Bob Loane

Robert Kenneth Loane

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 190 lb.
• Debut July 29, 1939
• Final Game May 19, 1940
• Born August 6, 1914 in Berkeley, CA USA
• Died December 11, 2002 in Monterey, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Bob Loane was an outfielder nine years (1932-1940), two in the Majors (1939-1940) and nine in the minors (1932-1940). He was born on Thursday, 6 August 1914, in Berkeley, CA. He was signed as an amateur free agent for the Washington Senators before the 1932 season at age 18 by Carl Zamloch and played for the Los Angeles Angels in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) (1932); Portland Beavers of the PCL (1933-1934); the Los Angeles Angels of the PCL (1934); Omaha in the Western League (1934); the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern Association (1935); Council Bluffs in the Western League (1935); Albany in the International League (IL) (1936); Syracuse in the IL (1937); Trenton in the New York-Pennsylvania League (1937); Waterloo in the Three-I League (1938); Durham in the Piedmont League (1938); and Springfield in the Eastern League (1939).

Loane was 24 years old when he broke into the big leagues on 29 July 1939, with Washington. He played for the Senators (1939) and the Boston Braves (1940), where he played his final MLB game on 19 May 1940 at age 25 and returned to the minors where he played for Hartford - Albany in the Eastern League (1940), ending his baseball career at age 26.

Loane, who played in 16 games over two seasons in the major leagues, hit 68 homeruns with 380 RBI in the minors and was (0-3) in some emergency relief pitching.

Following the 1940 season, reports are that he was traded to the Chicago Cubs. However, he left the game to pursue a job outside of baseball and to spend time with his family.

He served with the U.S. Army during World War II. Upon returning from the War, he worked as a chemical engineer for Georgia Pacific. He qualified twice for the U.S. Amateur Championships in golf, according to his obituary in the Monterey, CA Herald. He died on 11 December 2002 in Monterey and is buried at El Carmelo Cemetery in Pacific Grove, CA. A short obituary may be viewed at [Bob Loane obituary].

Sources

Principal sources for Bob Loane include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs {{{WW}}} (WW), old Baseball Registers {{{BR}}} (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN {{{DAG}}} (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) {{{MORE}}} and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.

Related Sites

[Bob Loane obituary]