Herb Chapman

Joel Herbert Chapman

• Bats Left, Throws unknown
• Height 5' 11", Weight 190 lb.
• School University of Alabama

• Born 1924

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Herb Chapman, also listed as Joel Chapman, was an outfielder and first baseman in the minor leagues from 1949 to 1952. He never rose above Class B. His first season was in the Class D Georgia-Alabama League, with the Valley Rebels. He then moved to the Gadsden Pilots of the Southeastern League at the start of 1950, and moved to the Florida International League and the Tampa Smokers during that season, staying there in 1951 and 1952 as well. He had some good success with the bat, posting a batting average of .351 in his first pro season, which made him the league's batting champion, then .304 in 102 games for Gadsden in 1950, and .308 in 132 games for Tampa in 1951. He had a bit of power, hitting between 19 and 22 doubles in each of the four seasons, and 8 and 9 homers his first two years, before his homers faded to 5 and 2 in his last two seasons.

He is most famous for having a 42-game hitting streak around the start of the 1950 season. It ended on June 4th, and he batted a crisp .366 during the streak. It was the 9th longest such streak in minor league history at the time.

He played both baseball and football at the University of Alabama, attending after serving in the 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army during World War II, seeing combat duty in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. After baseball, he was a business executive and coached baseball in his spare time.