Dick Stuart

Full Name: Richard Lee Stuart	Primary Position: 1B
Height/Weight: 6'4"/212	First Game: July 10, 1958
Birthdate: November 7, 1932	Final Game: May 27, 1969
Birthplace: San Francisco, California	MLB Experience: 10 years
Died: December 15, 2002
Deathplace: Redwood City, California
Bat/Throw: Right/Right

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1 Biography
2 Statistics
- 2.1 Batting Stats
- 2.2 Fielding Stats
3 Transactions
4 Trivia
5 Video Gallery
6 Picture Gallery
7 See Also
8 Categories

[edit] Biography

Dick Stuart (Richard Lee Stuart) was born on November 7, 1932 in San Francisco, California. He played his first major league game on July 10, 1958 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and played his last game on May 27, 1969 for the California Angels. He died at the age of December 15, 2002 at the age of 70 in Redwood City, California.

Dick Stuart once said that when he fielded a hot dog wrapper during a game in Pittsburgh, 30,000 fans gave him a standing ovation. He was known as one of the worst fielders ever. He made 29 errors at first base for the Boston Red Sox in 1963, (setting a record that stands 45 years later), and 24 errors in 1964 the following year. Present day Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis made no errors all last season, so that shows how bad a first baseman Stuart was. Stuart was nicknamed Dr. Strangeglove for his ineptness as a fielder. He once even had a license plate that had E3 on it.

Below are a couple of paragraphs from his New York Times obituary:

His first major league hit was a home run. His second was a grand slam. In 1963, he led the American League in runs batted in with 118, and in his two years with the Red Sox he hit a total of 75 home runs.

Still, he could never shake his image as a bad fielder. When the public-address announcer at Pirates training camp once told the spectators, Anyone who interferes with the ball in play will be ejected from the ballpark, Danny Murtaugh, the Pirates' manager at the time, said, I hope Stuart doesn't think it means him.

Stuart played ten seasons in the major leagues and hit 228 home runs and drove in 743 runs while hitting .264. Stuart was on the 1961 NL All Star team and was the batter waiting on deck when Bill Mazeroski hit his game winning home run over the Yankees in the seventh game of the 1960 World Series. He was 3 for 22 in World Series play for the Pirates and Dodgers and hit only .136 with no home runs.

In 1122 games, he stole a total of two bases and was caught stealing seven times. Bill James of Baseball Statistics Fame called Stuart the worst percentage player ever since he was not good at drawing walks, running or fielding.

His 66 home runs in 1956 in the minors should place him near the top of minor league season home run record list. Joe Hauser and Bob Crues hit 69 in one season and Joe Bauman has the record with 72. When Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs in 2001, it made him the all-time leader in homers in a single season in organized baseball in United States.

(One a side note about Crues before getting back to Stuart, he hit 69 home runs in 1948, drove in 254 runs, he scored 185 runs and hit .404, but didn't finish in the top 3 in batting average that season. He also was third in hits with 228.)

Stuart's personal best home run season was when he hit 42 home runs for the Red Sox in 1963. His last good season was in 1965 when he hit 28 home runs and drove in 95 runs for the Philadelphia Phillies. He had 33 years of retirement before succumbing to cancer in 2002.

Most people believe that Dick Stuart's best season was 1963, when he slugged 42 home runs and knocked in 118 runs.

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Batting Stats

Year	Team		G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	2B	3B	BB	SO	HBP	SH	SB	IBB	GDP
1958	PIT	N	67	254	38	68	16	48	.268	.310	.543	12	5	11	75	5	0	0	1	6
1959	PIT	N	118	397	64	118	27	78	.297	.362	.549	15	2	42	86	2	2	1	7	11
1960	PIT	N	122	438	48	114	23	83	.260	.317	.479	17	5	39	107	0	1	0	5	15
1961	PIT	N	138	532	83	160	35	117	.301	.344	.581	28	8	34	121	4	1	0	1	22
1962	PIT	N	114	394	52	90	16	64	.228	.286	.398	11	4	32	94	2	0	0	1	9
1963	BOS	A	157	612	81	160	42	118	.261	.312	.521	25	4	44	144	1	1	0	2	24
1964	BOS	A	156	603	73	168	33	114	.279	.320	.491	27	1	37	130	3	1	0	7	11
1965	PHI	N	149	538	53	126	28	95	.234	.287	.429	19	1	39	136	3	0	1	8	10
1966	NY	N	31	87	7	19	4	13	.218	.292	.356	0	0	9	26	0	0	0	2	5
1966	LA	N	38	91	4	24	3	9	.264	.356	.374	1	0	11	17	2	0	0	0	3
1966	TOT	N	69	178	11	43	7	22	.242	.325	.365	1	0	20	43	2	0	0	2	8
1969	CAL	A	22	51	3	8	1	4	.157	.204	.255	2	0	3	21	0	0	0	0	2
Total	NL		777	2731	349	719	152	507	.263	.319	.486	103	25	217	662	18	4	2	25	81
Total	AL		335	1266	157	336	76	236	.265	.311	.496	54	5	84	295	4	2	0	9	37
Total			1112	3997	506	1055	228	743	.264	.316	.489	157	30	301	957	22	6	2	34	118

[edit] Fielding Stats

Year	Team		POS	G	GS	INN	PO	A	ERR	DP	AVG
1958	PIT	N	1B	64	61	529.1	529	49	16	69	.973
1959	PIT	N	LF	1	1	7	0	0	0	0	.000
1959	PIT	N	OF	1	1	7	0	0	0	0	.000
1959	PIT	N	1B	104	100	872	831	81	22	87	.976
1960	PIT	N	1B	108	105	913	920	77	14	90	.986
1961	PIT	N	1B	131	131	1139.2	1152	99	21	141	.983
1961	PIT	N	LF	1	0	5	0	0	0	0	.000
1961	PIT	N	OF	1	0	5	0	0	0	0	.000
1962	PIT	N	1B	101	100	862.2	868	78	17	98	.982
1963	BOS	A	1B	155	155	1376.1	1207	134	29	100	.979
1964	BOS	A	1B	155	155	1320	1159	104	24	105	.981
1965	PHI	N	1B	143	140	1173	1119	98	17	100	.986
1965	PHI	N	3B	1	0	0.1	0	0	0	0	.000
1966	NY	N	1B	23	23	185	216	13	6	20	.974
1966	LA	N	1B	25	25	188.1	191	21	2	16	.991
1966	TOT	N	1B	48	48	373.1	407	34	8	36	.982
1969	CAL	A	1B	13	13	96	102	4	1	11	.991
Total			1B	1022	1008	8655.1	8294	758	169	837	.982
Total			OF	2	1	12	0	0	0	0	.000
Total			3B	1	0	0.1	0	0	0	0	.000
Total			LF	2	1	12	0	0	0	0	.000

[edit] Transactions

Signed as an amateur free agent by Pittsburgh Pirates (1951).
Traded by Pittsburgh Pirates with Jack Lamabe to Boston Red Sox in exchange for Jim Pagliaroni and Don Schwall (November 20, 1962).
Traded by Boston Red Sox to Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Dennis Bennett (November 29, 1964).
Traded by Philadelphia Phillies to New York Mets in exchange for Jimmie Schaffer, Bobby Klaus and Wayne Graham (February 22, 1966).
Released by New York Mets (June 20, 1966).
Signed by Los Angeles Dodgers (July 5, 1966).
Released by Los Angeles Dodgers (November 21, 1966).
Signed by California Angels (April 7, 1969).
Released by California Angels (June 3, 1969).