Robert Frank Knoop ( kuh-NOP; born October 18, 1938) is an American former Major League Baseball second baseman and coach. In his nine-year MLB career, he appeared in 1,153 games as a member of the Los Angeles / California Angels (1964–69), Chicago White Sox (1969–70) and Kansas City Royals (1971–72). He threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 170 pounds (77 kg).
Robert Rudolph Balcena (August 1, 1925 – January 5, 1990) was an American professional baseball player. He played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Redlegs during the 1956 season. He had two at-bats and scored two runs as a pinch runner.
Listed at 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m), 160 pounds (73 kg), Balcena batted right-handed and threw left-handed. He was born in San Pedro, California.
Prior to playing professional baseball, Balcena served in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II with the United States Navy.Balcena became the first player of Asian American and Filipino ancestry to appear in a major league game. He had a long distinguished Triple-A career with the Seattle Rainiers as a center fielder in the 1950s; one paper described him as a "popular miniature dynamo of almost infallible perpetual motion" after his Rainier team won the 1955 Pacific Coast League title.He also played from 1952 through 1962 in the Minor Leagues, including stints with the Leones del Caracas and the Industriales de Valencia in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.
He batted .284 with 134 home run and 441 runs batted in in 1948 minor league games. In a VPBL two-season career, he posted a .306 average with five homers and 44 RBI in 87 games.
After his baseball career ended, he worked as a longshoreman in Seattle where he had played parts of four seasons in the minor leagues.Despite being the first Filipino-American to play in the major leagues, Balcena kept company with Slavs during his life. His union president told the Los Angeles Times that he was an "honorary Slav. He always r[a]n around with the San Pedro Slavs. He speaks Slav. He sings Slav." Outside of his professional career, he also played baseball with an amateur team of Yugoslav Americans.Balcena died in his hometown of San Pedro, California at the age of 64.
Gilbert Henry Blanco (born December 15, 1945) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. Blanco was signed by the New York Yankees in 1964. He pitched for the Yankees in 1965 and the Kansas City Athletics in 1966. In 28 Major League games, nine as a starting pitcher, had a career record of 3–5, an ERA of 4.45, with 35 strikeouts and 48 bases on balls in 58⅔ innings pitched.
Seth Marvin "Moe" Morehead (August 15, 1934 – January 17, 2006) was a left-handed specialist reliever in Major League Baseball. He was born in Houston, Texas.
Morehead was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent in 1952 out of C. E. Byrd High School in Shreveport, LA. He spent five seasons in the major leagues pitching in parts of three seasons with the Phillies (1957–59), two seasons with the Chicago Cubs (1959–60) and one season with the Milwaukee Braves (1961).
Morehead posted a 5–19 record with a 4.81 ERA and five saves in 132 games pitched (24 as a starter). Among his career highlights was being the last pitcher to face Roy Campanella and also the last pitcher to face the Brooklyn Dodgers before the team moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season.
Following his baseball career, Morehead graduated from Baylor University with a degree in business. He worked in banking for 36 years before retiring in 1999.
Morehead died in Shreveport, Louisiana, at the age of 71.
Charles Richard Bates (born October 7, 1945) is an American former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He graduated from McArthur (OH) High School now Vinton County High School and was signed by the Kansas City Athletics as an undrafted free agent before the 1964 season. After that, Bates also spent time in the Washington Senators organization, and was later drafted by the Seattle Pilots as the 30th pick in the 1968 expansion draft.Bates' major league tenure consisted of one relief appearance for the expansion Pilots, against the Oakland Athletics (April 27, 1969 at Sick's Stadium). Bates allowed six baserunners (three hits, three walks) and five earned runs along with three strikeouts in 1+2⁄3 innings, and ended up with a 27.00 ERA.As of 2006, Bates was living in Glendale, Arizona, and working as the general manager of the Arizona Biltmore Golf & Country Club in nearby Phoenix.
Melvin Nicholas Held (born April 12, 1929) is an American former professional baseball player. He appeared in four Major League Baseball games as a relief pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles at the outset of the 1956 season, and had a 13-year career in minor league baseball. He threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 178 pounds (81 kg).
Held, nicknamed "Country", was a nine-year minor league veteran when he pitched for the Orioles in 1956, having signed with the team when it was the St. Louis Browns in 1947. His performance during the 1955 season for the San Antonio Missions of the Class AA Texas League — he posted a 24–7 won-lost record and a 2.87 earned run average — earned him a call-up to Baltimore the following year.
