Hobert Neal Landrith (March 16, 1930 – April 6, 2023) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1950 through 1963 for the Cincinnati Reds/Redlegs, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles, and Washington Senators. He batted left-handed, threw right-handed, stood tall and weighed .
For most of his career, Landrith was a second- or third-string catcher. He was a backup catcher for Andy Seminick and Smoky Burgess in Cincinnati, and later a regular with the Cubs in 1956. The following two years he backed up All-Stars Hal Smith and Walker Cooper with the Cardinals. He then had a three-season tenure in San Francisco, including his most successful season in 1959. He was the first pick of the New York Mets in the 1961 expansion draft. Landrith closed out his career with short stints with the Mets, Orioles, and expansion Senators. In a career that spanned 14 seasons, Landrith had a career .233 batting average with 34 home runs, 203 runs batted in, and 450 hits in 772 games played.Batting Splits and Daily Batting Logs at Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference.com .
Early life Originally from Decatur, Illinois, Landrith from age 10 to 14 played for the "Firemen's Midgets" team in the Detroit Amateur Baseball Federation. From 15 to 18, he played with a Class D advanced simon-pure group and as a catcher for Northwestern High School in Detroit, Michigan. At 15, he went to Briggs Stadium and helped warmup starting pitchers for the Detroit Tigers and get Hank Greenberg into shape after he returned from military service. Landrith was discovered by the Cincinnati Reds after leading his Detroit team to a second-place finish in the 1948 National Junior Amateur Federation Tournament. That year he also participated in the annual East-West all-star game in New York City, being voted the city's most outstanding amateur player by the Detroit Sports Guild.
Landrith attended Michigan State University, where he played one season before turning professional.
Playing career Cincinnati Reds On February 8, 1949, the Cincinnati Reds signed Landrith. This angered Spartans coach John Kobs, who was quoted as saying, "They ought to leave these young players alone and give them a chance to finish college." Reds general manager Warren Giles agreed with the coach's sentiment, but cited that he could not wait any longer to sign Landrith as eight other major league ball clubs were all interested in signing him. The Big Ten Conference made a brief effort to stop the "raid" of the conference of their star players, but nonetheless, the 18-year-old catcher out of Detroit agreed to a four-year contract with the Reds.
At the Reds spring training camp in late March, murmurs started to surface that he was the "hottest thing" in camp. Landrith was a star in the sandlots of Detroit and at Michigan State University. He desperately wanted to play professional baseball with the Detroit Tigers, crying when his father convinced him to sign with Cincinnati. The Tigers offered Landrith a two-year minor league deal worth $8,000. However, Cincinnati offered him a four-year major league contract at $6,000 per year, totaling $24,000. Landrith learned that the Tigers had paid a $75,000 bonus to catcher Frank House, so he thought the Tigers had too much money tied up in House that he would never be given much of a chance. Landrith played in spring training games for the Reds before being assigned to the minor league baseball Class A Charleston Senators of the Central League. He had a .250 batting average with 111 total bases in 110 games played.
In January 1950, Landrith signed a new deal with the Cincinnati Reds. On March 10, he was assigned to the Tulsa Oilers of the Class AA Texas League. In the opening game for Tulsa against the Dallas Eagles on April 11 at the Cotton Bowl, Landrith went 1-for-2 with a double before breaking his left ankle as he slid into home plate.
While Landrith was still recovering from his ankle injury, the Cincinnati Reds brought him up the Major Leagues and placed him on the disabled list. Landrith joined the Reds squad when they played an exhibition game in Detroit, his hometown, on June 12. He worked out with the team from there on out, traveling with the team on all road trips, catching in batting practice and pulling bullpen duty. On July 30, the top three catchers on the Reds' depth chart were all recovering from ailing injuries. Johnny Pramesa had a sprained ankle sustained the day before on July 29, Bob Scheffing was having problems with his left elbow, and Dixie Howell's throwing hand had been sore. Reds Manager Luke Sewell made the decision to finally give Landrith his first major league start that day at the Boston Braves, singling in his first at bat off Braves starter Vern Bickford and driving in a run. Landrith played in three more games through August 8 before he was no longer used in games and resumed his duty of working solely in practice roles.
Landrith signed his new contract to play with the Reds in late January 1951. He attended spring training with the Reds, but at the end of March became the first player cut from the roster, being optioned to the Buffalo Bisons of the Class AAA International League. Offensively, Hobie struggled at Buffalo, putting up a .191 average in 98 games. He suffered another injury in early August, but in mid-September he received another call-up to the majors for the Reds. Landrith again only played in four games, but collected one or more hits in each game, including three runs scored.
