Jack Bloomfield

Gordon Leigh Bloomfield

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 175 lb.
• School Pan American University

• Born August 7, 1932 in Monte Alto, TX USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Playing in the US

Jack Bloomfield began a long baseball career with the 1955 Harlingen Capitals, batting .310. He was with the Austin Senators (.179) and Topeka Hawks (.299) the next year, seeing little playing time for either time. In 1957, he batted .274/~.359/.338 as Austin's starting second baseman, finishing 11th in the Texas League in average. Moving up to the Seattle Rainiers, he batted .309 in 1958, but his career stalled. He hit .195 for three Pacific Coast League temas the next year, then was at .231 for the 1960 Portland Beavers when he launched the main part of his career by moving to Nippon Pro Baseball.

Playing in Japan

Signing with the Kintetsu Buffaloes during the 1960 season, Jack hit .297/.353/.432 that year in the Pacific League. Playing full-time in 1961, he batted .297/.355/.455 and made the PL All-Star team. On June 3rd, he climbed into the stands to punch a Hankyu Braves fan. He was ejected from the game but was not suspended. In 1962, he continued to improve and put up a .374/.426/.569 year, the best of his career. Known as a great bunter, Bloomfield showed some pop as well, hitting 12 homers, his best yet. He led off the first All-Star game that year with a homer off Hiroshi Gondo. He won the Pacific League batting title by 40 points over Kazuhiro Yamauchi and was named to the Best Nine at second base.

In 1963, Bloomfield repeated as batting champion, All-Star and Best Nine with a .335/.397/.494 year. He won by 17 points over Kihachi Enomoto in average and also led that year in OBP (a year before he was 14 points behind Isao Harimoto in OBP). Now 31 years old, Jack faded over the next three years, hitting .294/.356/.464 with a career-best 13 HR in 1964, another All-Star campaign. He was 7th in average that year. In 1965, he moved to the Nankai Hawks and missed the All-Star squad despite a fine .302/.354/.444 year. Limited to 74 games, he did not qualify for the batting title, or he would have finished 5th. In his last year, he hit .294/.376/.403 for Nankai and would have been fifth in average again if he had qualified. He retired after that year. In Japan, his career line was .315/.377/.472. As of 2005, he was 14th all-time in Nippon Pro Baseball in batting average for players with 2,000+ at-bats.

Post-playing career

Jack was a San Diego Padres scout from 1969 to 1973, Padre coach in 1974 and a member of the Chicago Cubs coaching staff the next three seasons (1975-1977). After that, he scouted for the Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies.

Related Sites

Sources include Pat Doyle's Professional Baseball Player Database, Japanbaseballdaily.com by Gary Garland, 1958 Baseball Guide