Boots Day

Charles Frederick "Boots" Day (born August 31, 1947) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, and Montreal Expos. Day was bench coach for the Evansville Otters of the Frontier League, and was in professional baseball for 55 years before retiring in 2021.

A native of Ilion, New York, Day played Major League Baseball for all or parts of six seasons (1969–74), with the bulk of that time spent with the Montreal Expos.

He threw and batted left-handed, stood tall and weighed . He attended Ilion High School, where he was well known for his basketball and baseball prowess. As a pitcher on the baseball team he won all of his games but one (a 1–0 loss); and he was a phenomenal hitter. Day's elementary school principal, Bart Shelley, was a regional scout for the St. Louis Cardinals, who signed Day in 1965. He also attended Mohawk Valley Community College. In 2012, he was inducted into the Mohawk Valley Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1993, he was inducted into the Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame. In 1970, after two trades, he played the majority of the season for the Montreal Expos Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons/Winnipeg Whips, hitting .294 with 10 home runs in 313 at bats, and 13 assists from the outfield. The team had moved from Buffalo to Winnipeg on June 11, 1970.

Major league player Day received a major league trial with the Cardinals in 1969, playing in 11 games and going hitless in six at bats. He made the Cubs' opening day 1970 roster, but only played in 11 games Although he only played in 118 games in center field, he tied for the league lead in assists by a center fielder (9), with Cito Gaston who played 125 games in center field that year. Day was also second in fielding percentage (.983). ), he returned to form the following season, batting .275 in 1973, with 13 pinch hits, but in only 207 at bats and 101 games. Day lost his semi-regular job. After only 52 games and 72 at-bats in 1974, he returned to the minor leagues for the remainder of his playing career. Carter went on to a Baseball Hall of Fame career and the Expos retired the number in his honor.

Day appeared in 471 MLB games (449 of them with Montreal), and batted .256 with 295 hits, 28 doubles, eight home runs and 98 runs batted in, in 1,151 at-bats. He played four years for the Detroit Tiger affiliate Triple-A Evansville Triplets (1975–78), never hitting above .266 or having more than 314 at bats. Other than one at bat at age 74 for the Evansville Otters in 2021, he finished his professional career at age 32, in 1980, playing sparingly for the Triplets and the Single-A Lakeland Tigers. He worked in the New York Yankees system (1990–91), and scouted for the Kansas City Royals (1992–94). In 1996, he became hitting coach for a newer incarnation of the Buffalo Bisons, a Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians in the American Association; and in 1997 was the hitting coach for Cleveland's Single-A affiliate, the Kinston Indians.

From 1998 to 2003, Day coached in the Cardinals organization, serving as a hitting coach for the Single-A Prince Williams Cannons and the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds, and assistant coach for the Cardinals. with the Cardinals before returning to the minor leagues as a hitting coach from 2004 to 2014 with various teams.