Raymond Frederick Berres (August 31, 1907 – February 1, 2007) 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 ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

and

pitching coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decision ...

. He 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

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 ...

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

, Boston Bees / Braves and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

."Ray Berres Statistics and History"
"baseball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2017-05-12. Born in

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Wisconsin, fourth-most populous city in Wisconsin, with a population of 99,986 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. S ...

, Berres was a 170-lb, light-hitting catcher who, thanks to his fine glove, managed to play in 11 major league seasons for four

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

teams, usually in a backup role. He provided fine catching, quality game-calling, and a respectable throwing arm. Drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers from the

Birmingham Barons The Birmingham Barons are a Minor League Baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox and plays at Regions Field in downtown Birmingham. The Baron ...

(

Southern Association The Southern Association (SA) was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class B (1902-19 ...

) in the 1933

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

, he debuted with Brooklyn in , backing up

Al López Alfonso Ramón López (August 20, 1908 – October 30, 2005) was a Spanish Americans, Spanish-American professional baseball catcher and Manager (baseball), manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Brooklyn Ro ...

behind the plate. He returned to the minor leagues in 1935, but became Brooklyn's starting catcher when López was traded to Boston in December 1935. His most productive season came as a rookie, when he posted career highs in

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 is ...

(.240),

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

(64) and doubles (10). The Pittsburgh Pirates, short of catching, acquired him a year later. On June 14, 1940, Pittsburgh traded Berres to the Boston Bees in exchange for López, and he played for 1 seasons with Boston's

franchise. In , with the renamed Braves, Berres appeared in a career-high 120 games while hitting .201 (56-for-279); he also led the NL in

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

with a .995 mark. After backing up a series of Giants catchers for four seasons, he finished his career with that team in . In an 11-season career, Berres was a .216 hitter with three

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 and 78

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 ...

in 561

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Associat ...

. After serving as a bullpen catcher for the Boston Braves and a coach for the 1948 Triple-A

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

, Berres was the pitching coach for the

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 ...

for nearly two decades (from through , then from the midseason of through ), primarily under manager López. During that time, he was a member of 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 ...

champions.

Tommy John Thomas Edward John Jr. (born May 22, 1943), nicknamed "the Bionic Man," is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 26 seasons between 1963 and 1989. He played for the Cleveland Indians, Ch ...

pitched for Berres in the coach's last years with the White Sox. "With the White Sox, I became a pitcher," John recalled. "The key to my success was pitching coach Ray Berres. I just didn't know what I was doing as a pitcher until he got me. Berres didn't teach pitches. He didn't show you how to throw the slider, forkball, screwball, or split-fingered fastball. But he had a tremendous understanding of pitching." Berres would study pitcher's mechanics and let them know adjustments which needed to be made. According to John, Berres's theory was that "the slower and more easy your motion, the more of an optical illusion it becomes to the batter when the ball gets released."John and Valenti, p. 93 Berres died in his hometown of Kenosha, Wisconsin from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

at the age of 99. He was elected to the

Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame The Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame honors distinguished members of Wisconsin's sports history. The Hall of Fame hosts several annual events, including an induction ceremony to honor new members, nomination luncheons, speaker series breakfasts an ...

in 1999.

References

External links

Interview with Ray BerresBaseball Almanac
*
Ex-Sox pitching coach Berres dies
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berres, Ray 1907 births 2007 deaths Baseball coaches from Wisconsin Birmingham Barons players Boston Bees players Boston Braves players Brooklyn Dodgers players Chicago White Sox coaches Chicago White Sox scouts Deaths from pneumonia in Wisconsin Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball bullpen catchers Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball pitching coaches Montgomery Lions players New York Giants (baseball) players Pittsburgh Pirates players Richmond Colts players Sacramento Senators players Baseball players from Kenosha, Wisconsin Waterloo Hawks (baseball) players 20th-century American sportsmen