Phil Weintraub

Philip Weintraub (October 12, 1907 – June 21, 1987) was an American professional baseball first baseman and outfielder.

Weintraub played for 13 minor league teams, for whom he had an aggregate batting average of .337, as well as for the New York Giants, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Philadelphia Phillies in Major League Baseball.

He was primarily a reserve outfielder in the majors, though he was platooned at first base in the last few years of his career.

He posted a .295 career batting average in the major leagues, and a .398 on-base percentage.

In 1926 he played for the Rock Island Islanders, in 1927 Weintraub played for the Waco Cubs and the Danville Veterans, and in 1928 he played for the Tyler Trojans.

He was a pitcher until he hurt his arm in 1930.

He took some time off from baseball after his father died to take over his father's business.

In 1931 Weintraub played for the Dubuque Tigers (had a .372 batting average (3rd in the league) with a .600 slugging percentage (2nd)), in 1932 he played for the Terre Haute Tots (batting .323 with a .500 slugging percentage) and the Dayton Ducks (batting .352 with a .575 slugging percentage), and in 1933 he played for the Birmingham Barons.

His professional debut was on September 5, 1933, for the New York Giants, at 25 years of age.

Weintraub played in eight games that season.

In 1934, he batted .401 (the first hitter to bat .400 in the league) with a league-leading .664 slugging percentage for the Nashville Vols of the Southern Association, as Weintraub was second in the league with 16 home runs in 371 at bats.

In 1934, Weintraub batted .351 with a .461 on-base percentage in 31 games.

The Sporting News wrote of him in December 1934: "The Giants don’t know what they’re going to do with Phil."

The following season he batted .241 in 64 games.

That year in spring training, despite a team reservation Weintraub and Harry Danning were once refused entry to the Flamingo Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, which had a "No Jews" policy, but they were allowed to stay when Giants manager Bill Terry threatened he would take the whole team to another hotel if his Jewish ballplayers were not allowed in.

Called "baseball's best-dressed pinch hitter" in 1935 by journalist Fred Lieb, Weintraub reportedly owned 100 suits.

In December 1935 Weintraub was traded by the Giants with pitcher Roy Parmelee and cash to the St. Louis Cardinals for second baseman Burgess "Whitey" Whitehead.

In 1936 Weintraub played for the Rochester Red Wings of the International League (batting .371 (2nd in the league) while leading the league with a .660 slugging percentage) and the Columbus Red Birds (batting .361 with a .506 slugging percentage).

In August 1936 he was purchased by the Cincinnati Reds from the Cardinals.

Weintraub batted .271 with a .424 slugging percentage for the Reds in 198 at bats.

In 1937 he played for the Jersey City Giants, and in 1938 he played for the International League Baltimore Orioles (batting .345 with a .604 slugging percentage).

In July 1937 Weintraub was purchased by the New York Giants from the Reds, and went 3-for-9 with two doubles.

Late in November he was sold by the Giants to the Baltimore Orioles of the International League.

In 1937, an article in Fortune magazine noted: "Players have changed ... Most clubs today welcome a good Jewish player ... like ... Phil Weintraub."

In June 1938 he was traded by Baltimore to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for first baseman Gene Corbett.

In 1939 and 1940 he played for the Minneapolis Millers in the American Association, batting .331 with 33 home runs (2nd in the league behind Vince DiMaggio) and 126 RBIs, and .347 with 27 home runs and 109 RBIs, with slugging percentages of .633 (2nd in the league) and .600.

In 1941 he played for the Los Angeles Angels and batted .302 with 18 home runs (3rd in the league) and a .504 slugging percentage, in 1942 he played for the St. Paul Saints (during the season, he fought a verbally abusive fan in Minneapolis, and "clocked" him) and the Toledo Mud Hens, and in 1943 he again played for Toledo, batting .334 with 16 home runs and 96 RBIs (each 3rd in the league) and a .443 on-base percentage and .507 slugging percentage (both 2nd in the league).

In that season Weintraub finished 3rd in the National League in on-base percentage (.422), 9th in batting average (.311), and 10th in walks (64).

In one game in 1944, Weintraub had 11 RBIs, one fewer than the major league record, and he still has as of 2024, the third-most runs batted in (RBIs) in a single game (11, behind Jim Bottomley and Mark Whiten) in Major League history.

In 1945, his last season at the age of 37, he played for the Newark Bears and batted .311.

Through 2008, Weintraub had the fourth-best career batting average of all Jewish major league baseball players, being surpassed only by Hank Greenberg, Buddy Myer, and Lou Boudreau.

Blessed with an excellent eye and bat control, he walked 232 times in his career, while striking out only 182 times, for a 1.27 BB/K ratio.

Weintraub was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was Jewish.

He attended Lane Technical College Prep High School.

He then played for the Loyola University Chicago baseball team.

His father owned a small butcher shop, and wanted him to follow him in the business.

His parents, who were from Kiev, Russia (now Kyiv, Ukraine), were against him being a baseball player, as they were of the view that all baseball players were "bums."

He later lived in Palm Springs, California.

Weintraub was a heavy hitter in the minors, hitting 194 career home runs.

Author Joe Cox, writing in The Immaculate Inning: Unassisted Triple Plays, 40/40 Seasons, and the Stories Behind Baseball's Rarest Feats (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018), observed: "The biggest mystery of Weintraub is why a hitter with a career .295 batting average and capable power (.440 slugging percentage) could never get more than 361 at bats in a big league season -- or top 1,382 career at bats... One biographer cites anti-semitic theories of the time ...."