Former big leaguer Bobby Morgan recently passed away, per Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman. Morgan died June 1 but his family preferred not to make an announcement, which is why the news is only coming out now. He was 96 years old.
Morgan was born in Oklahoma City in 1926. He became a professional baseball player in 1944, signing with the Dodgers and getting some experience in the minor leagues. But he was then drafted for military duty in World War II, spending 1945 and 1946 in the European Theater as a member of the Army.
He returned to baseball after that, eventually making his major league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950. He got into 67 games that year, hitting .226 while serving as a utility infielder behind players like Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese and Gil Hodges.
Morgan didn’t play in the majors in 1951 but got into 136 games over 1952 and 1953, playing all three infield positions to the left of first base. He walked in 16.7% of plate appearances over those two seasons, leading to a .381 on-base percentage. The Dodgers won the National League pennant in each of those years but were defeated by the Yankees in the World Series both times. Morgan got one plate appearance in each series but lined out in both instances.
He was then traded to the Phillies and carved out a larger role, getting into 271 games over the 1954 and 1955 campaigns, bouncing around the infield. He then spent some time with the Cardinals and Cubs later in his career as well.
Overall, Morgan got into 671 regular season contests, notching 487 hits, including 96 doubles, 11 triples and 53 home runs. He scored 286 runs, drove in 217 and stole 18 bases. After his playing career ended, he did some minor league managing and scouting. We MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to his family, friends, loved ones and fans.
Rest in peace Bobby, thank you for your service to the game of baseball and to our country.
lst Joe, now Bobby?
Good eye. Same last name. Pretty clever.
“while serving as a utility infielder behind players like Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese and Gil Hodges”.
Can you imagine?
I love reading about the 50s Brooklyn Dodgers, especially Hodges… that must have been a blast
97 years… the stories he could tell.
He could be the “old guy” next door, most people not knowing his past, and that he was a former WWII vet, and MLB’er who played with Jackie Robinson. I’m sure he did have great stories.
RIP Bobby
Great player with a 9.5 career WAR. Can’t go wrong with that.
I like that slash line: .233/.338/.366 and he’s only 9% lower than average at creating runs. Not bad. He’s probably be on an MLB team today.
What an incredible life this man led, and a hero he was.
As a kid, I remember watching Bobby Morgan (#10 I think) on the Cubs. Always hustled and did his best on the field, even when guys of greater promise but lesser achievement kept him ready and waiting on the bench.
Number 12
Wow what a remarkable journey he went on. Looking at his stats, I agree with one of the statements above that I think he would be on a major league team today.
Thank you for being a hero in the best generation of Americans!!
RIP
What a dumb thing to say lol. No one compared these two things at all. I simply said if your ego is too fragile to where you get mad at someone for asking who this guy was then you’d obviously not be able to handle a baseball game because you’d see a manager kicking dirt and get offended it by it