Coot Veal

Orville Inman Veal
(Coot)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 165 lb.
• School Mercer University, Auburn University
• High School Lanier (GA) High School
• Debut July 30, 1958
• Final Game June 20, 1963
• Born July 9, 1932 in Deepstep, GA USA
• Died March 14, 2021 in Gray, GA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Coot Veal was a star basketball player at Auburn University. His manager, Bill Norman, was asked by Casey Stengel, "Where ya been hidin' that Cooter Veal?", when he enjoyed a blazing start with the bat and sizzling play at shortstop, after Stengel witnessed an impressive performance against the New York Yankees in 1958. Veal was literally put into hiding after that promising debut, as he was never to see regular play after 1958.

He has the distinction of being the first batter in the history of the "new" Washington Senators, created in the expansion of 1961. He had originally been selected from the Tigers by the other expansion team, the Los Angeles Angels, but was then traded to Washington immediately after the draft when American League President Joe Cronin realized he had not followed his own rules in supervising the process and had to switch some players around to ensure that they were met post-facto. In the Senators' first game, against the Chicago White Sox at Griffith Stadium on April 10th, he led off the bottom of the 1st against Early Wynn, hit a single and eventually came in to score on a triple by Gene Woodling. He went 2 for 4 in that game and had 6 hits in his first 4 games with the Sens, but he quickly fell back to earth and ended up batting just .202 in 69 games, with an OBP of .273 and an anemic slugging percentage of .248. On the basepaths, he was successful on just one of 9 stolen base attempts... Still, it was his busiest season in the majors, but also his last one seeing significant playing time. He appeared in one game for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1962 and 15 back with Detroit in 1963 to round out his career.

A teammate once said of the slender Veal: "He's the only player I ever saw whose bat went backwards after he hit the ball." After baseball, he settled in Macon, GA where he was the vice-president of Macon Mine and Mill and very active in the community. He married his high school sweetheart, and the two were married for an incredible 69 years as she was still alive when he passed away at age 88 in 2021.

Related Sites

• Coot Veal at the SABR Bio Project