Danny Anderson Cater (born February 25, 1940) is an American former 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

, and

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

. He signed with the Philadelphia Phillies at the age of 18, on June 8, 1958. Cater 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 ...

(MLB) for the Phillies (1964),

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 ...

(1965–1966), Kansas City / Oakland Athletics (1966–1969),

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

(1970–1971),

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

(1972–1974), and St. Louis Cardinals (1975).

Career

Cater played twelve seasons in the big leagues, mostly as a regular. For the eight-year period from to , he averaged over 500 plate appearances per season. Cater was a good hitter who was tough to strike out; however, he was slow afoot, making him more likely to ground into double plays, finishing in the top ten in the league in that category six times in those eight years, including second in both in and . Cater finished second for 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 ...

batting title in 1968 with a batting average of .290. That year is called "The Year of the Pitcher", and Carl Yastrzemski won the batting crown with a .301 batting average, the lowest mark ever to win a major league batting championship. Cater also led all American League first basemen with a .995 fielding percentage, that season. In 1972, the Yankees traded Cater and Mario Guerrero to the

for Sparky Lyle. Cater‘s career highlights included: * a pair of 5- hit games: five singles vs. the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

(August 30, 1967); and a double and four singles vs. the

(June 21, 1970) * eighteen 4-hit games, with the most impressive being two singles, a double, and a home run good for 4

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 4 runs scored vs. the California Angels (August 12, 1973) Cater's career totals include 1,289 games played, 1,229 hits, 66 home runs, 519 runs batted in, and a .276 batting average.

Post-playing career

After retiring from baseball, Cater worked at the headquarters office of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. He now lives in Plano, Texas.

References

External links

Danny Cater
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
Danny Cater
at Baseball Almanac {{DEFAULTSORT:Cater, Danny 1940 births Living people Arkansas Travelers players Bakersfield Bears players Boston Red Sox players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Chicago White Sox players Johnson City Phillies players Kansas City Athletics players 20th-century American sportsmen Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball third basemen New York Yankees players Philadelphia Phillies players Oakland Athletics players St. Louis Cardinals players Baseball players from Austin, Texas Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players Williamsport Grays players