1901
Born November 30, 1901
Washington, ME, USA
Clyde Sukeforth Marquee
Clyde Sukeforth was sent by Branch Rickey in August 1945 to watch a Kansas City Monarchs shortstop and, if his arm looked sound, to bring him to Brooklyn. The shortstop was Jackie Robinson, and Sukeforth was in the room for the meeting that followed.
He was also the man in the dugout on April 15, 1947: Brooklyn's manager had been suspended, and Sukeforth ran the club for the first two games of the season, making him the manager who wrote Robinson's name on a major league lineup card for the first time.
Born in Washington, Maine in 1901, he caught 486 games across ten seasons for Cincinnati and Brooklyn, batting .264, and coached and scouted for decades afterwards. He lived to ninety-eight, dying in September 2000.
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1926 | CIN | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| 1927 | CIN | 38 | 58 | 12 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 2 | .190 |
| 1928 | CIN | 33 | 53 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 0 | .132 |
| 1929 | CIN | 84 | 237 | 31 | 84 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 33 | 17 | 6 | 8 | .354 |
| 1930 | CIN | 94 | 296 | 30 | 84 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 17 | 12 | 1 | .284 |
| 1931 | CIN | 112 | 351 | 22 | 90 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 25 | 38 | 13 | 0 | .256 |
| 1932 | BRO | 59 | 111 | 14 | 26 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 1 | .234 |
| 1933 | BRO | 20 | 36 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .056 |
| 1934 | BRO | 27 | 43 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | .163 |
| 1945 | BRO | 18 | 51 | 2 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | .294 |
| Career | — | 486 | 1237 | 122 | 326 | 50 | 14 | 2 | 96 | 95 | 57 | 12 | .264 |
On this day & linked events
2000
Died September 3, 2000
1926
Major-league debut: Clyde Sukeforth
Clyde Sukeforth made a major-league debut on May 31, 1926.
1945
Final major-league game: Clyde Sukeforth
Clyde Sukeforth played a final major-league game on June 7, 1945.