In his first two MLB games, on April 27–28, Held pitched a total of three innings of scoreless relief against the Washington Senators. In his next two appearances, however, in May against the first-division Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees, Held surrendered four earned runs and five hits in four innings. Altogether, Held gave up seven hits in seven innings pitched in MLB, with three walks and four strikeouts. Held was sent back to the minor leagues for good at the May cutdown. His career continued through 1959, and he won 131 minor-league games.
Thomas Gene Fisher (April 4, 1942 – November 21, 2016) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. Nicknamed "Big Fish", the 6'0", 180 lb. right-hander was signed by the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent before the 1962 season. He played briefly for the Orioles in 1967.
Fisher had a record of 10–6 with a 3.04 earned run average for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings when he was called up to Baltimore in September 1967. His career minor league record at the time was 65–33, a winning percentage of .663. He made his major league debut in relief on September 20 against the Washington Senators at D.C. Stadium. He pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, walking two batters. His second big league action came two days later, in a home game against the Boston Red Sox. He hurled two more scoreless innings, striking out one batter, All-Star catcher Elston Howard.
On April 30, 1969 he was traded by the Orioles along with pitcher John O'Donoghue to the Seattle Pilots, and never again made it to the major league level. His lifetime ERA for 3.1 innings stands at 0.00.
Lamar Gary "Jake" Jacobs (June 9, 1937 – July 26, 2010) was a professional baseball outfielder. He played parts of two seasons in Major League Baseball, 1960 and 1961, Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins. Listed at 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m), 175 lb (79 kg), he batted and threw right-handed.A native of Youngstown, Ohio, Jacobs attended Boardman High School and graduated from Ohio University. He was signed as a bonus baby non-drafted free agent by the Washington Senators in 1959, being immediately allocated to Class-D Sanford Greyhounds. In his professional debut, Jacobs led his team with a .313 batting average and a 448 slugging percentage, gaining a promotion to the Class-A Charlotte Hornets the next year.Jacobs spent most of 1960 with Charlotte before joining the Senators in late September, appearing in two games as a pinch hitter and four as a pinch runner. He ascended to Triple-A in 1961, and split the season between the Syracuse Chiefs and Indianapolis Indians before returning to the majors in September for four games with the Minnesota Twins (the Senators had moved to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota during the offseason). He played two more years in the minors, for the Vancouver Mounties in 1962 and Charlotte again in 1963.In his brief majors career, Jacobs was a .200 hitter (2-for-10) and scored two runs in 10 games. In five minor league seasons, he posted a .277 average in 545 games.Jacobs died in Palmetto, Florida where he lived, at the age of 73 from dementia.
James Ehrenfeld Brideweser (February 13, 1927 – August 25, 1989) was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball who played from 1951 to 1957 for the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers. He was 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) tall but weighed only 165 pounds.
Before being signed by the Yankees before the 1950 season, Bridewiser spent time in the United States Army during the World War II era and attended the University of Southern California. On August 2, 1945, he enlisted in the army.He made his big league debut on September 29, 1951 for the Yankees. He spent three years with them, playing in only 51 games but batting a solid .327 in 49 at bats.
He was purchased by the Orioles in May 1954, and he hit .265 in 73 games with them. After the season, he was traded by the Orioles with Bob Chakales and Clint Courtney to the White Sox for Don Ferrarese, Don Johnson, Matt Batts, and Fred Marsh.
He did poorly while with the White Sox. He spent 1955 and part of 1956 with them, batting only .203 in 69 at bats total. In May 1956, he was traded by the White Sox with Harry Byrd and Bob Kennedy to the Tigers for Fred Hatfield and Jim Delsing. He did not improve much with them, hitting only .218 in 156 at bats. Overall that year, he hit .216.
He played his final season in 1957 with the Orioles, who purchased him from the Tigers in February of that year. He hit .268 in his final season, belting the only home run of his career that year – a three-run shot off of Boston Red Sox pitcher Frank Sullivan. He played his final game on September 21, 1957.
Overall, he hit .252 in his career. In 329 games, he collected 156 hits in 620 at bats, scoring 79 runs and driving in 50. He doubled 22 times, tripled six times and homered once. He walked 63 times and struck out only 77 times. He had a great eye at the plate, striking out only 12.4% of the time.
His fielding percentage was .949.
After he retired from playing, he obtained teaching credentials. He taught mathematics at Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, California and, as coach of the varsity baseball team, had at least two championship seasons. He was also a Title IX counselor.
Joseph Rudolph Nossek (born November 8, 1940) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder, coach and scout. He threw and batted right-handed, and stood 6' (183 cm) tall and weighed 178 pounds (81 kg) as an active player.