Cliff Dapper

Clifford Roland Dapper

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 190 lb.
• Debut April 19, 1942
• Final Game May 3, 1942
• Born January 2, 1920 in Los Angeles, CA USA
• Died February 8, 2011 in Fallbrook, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Cliff Dapper is most famous as the guy who was traded for an announcer, Ernie Harwell, but had an illustrious career in his own right. He hit an unbelievable .471 in 17 at-bats in 1942. He is the leader for the highest career major league batting average for players with 8+ hits. He also slugged .706, which is seventh all-time for players with 12+ total bases.

One might think the Brooklyn Dodgers were crazy to not keep him as a major leaguer. Not only did he hit .471, but he was a catcher who made no errors in the field. The Dodgers, although they won 104 games that year, had two catchers (Mickey Owen and Billy Sullivan) who both hit under .270 on a team that hit .264 as a whole. The Dodgers, however, had done this before. In 1935, they gave Vince Sherlock 26 at-bats, and he hit .462. He never played again in the majors.

Cliff played for Hollywood in 1940 and 1941 and Montreal in 1942 and 1948. In 1947, after he had a good season in Mobile, the Detroit Tigers tried to draft him from the Dodgers, but the Dodgers forestalled it by pointing out that they had already lost the limit of one player taken off their restricted list. He served in World War II from 1943-1945, and played a few baseball games with the Los Alamos Naval Air Station team. One newspaper said that after the war he had lost weight, lacked strength, and his aim was off. He was an All-Star for the Billings Mustangs, where he played in 1952. He holds a number of career batting records in the Pioneer League, where he played through 1954. His baseball career ended in 1957, including 7 seasons as a player/manager.

After his professional days, he coached a semi-pro team in the San Diego Municipal League, and also helped coach the Fallbrook High School team. Mike Port, who played on both teams and who became Vice President of Umpiring for Major League Baseball, credits Dapper and Duke Snider for helping him in his career.

In 1948, the Dodgers still had rights to Dapper, who was in Montreal, and they traded him to Atlanta in exchange for announcer Ernie Harwell. In 2002, Dapper and Harwell met for the first time when Dapper came to Detroit for an event in honor of Harwell's career, and presented Harwell with a videotape of various tributes to him. Most articles about the trade present Dapper as a little-known catcher, but as this biography shows, he had quite a career.

In October 1941, Dapper was the catcher for Joe Pirrone's All-Stars, who faced the Kent Parker's All-Stars team which included Ted Williams.

Babe Herman used to tell Dapper when he thought he was going to have a hot night, and he was typically right.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
1949	Atlanta Crackers	Southern Association	71-82	5th
1951	Eugene Larks	Far West League		4th	Pittsburgh Pirates		Replaced George Matile
1952	Billings Mustangs	Pioneer League	73-59	3rd	Pittsburgh Pirates	Lost in 1st round
1953	Billings Mustangs	Pioneer League	71-60	3rd	Pittsburgh Pirates	Lost in 1st round
1954	Billings Mustangs	Pioneer League	76-56	2nd	Pittsburgh Pirates	Lost in 1st round
1955	Eugene Emeralds	Northwest League	79-45	1st		League Champs
1956	Eugene Emeralds	Northwest League	63-67	4th	Portland Beavers	none
1957	Salt Lake City Bees	Pioneer League	61-64	5th	Philadelphia Phillies