Syd O'Brien

Sydney Lloyd O'Brien (born February 18, 1944) is a former infielder in Major League Baseball. He played more games at third base than any other position, but also played a significant number of games at shortstop, second base, and first base. He batted and threw right-handed and was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 185 pounds (84 kg).

Syd O'Brien
Infielder
Born: (1944-02-18) February 18, 1944
Compton, California
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 15, 1969, for the Boston Red Sox
Last MLB appearance
October 1, 1972, for the Milwaukee Brewers
MLB statistics
Batting average.230
Home runs24
Runs batted in100
Teams

O'Brien graduated from Millikan High School and then attended Long Beach City College and was signed by the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent in 1964, but was drafted out of the minors by the Kansas City Athletics in November 1964, only to be traded back to Boston two years later. He made his major league debut for Boston in 1969, pinch hitting for Fred Wenz in the bottom of the eighth inning in a game against the Baltimore Orioles.[1] He finished the season with five triples, ranked ninth in the American League.[2]

After the 1969 season, the Red Sox traded O'Brien to the Chicago White Sox. He played in 121 games for the White Sox in 1970, the most he would play in a single season, with career highs in batting average, hits, runs batted in, runs scored, walks, and steals, while also pacing the poor-fielding club with a .948 fielding percentage.[3]

O'Brien was traded along with Ken Berry and Billy Wynne by the White Sox to the California Angels for Jay Johnstone, Tom Egan and Tom Bradley on November 30, 1970.[4] He would play a season and a half primarily as a shortstop. In the middle of the 1972 season, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, where he finished his career.

References
  1. "April 15, 1969 Baltimore Orioles at Boston Re Sox Box Score and Play by Play - Baseball-Reference.com". Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  2. "1969 American League Expanded Leaderboards - Baseball-Reference.com". Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  3. "The Ballplayers – Syd O'Brien". The Idea Logical Company. Archived from the original on 2007-05-26. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  4. "Center Fielders Are Exchanged," The New York Times, Tuesday, December 1, 1970. Retrieved March 10, 2020


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