League Baseball ballpark structures in St. Louis, Missouri. All but one of these were located on the same piece of land, at the northwest corner of Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street, on t ...
, inspired by the
James Thurber James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist, and playwright. He was best known for his gag cartoon, cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' an ...
short story ''You Could Look It Up''. Gaedel was allowed to bat when the Browns showed the umpires a legitimate baseball contract issued by the
American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...
office. Swift knelt on the ground to receive pitcher
Bob Cain Robert Max "Sugar" Cain (October 16, 1924 – April 8, 1997) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher with the Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Browns between 1949 and 1954. He batted and threw left-handed. On August 19, 1951 ...
's offerings—it is this kneeling stance that is captured in the photo—and Gaedel took a
base 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 ...
. He was immediately replaced at first base by a pinch runner and he never appeared in a big league game again.


Playing career

While Gaedel was a novice, Swift, a native of Salina, Kansas, played 14 consecutive seasons (1940–53) in the big leagues and all or parts of 22 years in professional baseball (1934–53; 1955–56). During his big-league career, he toiled for the Browns (1940–42),
Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...
(1942–43) and Tigers (1944–53), appearing in 1,001 games and hitting .231. His 635 hits included 86 doubles, three triples and 14
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 ...
. Defensively, he recorded a .985
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 ...
. Swift was primarily a second-string catcher, although he started 83 of the 1945 world champion Tigers' official American League games. During the seven-game 1945 World Series, however, he started only in Game 3, with Paul Richards handling that assignment in the remaining six contests.


Coaching and managing career

Swift became a coach and
minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...
manager upon the end of his MLB playing career, coaching for the Tigers (1953–54; 1963–66),
Kansas City Athletics The Kansas City Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Kansas City, Missouri, from 1955 to 1967, having previously played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the Philadelphia Athletics. After moving in 1967, the team became the ...
(1957–59), and Washington Senators (1960). During the 1959 season, Swift filled in for Kansas City manager Harry Craft when Craft missed 15 games due to illness, and the Athletics won ten straight games and went 13–2. But Swift was bypassed at season's end when the A's changed managers.Newspaper article
The Associated Press, October 17, 1966 Swift was in his second stint as a Detroit coach in when manager
Chuck Dressen Charles Walter Dressen (''pronounced:'' DREE-sen) (September 20, 1894Dressen's birthdate has been revised from 1898, as was commonly reported in '' The Sporting News' Baseball Register'' and ''Macmillan's Baseball Encyclopedia'', to 1894 by both ...
was felled by a mild
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
during
spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...
. As acting manager, Swift led Detroit to a 24–18 record until Dressen was able to return to duty on May 31. The next season, on May 16, 1966, Dressen suffered his second coronary in as many seasons. Again, Swift took the reins, but in mid-July (with the Tigers 32–25 under his command) he fell ill and was hospitalized during the All-Star game break for what appeared to be food poisoning. Tests revealed, however, that Swift was suffering from inoperable
lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...
. Coach Frank Skaff took over July 14 as the team's second acting manager and finished the campaign. Three months after stepping aside, on October 17, Bob Swift died in
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
at the age of 51. (Dressen had predeceased him, on August 10.) His record in 1965–66 as an interim manager was 56–43 (.566), giving him a career record of 69–45 (.605).


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, Bob 1915 births 1966 deaths Albuquerque Dukes players Augusta Tigers players Baseball players from Kansas Charleston Senators players Deaths from lung cancer in Michigan Detroit Tigers coaches Detroit Tigers managers Detroit Tigers players Detroit Tigers scouts Henderson Oilers players Kansas City Athletics coaches Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball pitching coaches Major League Baseball third base coaches Muskogee Tigers players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Palatka Azaleas players Philadelphia Athletics players St. Louis Browns players 20th-century American sportsmen San Antonio Missions players Seattle Rainiers players Sportspeople from Salina, Kansas Syracuse Chiefs managers Washington Senators (1901–1960) coaches