Samuel Lester "Slam" Agnew (April 12, 1887 – July 19, 1951) 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 ...

. 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 ...

from 1913 through 1919 for the St. Louis Browns,

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 ...

and Washington Senators. Agnew batted and threw right-handed.

Life

He was born in Farmington, Missouri on April 12 1887. Agnew debuted with the St. Louis Browns on April 10, . In 105 games his rookie season, Sam hit .208 with 2

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 24 RBI, stealing 11 bases, in 307 at bats. In , Agnew hit .212 with 16 RBI in 115 games. That season he finished 23rd in the balloting for Most Valuable Player, losing out to Eddie Collins of the

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 ...

. In , he slipped down to a .203 average with 19 RBI in 104 games. On December 16, , the

purchased Agnew from the St. Louis Browns. Serving as the backup to regular backstop Pinch Thomas, Agnew hit .209 (14-for-67) with 7 RBI in 40 games. During a late season Red Sox game, a fight broke out after Carl Mays hit a Washington player with a pitch. The benches emptied and subsequently Agnew punched out Senators manager Clark Griffith. Agnew was arrested and was suspended by the American League President for five days. Splitting time behind the plate with Thomas in , Agnew hit .208 with 16 RBI in 85 games. Although he was considered the regular catcher in , Agnew struggled at the plate, hitting just .166 with a career-low 6 RBI in 72 games. His offensive woes continued during the 1918 World Series, as he went hitless in nine at bats over four games against the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

. In January , Agnew was purchased from the

by the Washington Senators. In just 42 games, Agnew hit a career-high .235 with 10 RBI. He played his final major league game on September 28, 1919. After his playing career, he went on to become a pitching coach for the Cubs and also a minor league coach. In a seven-season career, Agnew posted a .204

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 ...

with two

s and 98 RBI in 563

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 ...

. Agnew died in Sonoma, California, at the age of 64. After his Major League career ended, he continued to play in the minor leagues with the San Francisco Seals and Hollywood Stars 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 (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

until 1929. He was later a manager in the minors for the San Diego Aces of the

California State League There were at least three class D California State Leagues in operation at some point in minor league baseball history. Two lasted just a single season (1910 and 1929) and the other lasted three seasons 1913 through 1915. The 1910 version was act ...

(1929), Augusta Wolves of the

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its h ...

(1930 & 1938) and Palatka Azaleas of the

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

(1937). He died on July 19, 1951, and is buried in the Chapel of the Chimes in

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa (Spanish language, Spanish for "Rose of Lima, Saint Rose") is a city in and the county seat of Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay A ...

.Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More than 14000 Famous Persons, Scott Wilson

Family

His brother was Troy Agnew.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Agnew, Sam 1887 births 1951 deaths Major League Baseball catchers Boston Red Sox players St. Louis Browns players 20th-century American sportsmen Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Santa Clara Broncos baseball coaches Minor league baseball managers Topeka Jayhawks players Omaha Rourkes players Vernon Tigers players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Hollywood Stars players San Diego Aces players People from Farmington, Missouri Baseball players from Missouri