View source for Bob Swift

{{Short description|American baseball player and manager (1915–1966)}}
{{other people|Robert Swift}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Bob Swift
|image=Bob Swift Browns.jpg
|position=[[Catcher]] / [[Manager (baseball)|Manager]]
|birth_date={{birth date|1915|3|6|}}
|birth_place=[[Salina, Kansas]], U.S.
|death_date={{Death date and age|1966|10|17|1915|3|6}}
|death_place=[[Detroit, Michigan]], U.S.
|bats=Right
|throws=Right
|debutleague = MLB
|debutdate=April 16
|debutyear=1940
|debutteam=St. Louis Browns
|finalleague = MLB
|finaldate=September 27
|finalyear=1953
|finalteam=Detroit Tigers
|statleague = MLB
|stat1label=[[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]]
|stat1value=.231
|stat2label=[[Home run]]s
|stat2value=14
|stat3label=[[Run batted in|Runs batted in]]
|stat3value=238
|stat4label=Managerial record
|stat4value=56–43
|stat5label=Winning %
|stat5value={{winning percentage|56|43}}
|teams=
;As player
* [[St. Louis Browns]] ({{mlby|1940}}&ndash;{{mlby|1942}})
* [[Philadelphia Athletics]] ({{mlby|1942}}&ndash;{{mlby|1943}})
* [[Detroit Tigers]] ({{mlby|1944}}&ndash;{{mlby|1953}})
;As manager
* [[Detroit Tigers]] ({{mlby|1965}}, {{mlby|1966}})
|highlights =
* [[World Series champion]] ({{wsy|1945}})
}}
'''Robert Virgil Swift''' (March 6, 1915 – October 17, 1966) was an American professional [[baseball]] player, [[coach (baseball)|coach]], [[manager (baseball)|manager]] and [[scout (sports)|scout]]. He played in [[Major League Baseball]] as a [[catcher]], standing {{convert|5|ft|11|in}} tall and weighing {{convert|180|lb}}. He threw and batted [[right-handed]].

Swift is pictured in one of the most famous photographs in American sporting history. He was the catcher for the [[Detroit Tigers]] on August 19, 1951, when [[St. Louis Browns]] owner [[Bill Veeck]] sent midget [[Eddie Gaedel]] to [[pinch-hitter|pinch hit]] during an actual MLB game. The stunt occurred in the second game of a [[doubleheader (baseball)|doubleheader]] at [[Sportsman's Park]],<ref>[https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1951/B08192SLA1951.htm "Detroit Tigers 6, St. Louis Browns 2"], [[Retrosheet]] [[box score (baseball)|box score]] (19 August 1951, Game 2)</ref> inspired by the [[James Thurber]] short story ''You Could Look It Up''. Gaedel was allowed to bat when the Browns showed the [[Umpire (baseball)|umpires]] a legitimate baseball contract issued by the [[American League]] office. Swift knelt on the ground to receive pitcher [[Bob Cain]]'s offerings—it is this kneeling stance that is captured in the photo—and Gaedel took a [[base on balls]]. He was immediately replaced at first base by a [[pinch runner]] and he never appeared in a big league game again.

==Playing career==
[[File:BobSwift1949bowman.jpg|thumb|left|Swift's 1949 baseball card]]
While Gaedel was a novice, Swift, a native of [[Salina, Kansas]], played 14 consecutive seasons (1940–53) in the big leagues and all or parts of 22 years in professional baseball  (1934–53; 1955–56).

During his big-league career, he toiled for the Browns (1940–42), [[Philadelphia Athletics]] (1942–43) and Tigers (1944–53), appearing in 1,001 games and [[batting average (baseball)|hitting]] .231. His 635 [[hit (baseball)|hits]] included 86 [[double (baseball)|doubles]], three [[triple (baseball)|triples]] and 14 [[home runs]]. Defensively, he recorded a .985 [[fielding percentage]]. Swift was primarily a second-string catcher, although he started 83 of the [[1945 Detroit Tigers season|1945 world champion Tigers]]' official American League games. During the seven-game [[1945 World Series]], however, he started only in Game 3, with [[Paul Richards (baseball)|Paul Richards]] handling that assignment in the remaining six contests.

