Earle Brucker (bruckea01)

Earle Francis Brucker Sr.

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 175 lb.

• Debut April 19, 1937
• Final Game May 23, 1943
• Born May 6, 1901 in Albany, NY USA
• Died May 8, 1981 in San Diego, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Earle Brucker was a catcher who played for five years in the major leagues with the Philadelphia Athletics, between 1937 to 1943. When he first broke in, he was a 36-year-old rookie. Brucker had actually served as player/manager for the St. Joseph Saints in 1934-1935 before his major league career. He became the most-used catcher by the Athletics in his rookie year, although Frankie Hayes, who had been the first-string catcher in 1936, resumed the post in 1938-1941. Hayes was 14 years younger than Brucker. Brucker hit an impressive .371 in 1938, in 171 at-bats. Although he only appeared in 53 games, his 21 doubles were fairly close to team leader Wally Moses, who hit 29 in 589 at-bats. In 1939, Earle hit .291 with a .381 OBP. In 1940, he was 39 years old, one year older than Hall of Fame teammate Al Simmons. Brucker's last at-bat came in 1943, at the age of 42.

He is the father of Earle Brucker, Jr. Their major league debuts were separated by only 11 years, a record. Earle, Jr. broke in at age 22 in 1948 with his father's team, the A's, only five years after his father played his last season and only one year after Frankie Hayes played his last season.

After his playing days, Brucker spent nine seasons as an Athletics coach, in 1942 and from 1946 to 1949. He was later a member of the St. Louis Browns staff in 1950 and the Cincinnati Reds coaching staff in 1952. Brucker also managed five games for the Reds that season. Brucker owned some land in El Cajon, CA, and built a baseball stadium there in 1955, hoping to interest the Detroit Tigers in putting a farm team there. When that did not happen, it was converted into a football stadium, and a motorcycle race track was put in it. Then it was converted into a race track for cars in 1961, known as the Cajon Speedway. Brucker Sr. told Brucker Jr. to run it, which he did for many years. Brucker Jr.'s sons, Kevin and Steve, ran the facility from the 1980s through 2005, when it ceased to operate as a race track. See Cajon Speedway Track History

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
1934	St. Joseph Saints	Western League		4th	none	League Champs	replaced Wes Griffin on August 6
1935	St. Joseph Saints	Western League	58-48	2nd	none	League Champs
1952	Cincinnati Reds	National League	3-2	--	Cincinnati Reds	--	replaced Luke Sewell (39-59) on July 30 / replaced by Rogers Hornsby on August 5
1953	Ogden Reds	Pioneer League	89-42	1st	Cincinnati Reds	Lost in 1st round
1954	Ogden Reds	Pioneer League	61-71	6th	Cincinnati Reds

Related Sites

• BR Manager page