Jake Pitler
Jacob Albert Pitler
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 8", Weight 150 lb.
- Debut May 30, 1917
- Final Game May 24, 1918
- Born April 22, 1894 in New York, NY USA
- Died February 3, 1968 in Binghamton, NY USA
Biographical Information[edit]
Jake Pitler, who was a long-time minor league manager and major league coach, was the regular second baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1917, in the last year that Honus Wagner was a player. In spite of Honus being 43 years old, he still out-hit Jake. Jake also played briefly with the Pirates in 1918.
Pitler played several years with the Jackson team in the Southern Michigan League and several more with the Chattanooga Lookouts. He was with Chattanooga before making his major league debut in late May of 1917. He was a minor league manager for nearly 20 years starting in 1929 and during several of those years was a player-manager.
The Big Book of Jewish Baseball states that Jake was optioned in 1918 by the Pirates to the Jersey City Skeeters, but jumped to an outlaw league instead. That got him banned from organized baseball for years.
He apparently continued to play for outlaw teams during that period. The SABR biography of Phil Douglas states that Pitler in 1923 was the player-manager of the Hornell, NY team, supposedly the strongest outlaw team in the country.
He coached for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1947 to 1957.
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