John Doward Sanford (June 23, 1917 – January 4, 2005) was a

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 ...

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 ...

who played his entire career for the Washington Senators. Listed at tall and , Sanford batted and threw right-handed. He was born in

Chatham, Virginia Chatham is a town in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of Pittsylvania County. Chatham's population was 1,232 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Danville, Virginia metropolitan area. The town was originally ...

. Basically a line-drive hitter and a fine defensive player, Sanford was one of many ballplayers who interrupted their careers to serve 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 ...

. He signed with the Senators out of the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...

, where he lettered in

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 ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and track. Sanford made his

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 ...

debut on August 24, 1940 at

Griffith Stadium Griffith Stadium stood in Washington, D.C., from 1911 to 1965, between Georgia Avenue and 5th Street (left field), and between W Street and Florida Avenue NW. The site was once home to a wooden baseball park. Built in 1891, it was called Bounda ...

. In his debut, he left six men on base in a two-run loss. His -0.437 win probability added is the lowest of any debutant in Major League history. Sanford played for the Washington Senators in the 1940 and 1941 seasons as a backup for

Zeke Bonura Henry John "Zeke" Bonura (September 20, 1908 – March 9, 1987) was an American professional baseball first baseman in Major League Baseball. From 1934 through 1940, he played for the Chicago White Sox (1934–1937), Washington Senators (1938, 1 ...

and

Mickey Vernon James Barton "Mickey" Vernon (April 22, 1918 – September 24, 2008) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman who played for the Washington Senators (1939–1948, 1950–1955), Cleveland Indians (1949–1950, 1958), Boston Red ...

at first base. He served in the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

from 1941 to 1946, playing and coaching on baseball teams there, then returned to major league action briefly in 1946. In a three-season career, Sanford was a .231 hitter (32-for-153) with 13 runs and 11 RBI in 47 games, including four doubles and four

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

without

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 ( ...

s or

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

s. Sanford died in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...

, at the age of 87.

References

External links

Baseball Reference statisticsBaseball in Wartime
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanford, Jack 1917 births 2005 deaths American men's basketball players Augusta Tigers players Barton Bulldogs baseball coaches Baseball players from Virginia Charlotte Hornets (baseball) players Chattanooga Lookouts players Danville Leafs players Elon Phoenix athletic directors Elon Phoenix baseball coaches Fayetteville Highlanders players Little Rock Travelers players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Major League Baseball first basemen People from Chatham, Virginia Portsmouth Merrimacs players Raleigh Capitals players Reidsville Luckies players Richmond Spiders baseball players Richmond Spiders football players Richmond Spiders men's basketball players United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Hargrave Military Academy alumni 20th-century American sportsmen