Marv Rickert

Marvin August Rickert
(Twitch)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 195 lb.
• High School Vaughn Union High School
• Debut September 10, 1942
• Final Game September 26, 1950
• Born January 8, 1921 in Longbranch, WA USA
• Died June 3, 1978 in Oakville, WA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Marv Rickert was puchased by the Chicago Cubs from the Tacoma Tigers of the Western International League in August of 1941 after spending four years as an unaffiliated player in the minors. In 1942, while with the Tulsa Oilers of the Texas League he hit .310 with nine homers and also had a short time with the parent Chicago Cubs, appearing in eight games and hitting .269. Rickert entered the United States Armed Forces on September 28th that year, and spent the next three years serving with the Coast Guard during World War II. He served aboard a munitions ship that ferried supplies to the Aleutian Islands, which was extremely dangerous work. Later in the war, he was transferred to a base in Seattle, WA where he coached the Coast Guard baseball team.

Out in time for spring training in 1946 Marv made the Cubs' roster. The left-handed hitter appeared in 111 games hitting a solid .263. On June 23rd he and Eddie Waitkus were the first players in National League history to hit back-to-back inside-the-park home runs. Marv was with the Cubs in 1947 but his hitting fell to .146 in 154 plate appearances and he was sold to the Cincinnati Reds after the season, on October 8th.

Marv started the 1948 season with Cincinnati but spent most of the year with the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association where he hit 27 home runs and batted in 127 while making the All-Star team. He was a late-season acquisition of the Boston Braves as a replacement for outfielder Jeff Heath, who was sidelined with a broken ankle that forced him to miss the postseason. Rickert played in just three regular season games, but was named to the World Series roster with the special permission of Commissioner Happy Chandler. Marv played in five of the World Series games against the Cleveland Indians, hitting .211 (4 for 19); one of his hits, a 7th-inning home run off Steve Gromek in Game 5, tied the score at 1-1, in a game Cleveland won, 2-1. Cleveland would go on to win the Series, four games to two.

As a result of his late-season promotion, Rickert holds the record for the fewest career regular-season games for a team before hitting a postseason home run for them. He had played just three regular season games for the Braves before hitting his World Series home run. In second place is Tom Wilson, with nine games for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2004.

"Twitch" as Marv was sometimes called, hit a career-high .292 playing in an even 100 games for the Braves in 1949. He finished his six-year tour of the major leagues with a lifetime .247 average after also playing with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago White Sox in 1950. Marv, who had also spent eight seasons in the minor leagues, finished out his pro baseball career with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Baltimore Orioles of the International League in 1952, at the age of 31, with a career .299 batting average along with 108 home runs. With Baltimore in 1951, he led the IL with 35 homers and was second in batting average at .321, scoring 106 runs and driving in 104, but he was still unable to get another shot at the big leagues.

After baseball Rickert worked as a charter boat operator and was employed by the Pierce County Parks and Recreation Department. He died on June 3, 1978, at age 57 in Oakville, Washington.

Sources

Baseball Players of the 1950s
BR Minors Page

Related Sites

• Marv Rickert at the SABR Bio Project
• Baseball in Wartime - Marv Rickert