Chester Robert Boak (June 19, 1935 – November 28, 1983) 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 professiona ...

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 is ...

who appeared in ten

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) ...

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (su ...

over two seasons — five contests for the

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 seas ...

and five more for the expansion Washington Senators. A second baseman, he threw and batted right-handed and was listed at tall and .

Biography

Boak was born in

New Castle, Pennsylvania New Castle is a city in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lawrence County. It is northwest of Pittsburgh, and near the Pennsylvania–Ohio border, just southeast of Youngstown, Ohio. As of the 2020 U.S. Censu ...

. His pro career lasted for eight total seasons (1955–57; 1960–64). In 1960, after compiling 96

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 ...

in the Double-A

Southern Association The Southern Association was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A (1902–1935), ...

and being named all-star second-baseman, Boak was recalled by the Athletics in September. He started four games at second base, and collected two hits (both of them singles) in 13

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 ...

. He then was selected by the Senators with the 54th pick in the

1960 Major League Baseball expansion draft The 1960 MLB expansion draft was held by Major League Baseball on December 14, 1960, to fill the rosters of the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators. The Angels and Senators (who later became the Texas Rangers) were new franchises tha ...

, and went hitless in seven at bats for them during the opening weeks of the 1961 season. He appeared in 891 minor-league games over his career and batted .280 lifetime.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boak, Chet 1935 births 1983 deaths Abilene Blue Sox players Asheville Tourists players Baseball players from New Castle, Pennsylvania Binghamton Triplets players Columbia Gems players Crowley Millers players Dallas Rangers players Indianapolis Indians players Kansas City Athletics players Major League Baseball second basemen Portland Beavers players Salem Rebels (baseball) players Shreveport Sports players Syracuse Chiefs players Washington Senators (1961–1971) players