==Coaching and managing career==
Swift became a coach and [[farm system|minor league]] manager upon the end of his MLB playing career, coaching for the Tigers (1953–54; 1963–66), [[Kansas City Athletics]] (1957–59), and [[Washington Senators (1901–60)|Washington Senators]] (1960). During the [[1959 Kansas City Athletics season|1959 season]], Swift filled in for Kansas City manager [[Harry Craft]] when Craft missed 15 games due to illness, and the Athletics won ten straight games and went 13–2. But Swift was bypassed at season's end when the A's changed managers.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19661017&id=MccwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cAEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7608,3100427 Newspaper article], [[The Associated Press]], October 17, 1966</ref>

Swift was in his second stint as a Detroit coach in {{mlby|1965}} when manager [[Chuck Dressen]] was felled by a mild [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] during [[spring training]]. As acting manager, Swift led Detroit to a 24–18 record until Dressen was able to return to duty on May 31.

The next season, on [[1966 in baseball|May 16, 1966]], Dressen suffered his second coronary in as many seasons. Again, Swift took the reins, but in mid-July (with the Tigers 32–25 under his command) he fell ill and was hospitalized during the [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star game break]] for what appeared to be food poisoning. Tests revealed, however, that Swift was suffering from inoperable [[lung cancer]]. Coach [[Frank Skaff]] took over July 14 as the team's second acting manager and finished the [[1966 Detroit Tigers season|campaign]].

Three months after stepping aside, on October 17, Bob Swift died in [[Detroit]] at the age of 51. (Dressen had predeceased him, on August 10.) His record in 1965–66 as an [[interim manager]] was 56–43 (.566), giving him a career record of 69–45 (.605).

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{baseballstats  |br=s/swiftbo01  |brm=swift-002rob}}
*{{findagrave}}

{{start box}}
{{s-sports}}
{{succession box|title=[[Washington Senators (1901–60)|Washington Senators]] [[coach (baseball)|pitching coach]]|years=1960|before=[[Boom-Boom Beck]]|after=[[Eddie Lopat]]<br><small>(Minnesota Twins)</small>}}
{{succession box|title=[[Syracuse Chiefs]] [[manager (baseball)|manager]]|years=1963|before=[[Johnny Vander Meer]]|after=[[Frank Carswell]]}}
{{succession box|title=[[Detroit Tigers]] [[coach (baseball)|third base coach]]|years=1963–1966|before=[[George Myatt]]|after=[[Frank Skaff]]}}
{{end box}}

{{Detroit Tigers managers}}
{{1945 Detroit Tigers}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, Bob}}
[[Category:1915 births]]
[[Category:1966 deaths]]
[[Category:Albuquerque Dukes players]]
[[Category:Augusta Tigers players]]
[[Category:Baseball players from Kansas]]
[[Category:Charleston Senators players]]
[[Category:Deaths from lung cancer in Michigan]]
[[Category:Detroit Tigers coaches]]
[[Category:Detroit Tigers managers]]
[[Category:Detroit Tigers players]]
[[Category:Detroit Tigers scouts]]
[[Category:Henderson Oilers players]]
[[Category:Kansas City Athletics coaches]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball catchers]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball pitching coaches]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball third base coaches]]
[[Category:Muskogee Tigers players]]
[[Category:Oakland Oaks (baseball) players]]
[[Category:Palatka Azaleas players]]
[[Category:Philadelphia Athletics players]]
[[Category:St. Louis Browns players]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]
[[Category:San Antonio Missions players]]
[[Category:Seattle Rainiers players]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Salina, Kansas]]
[[Category:Syracuse Chiefs managers]]
[[Category:Washington Senators (1901–1960) coaches]]