Chuck Stobbs

Charles Klein Stobbs (July 2, 1929 – July 11, 2008) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox (1947–51), Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators / Minnesota Twins (1953–58, 1959–61) and St. Louis Cardinals (1958). Stobbs is notable for being the pitcher who gave up an estimated 565-foot home run to Mickey Mantle that flew entirely out of Griffith Stadium in 1953. Mantle's 565-foot shot was regarded as the first tape-measure home run of the live-ball era. As a teenager his family moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where his father took a coaching job at Granby High School. He led the Granby football team to three consecutive state championships and was named all-state quarterback three times. In 1947, Stobbs was named by The Washington Post as one of the "greatest athletes to be developed in the Virginia high schools during recent years". Stobbs played in six games in 1948 before being a full-time starter for the Red Sox in 1949. That season, Stobbs participated in 26 games, starting 19. He had an 11–6 win–loss record with a 4.03 earned run average while striking out 70 batters in 152 innings pitched. He rejoined the Senators prior to the 1959 season, and stayed in the organization through 1961, when the Senators moved to Minnesota. bHe led the American League in walks per nine innings pitched (2.03) in 1956 and led the American League in losses (20) and earned runs allowed (126) in .

Post-career

After leaving professional baseball, Stobbs spent a brief time as an insurance salesman and a coach at George Washington University.

In 1971, Stobbs moved to Florida and worked at a baseball academy operated by the Kansas City Royals. He was a coach at Sho-Me Baseball camp in Branson Missouri in the 1970s.He worked for the Cleveland Indians as a pitching coach in the minor leagues in the early 1980s.

Stobbs died after a seven-year battle with throat cancer on July 11, 2008.