Clyde Raymond Barfoot (July 8, 1891 – March 11, 1971), nicknamed "Foots", was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

player. He played professional baseball as a right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...

25 years from 1914 to 1938, including three seasons in

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) ...

with the St. Louis Cardinals (1922–1923) and

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 of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

(1926).

Early years

Barfoot was born in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, in 1891.

Professional baseball

Barfoot began his professional baseball career playing in the minor leagues for the

Chattanooga Lookouts The Chattanooga Lookouts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and are named for nearby Lookout Mountain. The team plays its home ...

(1914),

Galveston Pirates The Galveston Pirates were a Texas League baseball team based in Galveston, Texas, United States that existed from 1912 to 1917 and from 1919 to 1921. Galveston was minor league baseball home to the Galveston White Caps (1950–1955), Galveston ...

(1914–1917), San Antonio Bronchos (1917–1920),

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American minor league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. ...

(1918),

Columbus Senators The Columbus Senators Minor league baseball team was created in as a founding member of the Tri-State League. After that, the Senators played in the Western League (1897-1899), Interstate League (1900), Western Association (1901), and Ame ...

(1918),

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division and play their home ...

(1920), and Houston Buffaloes (1921). After compiling a 22–13 record with Houston in 1922, he got a shot at playing in the major leagues. He made his major league debut with the St. Louis Cardinals on April 13, 1922, at age 30. He appeared in 42 games for the 1922 St. Louis Cardinals team, 40 of those as a relief pitcher. He compiled a 4-5

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

with a 4.21

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the numb ...

(ERA). He led the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

in 1922 with six saves and 25 games finished. He continued with the Cardinals in 1923, compiling a 3–3 record with a 3.73 ERA in 31 relief appearances and two starts. After his two years in the majors, Barfoot returned to the minors, playing for the Houston Buffaloes in 1924 and compiling a 19–12 record. In 1925, he moved to the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Bas ...

where he compiled a career best 26–15 record with the

Vernon Tigers The Vernon Tigers were a Minor League Baseball team that represented Vernon, California in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) from 1909 to 1925. The team won back-to-back PCL pennants in 1919 and 1920. The Tigers, together with the Sacramento Solons, ...

. In the winter before the 1926 season, the

purchased Barfoot and Jack Warner for $40,000 and players. He appeared in 11 games for the Tigers in 1926, 10 as a relief pitcher, and compiled a 1–2 record and a 4.88 ERA. He appeared in his final major league game on May 24, 1926. He had a major league career record of 8–10 in 250 innings, with an ERA of 4.10, five complete games, 55 games finished, 49 strikeouts, and 66 bases on balls. Barfoot was 30 years old when he made his major league debut as a relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1920. A longtime star in the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

(PCL), and Southern Association, he won 314 minor league games in a career that spanned 25 years. Barfoot was an excellent hitter for a pitcher. In 1922, he had a .353

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 i ...

, a .421

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

, and a .441

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 ...

in 34 at bats. On October 9, 1926, Barfoot went 3-for-5 in a PCL game with three

home run 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 is ...

s and nine

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 ...

. On October 15, 1925, Barfoot pitched 15 innings in a PCL victory over Los Angeles and hit two

s to win the game, 6–5. Barfoot won 25 games in 1925.

Later years

Barfoot died in 1971 in Highland Park, California, at age 79.

References

External links

Clyde Barfoot
at SABR (Baseball BioProject) {{DEFAULTSORT:Barfoot, Clyde 1891 births 1971 deaths Detroit Tigers players St. Louis Cardinals players Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Richmond, Virginia