Maurice Rene Van Robays (November 15, 1914 – March 1, 1965), nicknamed "Bomber," was a

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

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 c ...

who played six 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) ...

(MLB) with the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. Founded as part o ...

between 1939 and 1946. Listed at tall and , he batted and threw right-handed.

Biography

Originally signed by his hometown

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 ...

, Van Robays first played professionally in 1934 with the

minor league 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 N ...

Grand Rapids Tigers Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commun ...

and

Charleroi Tigers The Charleroi Tigers were a minor league baseball team based in Charleroi, Pennsylvania from 1934 until 1936. However the team can be traced back to 1927 as the Charleroi Babes of the Middle Atlantic League. The name of the club changed in 1929 ...

. He missed the 1935 season due to

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...

and

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

, only returning to baseball late in the 1936 season with a semi-professional team in Detroit. Van Robays returned to the minor leagues in 1937, helping the

Ogdensburg Colts Ogdensburg may refer to: * Ogdensburg, Michigan (ghost town), U.S. * Ogdensburg, New Jersey, U.S. * Ogdensburg, New York, U.S. * Battle of Ogdensburg, 1813 * Ogdensburg, Wisconsin, U.S. * Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge, connects Ogdensbu ...

win the

Canadian–American League The Canadian–American League, nicknamed the Can-Am League, was a class C level minor league baseball circuit which ran from 1936 through 1951, with a three-year break during World War II. Teams * Amsterdam Rugmakers, 1938–1942, 1946–1 ...

title. He then moved to the

farm system in 1938. After

batting Batting may refer to: *Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs * Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score r ...

.320 in 1939 with the

Montreal Royals The Montreal Royals were a minor league baseball, minor league professional baseball team in Montreal, Quebec, during 1897–1917 and 1928–1960. A member of the International League, the Royals were the top farm system, farm club (Triple-A (base ...

of the

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

, Van Robays made his major league debut on September 7 of that year. He had three hits in his debut, including a double, and two

RBI RBI most often refers to: *Reserve Bank of India *Run batted in RBI may also refer to: Organisations *Radio Berlin International *Raiffeisen Bank International *Reed Business Information *Restaurant Brands International *Ruđer Bošković In ...

in a narrow victory. , his 1.022

win probability added Win probability added (WPA) is a sport statistic which attempts to measure a player's contribution to a win by figuring the factor by which each specific play made by that player has altered the outcome of a game. It is used for baseball and Americ ...

is a record for a debutant. Appearing in 27 games with the Pirates in 1939, primarily as a

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering sy ...

, he batted .314 with two

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 16 RBI. In 1940, Van Robays appeared in a career-high 145 major league games, batting .273 with 11 home runs and 116 RBIs. His 116 RBIs were third-most in 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 ...

. After the season, Van Robays drew eight points and finished 24th in league

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

voting, with a .316

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 .402

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 ...

. He played a decreasing number of games with Pittsburgh each of the next three seasons, with a corresponding decline in RBIs. Eyesight difficulties led to Van Robays starting to wear

glasses Glasses, also known as eyeglasses or spectacles, are vision eyewear, with lenses (clear or tinted) mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically utilizing a bridge over the nose and hinged arms (known as temples or ...

in 1942. Van Robays missed the 1944 and 1945 seasons while serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

with the

1st Infantry Division 1st Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) *1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) *1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoured Division (Australi ...

in Europe. In 1946, Van Robays played 59 games for the Pirates, his final major league appearances, batting .212 with one home run and 12 RBIs. Overall during parts of six major league seasons with Pittsburgh, he batted .267 with 20 home runs and 303 RBIs. Defensively, he played 470 games in the outfield (402 in left field), three games at first base, and one game at third base; he had a .966

fielding average In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, di ...

. Van Robays completed his professional career by spending four seasons with the

Oakland Oaks Oakland Oaks may refer to one of the following sport teams, listed chronologically: * Oakland Oaks (PCL), a minor league baseball team that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 to 1955 *Oakland Oaks (ice hockey), a professional ice hockey t ...

of 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 ...

, 1947 to 1950; the team was league champions in 1948. He appeared in a total of 822 minor league games in parts of nine seasons, batting .315 with at least 94 home runs and 199 RBIs, as minor league records of the era are incomplete. Van Robays is credited with naming the "

eephus pitch An eephus pitch (also spelled ephus) in baseball is a very high-arcing off-speed pitch. The delivery from the pitcher has very low velocity and often catches the hitter off-guard. The eephus pitch is thrown overhand like most pitches, but is cha ...

", developed by teammate

Rip Sewell Truett Banks "Rip" Sewell (May 11, 1907 – September 3, 1989) was a right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played 13 years in the major leagues with the Detroit Tigers (1932) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1938–1949). Sewell was ...

. In a 1942 exhibition game, Sewell threw a high, arching lob to the plate, and when the pitch finally arrived,

Dick Wakefield Richard Cummings Wakefield (May 6, 1921 – August 25, 1985) was a left fielder in Major League Baseball for 9 seasons with the Detroit Tigers (1941, 1943–1944, 1946–1949), New York Yankees (1950), and New York Giants (1952). Wakefield was a ...

swung and missed. After the game, manager

Frankie Frisch Frank Francis Frisch (September 9, 1898—March 12, 1973), nicknamed "The Fordham Flash" or "The Old Flash", was an American Major League Baseball player and manager of the first half of the twentieth century. Frisch was a switch-hitting second ...

asked Sewell what he called the pitch, and Van Robays replied "that's an eephus pitch." When Sewell asked him what an eephus was, Van Robays said, "Eephus ain't nuthin'." From then on, Sewell called it the eephus pitch. Van Robays died of pneumonia in March 1965, aged 50, and was buried in Detroit's Mount Olivet Cemetery.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Robays, Maurice 1914 births 1965 deaths Major League Baseball left fielders Pittsburgh Pirates players Baseball players from Detroit Charleroi Tigers players Montreal Royals players Knoxville Smokies players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players American expatriate baseball players in Canada United States Army personnel of World War II Deaths from pneumonia in Michigan