Charlie Neal

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Charlie Neal
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 17, 1956, for the Brooklyn Dodgers
Last MLB appearance
September 29, 1963, for the Cincinnati Reds
MLB statistics
Batting average.259
Home runs87
Runs batted in391
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Charles Lenard Neal (January 30, 1931 – November 18, 1996) was an American

player, a second baseman and shortstop who had an eight-season career (1956–1963) in Major League Baseball
.

Signed by the

fifth inning of the second game when Neal connected for a solo homer, accounting for the Dodgers' first run of the Fall Classic. Two innings later, after pinch hitter Chuck Essegian had tied the contest at two with another solo home run, Neal belted his second long ball of the game, a two-run blast with Jim Gilliam on base. That homer was the winning blow in a 4–3 Dodger victory;[1]
Los Angeles went on to take Games 3, 4 and 6 to win the world championship.

Early baseball career

Neal was born in

African-American
player.

Neal joined the Dodgers at the start of the

Baseball Hall of Famer Pee Wee Reese shifting to third base. He batted .270 with 12 home runs. In 1958, he belted 22 home runs, 14 at his new home field, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
, as the Dodgers' starting second baseman.

Standout 1959 season

Then, in

Milwaukee Braves by the close of the 154-game season, Neal played a key role in sweeping the Braves in the 1959 National League tie-breaker series with five hits in 12 at bats, including a home run in the clinching Game 2.[6] He earned his world championship ring by hitting .370 with ten hits in the six-game World Series victory over the White Sox. In that series, he played before the largest crowd in World Series history, 92,706, in Game 5 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. (His 1956 World Series appearance in Game 3 came before a Yankee Stadium throng of 73,977, which is still one of the ten biggest crowds in Fall Classic history.) Neal also appeared in the second 1959 All-Star Game
, played at the Coliseum on August 3.

Neal was the Dodgers' starting second baseman in both 1960 and 1961 and played in each of 1960's MLB All-Star games, but his production declined; he hit .256 and .235 with only 18 total home runs in 247 games played. After the 1961 season, the Dodgers traded him to the New York Mets, then a first-year expansion team, for outfielder Lee Walls and cash. Neal was the regular second baseman for the Mets' maiden 1962 team that lost 120 games, the most by a team in a single season since the 19th Century. He was in the inaugural Met starting lineup on April 11, 1962 at St. Louis, batting third, going 3-for-4 and getting the first RBI in the team's history.

Neal remained a Met until July 1, 1963, when he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds.[7] After he hit just .156 for the rest of that season, Neal was released by the Reds in spring training of 1964, his career over at age 33. As a major leaguer, Neal appeared in 970 games and batted .259 lifetime with 858 hits, 113 doubles, 38 triples, 87 home runs, and 391 runs batted in. He was hitless in two at-bats in All-Star competition.

Charlie Neal died in Dallas of heart failure at age 65.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Retrosheet box score: 1959-10-02
  2. ^ Warren Corbett. "Charlie Neal". sabr.org. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  3. ^ Leslie Heaphy. "The Atlanta Black Crackers". sabr.org. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  4. ISBN 978-0-8032-2530-5
  5. ^ Retrosheet box score: 1956-10-06
  6. ^ Retrosheet box score: 1959-09-29
  7. ^ Gonder sold to NY Mets
  8. ^ Charlie Neal

External links

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