Bob Loveless

Bob Loveless
(Smoky)

• Bats unknown, Throws Right

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Bob Loveless was a minor league pitcher in 1917 with two teams in the South Atlantic League. He pitched semi-pro ball in Birmingham, AL in other years. He had a good fastball.

He pitched for the Pep-To-Lac team in the Greater Birmingham League in 1915. In 1916 he started with the Boyles club in the Central League, and then for the Avondale Millers in the Greater Birmingham League. He absolutely dominated in 1916, with many high strikeout games, and threw a no-hitter on July 1st against the strong American Steel & Wire Company, striking out 12. As a result, he received a contract offer from the Portsmouth Truckers of the Virginia League.

He started 1917 with the Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association, and appeared in one game with them, but was then sent down to the lower-level South Atlantic League, where he was 10-7 for the Macon Tigers and Augusta Tourists. He was called back up to Birmingham, but was apparently released because soon after he was pitching for Pratt City in the T.C.I League.

He pitched for Pratt City in 1918. In 1919 he became the chief of police of Cordova, AL, and pitched for Cordova's team in the Walker County League. He also pitched for Fairfield and the Westfield Shipbuilders in the Birmingham City League. The Philadelphia Athletics were interested in him in 1920, but nothing ever came of it. He pitched for Coal Valley in the Walker County League that year. It may have been his last season of baseball.

W<He was shot "by a negro man at Barney Mines, near Cordova, October 18th 1921, the ball taking effect in his left hip. The Daily Mountain Eagle has not been able to get full particulars, but it is said that Mr. Loveless, who is a deputy sheriff, it seems, went to Barney to arrest a negro, who having a pistol concealed in a side pocket, shot Loveless through his (the negro's) pocket." Quote taken from the Daily Mountain Eagle, October 19, 1921, page 1.

He was in serious condition for a while, as a result of the shooting, but pulled through. He lived at least into the 1960s.