Landrith again joined the Reds in the Grapefruit League for spring training in 1952, and again was optioned to the minor leagues in late March for more seasoning. This time he was sent back to Class AA Tulsa of the Texas League. This time, however, Landrith had the best season of his short professional career yet, hitting for a .300 batting average with 114 hits in 118 games played. His batting average was good enough for 13th in the Texas League. On September 4, Landrith was rewarded for his great play by being called upon once more to join the Reds squad. This time, however, he was given many more opportunities to show what he was made of. Landrith started the majority of the Reds' final 17 games, hitting .260 with four RBIs over that span, including a four hit day against the Boston Braves on September 10 and a three hit day on the last game of the season against the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 28, both contributing to a Reds victory. Even though he played in only 16 games, Landrith was awarded the distinction of being one of only three catchers in the entire National League to not have been charged a passed ball.
On January 25, 1953, Landrith signed his newest contract to play with Cincinnati for the upcoming season. Going into the season, manager Rogers Hornsby was optimistic that they would have a better club with more power overall, citing Landrith as one of the new players that could help the 1953 Reds be a success. Hornsby made it clear that veteran Andy Seminick would be the number one catcher on the depth chart for the Reds, but also said that Landrith would get a "good look" after witnessing his performance with the Reds at the end of the 1952 season, praising that he liked his "hustle". Landrith impressed during spring training, capping off the exhibition season with five RBIs against the Detroit Tigers with a three-run home run in a 10–9 winning effort on April 12. Although Seminick was the definite starting catcher for the Reds, Landrith was the opening day catcher on April 13. He did not play another game until April 29, when despite going 2-for-4 with two RBIs, he allowed a passed ball against the Brooklyn Dodgers with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning against hitter Duke Snider, scoring Carl Furillo from third base and losing the game 6–5.
Landrith soon emerged as the number two catcher on the depth chart behind Seminick, splitting many starts between the two from the end of May through July. In June and July, he started in 26 games to Seminick's 37. With the Reds' hopes of a successful season dying and Landrith struggling to keep his batting average above .220, the veteran Seminick, hitting .219, took over the vast majority of the Reds' catching duties from August 1 through the end of the season. Landrith ended the season with a .240 batting average to go with three home runs and 16 RBIs in 52 games. Although he never played in a Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Landrith was assigned the role of being the National League All-Stars' batting practice catcher for the 1953 All-Star Game by Dodgers manager Charlie Dressen.
At the height of anti-Communism sentiment in the United States, the Reds officially changed their name to the Cincinnati Redlegs to remove any potential "confusion" between the baseball team and Communists. Five catchers entered the 1954 Redlegs training camp in Tampa, with Landrith and Ed Bailey the early favorites to back up Seminick, but by the end of March, Landrith was fighting with Frank Baldwin to hold on to the number three spot on the catcher depth chart. By April 8, however, Baldwin was optioned to the minors, leaving Landrith in sole possession of the Reds' third and final catcher roster spot. Landrith had little offense that season, hitting .198 with five home runs and 14 RBIs in 48 games. He did, however, have one dramatic game-winning walk-off home run against the New York Giants' reliever Al Corwin in the bottom of the 12th inning on July 19 to give the Reds a 1–0 victory. Trade talks arose after the conclusion of the 1954 season. One potential deal had Landrith along with outfielder Wally Post going to the Brooklyn Dodgers for second baseman Junior Gilliam. The proposed deal was later amended to add Dodgers pitcher Bob Milliken and Reds hurler Fred Baczewski. The deal later fizzled out, with the Dodgers determined to keep Gilliam. Landrith participated in the Puerto Rican Winter Leagues after the 1954 season, hitting an average of .342. The mark was good enough for third in the league, just behind Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente.
Landrith started the 1955 season as backup for Bailey. On April 30, Seminick was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for Smoky Burgess, who immediately became the Reds' starting catcher. Bailey was optioned to the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League, leaving Landrith as the direct backup behind Burgess. Landrith had the only multi-home run game of his career on the second game of a doubleheader on May 8 against the Chicago Cubs, hitting a home run in the 6th inning and then a walk-off, game-winning home run in the bottom of the 9th, giving the Redlegs a 4–3 win. On June 27, Landrith broke his collarbone after being struck by a foul tip during an exhibition game. He would not return until August 23, almost two full months later. Landrith hit .253 with four home runs and seven RBIs in 43 games. He had the seventh-highest on-base plus slugging (OPS) percentage out of all NL catchers with a mark of .755.Historical hitting stats from MLB.com
Chicago Cubs On November 28, 1955, Landrith was traded to the Chicago Cubs for centerfielder turned pitcher Hal Jeffcoat. Originally, the move sparked eight-year Cub veteran Jeffcoat to announce his retirement from baseball on November 29 and go into the insurance business. Hal later reconsidered, playing four more years of pro ball, but nonetheless, Landrith was now officially a Cub. He officially signed a contract to play with Chicago for the upcoming season on February 10, 1956.