Raymond Leroy Coleman (June 4, 1922 – September 19, 2010) 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 ...

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who appeared in 559 career games over five seasons in

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between and for the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they ...

(over three separate stints),

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...

and

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. Born in

Dunsmuir, California Dunsmuir is a city in Siskiyou County, California. It is on the upper Sacramento River. Its population is 1,707 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 1,650 from the 2010 United States census, 2010 census. Dunsmuir is curren ...

, he batted left-handed, threw right-handed and was listed as tall and . Signed by the Browns as an amateur free agent in 1940 out of Yreka High School, Coleman played 14 seasons of professional baseball until his 1956 retirement, missing the 1943 through 1945 campaigns while serving in the

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in the

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and

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theaters of operation of

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. He made his major league debut in 1947. Coleman put together two consecutive years with 20-plus

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

s (25 in and 24 in ), while finishing second in 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 ...

with 12

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * I ...

s in 1951. He compiled 146

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with 76 runs driven in during the 1951 season. Overall, Coleman batted .258 as a major leaguer; his 446 career

included 73 doubles, 20 triples, 33

home runs 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 ...

and 199 RBI. After his third term as a member of the Browns in 1952, St. Louis sent him to 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 ...

' organization as part payment for

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

Billy Hunter, and he played four more seasons in the

minor leagues 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 Nort ...

before leaving the game. A retired bookkeeper, Ray Coleman died September 19, 2010, at age 88.Ray Coleman Obituary
''The Oklahoman'', September 21, 2010

References

External links

* http://www.baseballinwartime.com/player_biographies/coleman_ray.htm

Sources

1922 births 2010 deaths American expatriate baseball players in Cuba Baseball players from California Birmingham Barons players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Chicago White Sox players Fort Worth Cats players Havana Sugar Kings players Major League Baseball outfielders Mayfield Browns players Mayfield Clothiers players Mobile Bears players Omaha Cardinals players Paragould Browns players People from Dunsmuir, California Philadelphia Athletics players San Antonio Missions players Sportspeople from Siskiyou County, California Springfield Browns players St. Louis Browns players 20th-century American sportsmen St. Paul Saints (AA) players United States Navy personnel of World War II Yreka High School alumni {{US-baseball-outfielder-1920s-stub