Claude Elliott Corbitt (July 21, 1915 – May 1, 1978) 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, an

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

who appeared in 215 Major League

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over four seasons for the

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 ...

(1945) and 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 ...

(1946; 1948–1949). The native of Sunbury, North Carolina, attended

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. 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 ...

, stood tall and weighed . Corbitt's professional career began in

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

in 1937, and was interrupted by almost four full seasons of military service with the

United States Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during World War II. He joined the military in January 1942, was commissioned a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

, and earned his wings.Baseball in Wartime.com
/ref> He was discharged late in the Major League season, but was able to make his big-league debut, at age 30, on September 23 as a defensive replacement for Dodger

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

Augie Galan. Seven days later, he started at third base against the

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, and singled twice against Hugh Mulcahy in the season's final game. On March 18, 1946, the Dodgers sold his contract to Cincinnati, and Corbitt spent the remainder of his MLB career with the Reds, including the full seasons of and . In

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

, Corbitt nearly split the Reds'

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

job with Eddie Miller, starting 69 games to Miller's 86. But Corbitt batted only .248 and spent all of 1947 with the Triple-A

Syracuse Chiefs Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

. He won a roster spot with the 1948 Reds, however, and was one of four players who shared the

second base In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the infield, between second and first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and feet, needs the ability to get rid of the ball quickly, and must ...

job that year. Corbitt started 45 games at second (behind Bobby Adams and Benny Zientara), and batted .256. In 1949, his final season in the Majors, Corbitt got into 44 games for Cincinnati, starting 25 defensively, but hit only .181 and spent part of the year with Triple-A Syracuse. All told, Corbitt registered 153

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in the Major Leagues, including 22 doubles and one

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 * I ...

. His lone

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, a solo blast, came September 13, 1946, off

Johnny Gee John Alexander "Johnny" Gee Jr. (December 7, 1915 – January 23, 1988), sometimes known as "Long John Gee" and "Whiz", was a professional baseball and basketball player. Gee played Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 193 ...

of the

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.1946-9-13 box score
from

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Corbitt retired after the 1953 minor league season and died in Cincinnati on May 1, 1978, at the age of 62.

References

External links

Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corbitt, Claude 1915 births 1978 deaths Akron Yankees players 20th-century American sportsmen Augusta Tigers players Baseball players from North Carolina Brooklyn Dodgers players Cincinnati Reds players Duke Blue Devils baseball players Major League Baseball infielders Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Montreal Royals players Newark Bears (International League) players Norfolk Tars players Palatka Azaleas players Sabios de Vargas players San Antonio Missions players Syracuse Chiefs players United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela