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

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".

Through 2010, Weintraub was fifth all-time in batting average (behind Hank Greenberg, Ryan Braun, Buddy Myer, and Lou Boudreau) among Jewish major league baseball players. 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.

Early life 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, in the Russian Empire (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.

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

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 took some time off from baseball after his father died to take over his father's business. 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 1945, his last season at the age of 37, he played for the Newark Bears and batted .311. Weintraub played in eight games that season.

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

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

In 1945, he batted .272/.389/.417, and on defense Weintraub led the National League in range factor as a first baseman (10.83).

After baseball After he retired from playing baseball, in 1946 Weintraub was the Manager of the Bloomingdale Troopers in the North Atlantic League. Newspapers called his team "Weintraub's Troopers." He next worked in the wholesale food business in New York, and then sold real estate in Palm Springs, California.

Weintraub died from a heart attack, after suffering from cancer, on June 21, 1987, in Palm Springs, at the age of 79. He was buried at the Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California.