Jack Littrell

Jack Napier Littrell

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 179 lb.

• Debut April 19, 1952
• Final Game September 15, 1957
• Born January 22, 1929 in Louisville, KY USA
• Died June 9, 2009 in Louisville, KY USA

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Biographical Information

Jack Littrell a native of Louisville, KY who played baseball at Western Kentucky University, was signed as an amateur free agent by the Boston Red Sox before the 1948 season. They assigned the nineteen-year-old shortstop to their Oroville Red Sox farm team of the class D Far West League for his first year out. Jack appeared in 98 games, hitting .265 for the season. He was in the minors for five seasons (1948-1952) before getting a short trial with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1952. Jack appeared in four games and spent the rest of the year with the Ottawa A's of the International League where he hit .249 in in 126 games.

After spending 1953 with Ottawa, Jack got another chance with the Athletics in 1954, this time appearing in 9 games with a .300 average before being sent back to Ottawa where he appeared in 143 games and hit for a .233 average. The Philadelphia Athletics became the Kansas City Athletics in 1955 and Littrell was there with them. After spending the entire year with the A's and appearing in only 37 contests and hitting an even .200, he was dealt to the Brooklyn Dodgers on [[December 21]st.

The Dodgers placed Jack with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League for the 1956 season and the infielder responded by hitting .307 with 22 home runs and being named the league's All-Star shortstop. This performance landed him with the Chicago Cubs for the 1957 year after the expiration of a minor league working agreement between the Brooklyn team and the Portland club. Littrell was only a .204 hitter in four major league seasons, but he temporarily forced the Cubs to move Ernie Banks from shortstop to third base at the start of the [1957 season, Jack hit just .190 in the first two months of the year however and was sent back to the minor leagues while Banks returned to shortstop. This proved to be the end of Littrell's major league run that he finished with a four-season batting average of .204 and fielding at a .949 clip.

Jack returned to the minors where he spent six more seasons with several different clubs, finishing out his pro baseball career with the Louisville Colonels of the American Association in 1962. Littrell spent a total of 14 seasons in the minor leagues from 1948 to 1962, hitting at a .257 average with 122 home runs and fielding at a .957 percentage.

After baseball Jack went to work for the Louisville-Nashville railroad as a brakeman and later as a conductor, retiring after 22 years in 1988 to his home in Crestwood, KY. Littrell died at the age of 80, on June 9, 2009 in Louisville.

Littrell was the father of minor leaguer Jack and the grandfather of drafted player Corey Littrell.

Sources

Baseball Players of the 1950s