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Billy Grabarkewitz

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Billy Grabarkewitz
Third baseman / Second baseman
Born: (1946-01-18) January 18, 1946 (age 78)
Lockhart, Texas
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 22, 1969, for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Last MLB appearance
April 25, 1975, for the Oakland Athletics
MLB statistics
Batting average.236
Home runs28
Runs batted in141
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Billy Cordell Grabarkewitz (born January 18, 1946) is a retired Major League Baseball infielder.

Early years

Grabarkewitz lettered in baseball, basketball, football, golf and track at Alamo Heights High School, and in 1963, he played for the now defunct Sagamore Clouters of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[1] After high school, he attended St. Mary's University in nearby San Antonio, Texas for two years before being selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the twelfth round of the 1966 Major League Baseball draft.

Grabarkewitz immediately impressed in his first professional season. The second baseman clubbed eleven home runs and scored a Northwest League leading 62 runs for the Duke Snider led Tri-City Atoms to lead the team to its second straight title. In 1967, Grabarkewitz was shifted to shortstop with the California League's Santa Barbara Dodgers, and continued to impress with his bat. He led his club with 24 home runs, and his 122 runs scored were nearly double his nearest competitor. All told, Grabarkewitz batted .283 with 48 home runs, 157 runs batted in and 287 runs scored over his minor league career when he made his major league debut with the Dodgers on April 22, 1969.[2]

Grabarkewitz was given the opportunity to earn the Dodgers' starting shortstop job, but struggled in that role. He was batting .120 with five RBIs and no home runs when the Dodgers reacquired Dodgers legend Maury Wills from the Montreal Expos for Ron Fairly and Paul Popovich on June 11. Shortly afterwards, Grabarkewitz was reassigned to the triple A Spokane Indians of the Pacific Coast League, where he played all over the infield. He returned to the majors in late July, and was hitless in fifteen at bats through the rest of the season.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Grabarkewitz began the 1970 season at second base, but shifted over to third by the end of April. Following a 2-for-3 performance against the San Francisco Giants on May 17, Grabarkewitz's batting average peaked at a season high of .420,[3] and earned him serious consideration as a write in candidate for the 1970 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Though his campaign was unsuccessful (the Cincinnati Reds' Tony Pérez was elected), National League manager Gil Hodges selected Grabarkewitz as one of his reserve position players. Grabarkewitz entered the game in the seventh inning, and hit a two out single in the bottom of the twelfth inning[4] that set up the famous Pete Rose/Ray Fosse collision at the plate.[5]

Grabarkewitz's batting average was .341 at the time of the All-Star game, and he was embroiled in a battle for the NL batting crown with Rico Carty and Roberto Clemente. However, he batted only .232 over the remainder of the season, and ended the season with a .289 average. He led the Dodgers with a .399 on-base percentage and seventeen home runs, and tied with Willie Davis for a team leading 92 runs scored. He also set a Dodgers franchise record by striking out 149 times.

During the off season, the Dodgers dealt second baseman Ted Sizemore and minor league catcher Bob Stinson to the St. Louis Cardinals for third baseman Dick Allen with the intention of shifting Grabarkewitz back to second. However, a Spring training arm injury limited Grabarkewitz's services to start the season, and caused him to miss the entire month of August. He appeared in 44 games in 1971, mostly as a pinch hitter or pinch runner, and batted .225 with six RBIs and no home runs.

He played third base, second base, and shortstop in the Major Leagues from 1969 to 1975. His best season was 1970, when he was the starting third baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and was selected as an All-Star. That year,

References

  1. ^ "Major League Baseball Players From the Cape Cod League" (PDF). capecodbaseball.org. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  2. ^ "San Francisco Giants 6, Los Angeles Dodgers 0". Baseball-Reference.com. Dodger Stadium. April 22, 1969.
  3. ^ "Los Angeles Dodgers 8, San Francisco Giants 0". Baseball-Reference.com. Dodger Stadium. May 17, 1970.
  4. ^ "1970 Major League Baseball All-Star Game". Baseball-Reference.com. Riverfront Stadium. July 14, 1970.
  5. ^ Wulf, Steve (July 9, 2015). "The Place Where Ray Fosse and Pete Rose Collide". ESPN.
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