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James Wren "Zack" Taylor (July 27, 1898 – September 19, 1974) was an American professional baseball player, coach, scout and manager.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Zack Taylor statistics )〕 He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher with the Brooklyn Robins, Boston Braves, New York Giants, Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, and again with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Although Taylor was not a powerful hitter, he sustained a lengthy career in the major leagues due to his valuable defensive abilities as a catcher. After his playing career, he became better known as the manager for the St. Louis Browns owned by Bill Veeck. His baseball career spanned 58 years.〔 ==Baseball playing career== A native of Yulee, Florida, Taylor began his professional baseball career at the age of 16 with the Valdosta Millionaires during the season.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Zack Taylor minor league statistics )〕 After playing in the minor leagues for five seasons, he made his major league debut with the Brooklyn Robins on June 15, 1920 Brooklyn Robins season|1920]] at the age of 21.〔 He became the Robins' main catcher in 1923, succeeding Hank DeBerry. Although he led National League catchers in errors and in passed balls, he also led in range factor, assists and baserunners caught stealing while batting .288 in 93 games.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=1923 National League Fielding Leaders )〕 In 1924, his batting average improved to .290 and he led the league's catchers in range factor and fielding percentage.〔 Taylor had his best offensive season in 1925, posting career highs with a .310 batting average, 3 home runs and 44 runs batted in.〔 He developed a reputation as one of the best catchers in the National League, finishing the season with 102 assists and leading the league's catchers with 64 baserunners caught stealing.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=1925 National League Fielding Leaders )〕 He had a talent for catching the spitball, and became the personal catcher for future Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Burleigh Grimes, the last pitcher allowed to throw the spitball in the major leagues. On October 6, 1925, Taylor was traded by the Robins with Eddie Brown and Jimmy Johnston to the Boston Braves for Jesse Barnes, Gus Felix and Mickey O'Neil.〔 After a season and a half with the Braves, he was traded to John McGraw's New York Giants along with Larry Benton and Herb Thomas for Doc Farrell, Kent Greenfield and Hugh McQuillan. The Giants had acquired Burleigh Grimes in another trade and wanted Taylor to be his personal catcher.〔 Despite catching Grimes' team-leading 19 wins and performing well defensively to help the Giants finish the season just two games behind the pennant-winning Pittsburgh Pirates, McGraw released Taylor back to the Braves for the waiver price of $4,000 on February 28, 1928, the same day Grimes was traded to Pittsburgh.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=1927 New York Giants )〕 McGraw said he regretted releasing the 29-year-old Taylor, but that he wanted to give younger catchers such as Shanty Hogan a chance to play.〔 Taylor took over as the Braves' starting catcher for the 1928 season. Having been displaced by Al Spohrer as the Braves' starting catcher early in the 1929 season, Taylor's contract was sold to the Chicago Cubs for the waiver price of $7,500 in July after all the other teams in both the American and National Leagues had passed on him. When the Cubs' future Hall of Fame catcher Gabby Hartnett suffered an arm injury early in 1929, Taylor filled in capably, helping the Cubs win the National League pennant.〔 He helped guide the Cubs' pitching staff to a league-leading 14 shutouts and finish second in team earned run average and strikeouts.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=1929 National League Team Pitching Statistics )〕 In the only postseason appearance of his career in the 1929 World Series against the Philadelphia Athletics, Taylor made only three hits but was cited as an unsung hero in a losing cause for the Cubs because of his consistent, unwavering defensive skills behind the plate.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Zack Taylor Post-Season Statistics )〕 When Hartnett returned from his injury in 1930, Taylor went back to being the Cubs' backup catcher. In 1932, Cub manager Rogers Hornsby credited Taylor with helping develop the skills of Lon Warneke, as the young pitcher led the league with 22 wins.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=1932 National League Pitching Leaders )〕 After being released by the Cubs in November 1933, he appeared in four games for the Yankees in 1934 before ending his playing career as a player-coach with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1935.〔 He played his final major league game on September 24, 1935 at the age of 36,〔 and returned to the minor leagues as player-manager for the San Antonio Missions from to and the Toledo Mud Hens from to .〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Zack Taylor minor league managerial record )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Zack Taylor (baseball)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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