Al Spangler

Albert Donald "Spanky" Spangler (born July 8, 1933, in Philadelphia) is a retired American Major League Baseball outfielder.[1]

Al Spangler
Spangler in 1961.
Outfielder
Born: (1933-07-08) July 8, 1933
Philadelphia
Batted: Left Threw: Left
MLB debut
September 16, 1959, for the Milwaukee Braves
Last MLB appearance
September 11, 1971, for the Chicago Cubs
MLB statistics
Batting average.262
Home runs21
Runs batted in175
Teams
Career highlights and awards
  • Drove in first run in Houston Colt .45s history.

High school

Spangler attended Olney High School in Philadelphia PA.

College career

After turning down an offer from the Chicago White Sox, Spangler was slated to attend Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, with a full scholarship. Spangler decided to attend Duke University. He was an All-American college selection after his junior year, due to a .406 batting average.[2]

Professional career

He was signed as a free agent by the Milwaukee Braves on June 14, 1954. He made his debut on September 16, 1959, and would go on to play his final game on September 11, 1971.[1]

Spangler was drafted by the Houston Colt .45s as a premium selection in the 1961 Major League Baseball expansion draft and led the .45's in hitting their first two seasons.[3][4] In the Colt .45s' first game against the Chicago Cubs, Spangler drove in the first run in Houston baseball history with a RBI triple in the bottom of the 1st inning off Cubs starter Don Cardwell, driving in teammate Bob Aspromonte.[5]

On June 12, 1969, Spangler hit two home runs and drove in four runs to help lift his Cubs to a 12 to 6 victory over the Atlanta Braves.[6]

Spangler was traded by Houston to the Los Angeles Angels on June 1, 1965.[7] He signed with the Chicago Cubs as a free agent prior to the 1967 season, playing for that team through 1971.

Following his active career, he was a coach (1971 and 1974) and minor league manager (1972–73) for the Chicago Cubs.[8]

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gollark: You can actually run it in one of the many CC emulators which run out of the game, too, and this is where I do much of the testing.
gollark: Also it's entirely stored on pastebin and has no version control and is split across probably 15 different files.
gollark: I added a thing where I can remote into potatOS computers for... definitely debugging purposes... and run code, which makes it much easier to patch sandbox escapes where silly triangles don't release the code.

References
  1. Career Statistics and Batting Game Logs at Baseball-Reference.com
  2. "Al Spangler | Society for American Baseball Research". sabr.org. Retrieved 2017-05-19.
  3. "Player Draft Buffs Shine On Fading Ex Stars". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. Associated Press. 10 October 1961. p. 8. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  4. Charlton, James; Shatzkin, Mike; Holtje, Stephen (1990). The Ballplayers: Baseball's Ultimate Biographical Reference. New York City, New York: Arbor House/William Morrow and Company. p. 1025. ISBN 0-87795-984-6.
  5. "Player Draft Buffs Shine On Fading Ex Stars". St. Joseph Gazette. Associated Press. 11 April 1962. p. 9. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  6. Spangler Cubs latest hitting star
  7. Angels trade for Spangler
  8. "Lockman Gets Reprieve As Cubs Start Shakeup". St. Petersburg Times. United Press International. 5 October 1973. p. 2-C. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
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