Charles Steven Kress (December 9, 1921 – March 4, 2014) 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 and

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Biography

This

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

played in all or parts of four seasons 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 ...

(MLB) between and for 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 ...

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) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

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 ...

and

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brook ...

, appearing in 175

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

. His seventeen-year active career was interrupted by three years' service in the

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during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

(1943–1945)."Chuck Kress Statistics and History"
"baseball-reference.com. Accessed May 30, 2017. Kress was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, where he attended

Frankford High School Frankford High School is a public high school in the School District of Philadelphia. It is located at Oxford Avenue and Wakeling Street in the Frankford section of Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Frankford was founded in 1910 as an anne ...

. Kress threw and batted left-handed, and was listed as tall and . In MLB, he appeared in one full season, , and parts of three others. In that full campaign, he began the year with the Reds, got into twenty-seven games, then was sold to the White Sox in June. In Chicago, he batted .278 in ninety-seven games with 104

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

and became the White Sox' regular first baseman. But only one of his hits was a

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 ( ...

, and after Kress began by going hitless in eight

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 upon completion of his turn at bat, b ...

, he was sold to 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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

' organization and returned to the

minor leagues 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 ...

. A productive 1953 season (25 home runs, 121

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 ...

, and .321 batting average) earned him one further partial season in the majors, , when he appeared in thirty-seven games for the Tigers and Dodgers and batted .163, largely as a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, A ...

. He played professionally into the 1959 season. In his 175 big-league games, Kress batted .249 with 116 hits, including twenty doubles. His lone MLB home run was a solo shot off the Tigers'

Fred Hutchinson Frederick Charles Hutchinson (August 12, 1919 – November 12, 1964) was an American professional baseball pitcher and manager. He played for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1939 and 1940, then took a five-season hiatus to ...

on July 1.

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br>box score: 1949-07-01
/ref> As a minor leaguer, he got into 1,745 games and became a manager in the Tigers' and

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 ...

farm system In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...

s. He retired from baseball in 1961, and moved to Rush Lake, Minnesota, in 1973, to

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri, Buchanan County, Missouri, United States. A small portion of the city extends north into Andrew County, Missouri, Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the princ ...

, in 1980, and to

Sandpoint, Idaho Sandpoint is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Bonner County, Idaho, Bonner County, Idaho, United States. Its population was 9,777 as of the 2022 United States census, census. Sandpoint's major economic contributors include forest pr ...

, in 2002.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kress, Chuck 1921 births 2014 deaths Asheville Tourists managers Ashland Colonels players Baseball players from Philadelphia Brooklyn Dodgers players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Charleston Senators players Chicago White Sox players Cincinnati Reds players Columbia Reds players Columbus Red Birds players Cordele Reds players Des Moines Demons players Detroit Tigers players Durham Bulls managers Durham Bulls players Erie Sailors players Houston Buffaloes players Lenoir Reds players Major League Baseball first basemen People from Otter Tail County, Minnesota Sportspeople from St. Joseph, Missouri Sportspeople from Sandpoint, Idaho Rochester Red Wings players Syracuse Chiefs players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players United States Army personnel of World War II