Dick Schofield Stats & Facts

Player

Dick Schofield

Positions:
Bats: B Throws: R
Height: 69 Weight: 163
Born: Monday, January 07, 1935 in Springfield, IL USA
Died: in ,
Debut: 7/3/1953
Last Game: 9/30/1971
Full Name: John Richard Schofield

 

Dick “Ducky” Schofield, infielder for the 1958-65 Pirates. He began his MLB career at age 18 with the Cardinals, spending his first 5 1/2 seasons in St Louis playing sparingly, appearing in just 208 games during that stretch. The Pirates acquired him on June 15, 1958 along with cash for infielders Gene Freese and Johnny O’Brien. Schofield hit .148 over 26 games with the Pirates during that 1958 season. He received limited playing time in 1959, getting into 81 games, but receiving only 163 plate appearances in which he hit .234 with 21 runs scored. The Pirates were battling for the NL pennant in 1960 and Schofield was getting very limited playing time until an injury struck the Pirates starting shortstop Dick Groat in early September. Ducky was hitting just .200 at the time (7-for-35), but he stepped into the shortstop position and hit .403 the rest of the way to help the Pirates maintain their lead and win the pennant. He was back on the bench for the World Series with Groat back, but he did manage to get to the plate four times with a hit and walk to show for it.

Schofield was back to a limited role in 1961, getting just 90 plate appearances over 60 games and he hit .192 with two RBIs all year. He hit better in 1962 batting .288, but still saw limited time. The Pirates traded Groat in November 1962 and Schofield became the regular shortstop, playing a career high 138 games, finishing with a .246 average, 69 walks and 54 runs scored. He hit .246 again in 1964 in the same role, getting into 121 games that year. He was the Pirates shortstop to begin the 1965 season, but a month into the schedule, the Pirates traded him to the Giants for infielder Jose Pagan. Schofield was in the majors until 1971, playing a total of 1,321 games over 19 seasons. His son Dick Schofield played 14 seasons in the majors and his grandson Jayson Werth played 15 seasons.