Clyde Barnhart

Clyde Lee Barnhart
(Pooch)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 155 lb.
• School Shippensburg State College
• Debut September 22, 1920
• Final Game August 23, 1928
• Born December 29, 1895 in Buck Valley, PA USA
• Died January 21, 1980 in Hagerstown, MD USA

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Biographical Information

"Our outfield that season (1927) was supposed to be Kiki Cuyler, Clyde Barnhart and myself. But Barnhart reported that spring weighing about 260 or 270 pounds. He was just a butterball. They took him and did everything they could think of to get his weight down. They gave him steam baths and exercised him and ran him and ran him and ran him. Well, they got the weight off, all right, but as a result the poor fellow was so weak he could hardly lift a bat. So on the trip back to Pittsburgh, Donie Bush comes to me and said, 'Paul, I'm putting your little brother out there in left field and he's going to open the season for us.' 'Well, you won't regret it,' I said. 'Lloyd will do the job in first-rate style.' And he did, too, as you know." - Paul Waner, The Glory of their Times

The father of Vic Barnhart, Clyde Barnhart was the leadoff hitter for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who were World Series champions in 1925. In nine seasons, all with the Bucs, Clyde batted .295 with a personal best mark of .330 in limited duty (75 games) during the 1922 season.

Clyde is the last player to have a hit in three different games on the same day. On October 2, 1920, only ten days after Barnhart's major league debut, the Pirates played the only tripleheader of the 20th century against the Cincinnati Reds. Of all the players who played that day, only Clyde managed to get a hit in all three games, on his way to hitting .326 in 12 games in his first taste of the big leagues. He doubled in each of the first two games, and singled in the third. A number of tripleheaders were played in the 19th century, but there have been no others in the majors since that 1920 one. His game log for that season includes two doubleheaders, one tripleheader and only three single dates; he hit safely in 14 of the 15 games.

Hall of Famer Lloyd Waner played with both Clyde and Vic Barnhart.

Notable Achievements

• 100 RBI Seasons: 1 (1925)
• Won a World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1925