Red Worthington

Robert Lee Worthington

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 170 lb.
• High School Alhambra (CA) High School
• Debut April 14, 1931
• Final Game September 14, 1934
• Born April 24, 1906 in Alhambra, CA USA
• Died December 8, 1963 in Sepulveda, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Red Worthington was an outfielder 12 years (1926-1937), four in the Majors (1931-1934) and eight in the minors (1926-1930 and 1935-1937). He was born on April 24, 1906 in Alhambra, CA. He left high school in 1924 at age 18. He broke into Organized Baseball in 1926 at age 19 with Waterloo in the Mississippi Valley League (1926); the Syracuse Stars in the International League (IL) (1927); the Houston Buffaloes in the Texas League (1928); and the Rochester Red Wings (IL) (1929-1930).

Worthington was 24 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 14, 1931, with the Boston Braves. He played for Boston (1931-1934) when he was selected off waivers by the St. Louis Cardinals from the Braves on September 11, 1934, where he played his final MLB game on September 14th of that year at age 28.

He returned to the minors with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) (1935); the San Francisco Missions (PCL) (1935); and the Sacramento Solons (PCL) (1936-1937); ending his baseball career at age 31.

An outfielder, he played in 292 games for the Braves and Cardinals between 1931 and 1934. Worthington led National League outfielders in fielding (.988) in his rookie 1931 season while hitting .291 as the Braves' regular left fielder. He was having a great season in 1932 before he broke his ankle. In 105 games that year he had career highs of .303, 8 HR, 61 RBI, and 62 runs. He was never the same after the injury. (WOR)

In 1932, his best year in the major leagues, he had 132 hits, 62 runs, 35 doubles, 8 triples, 8 home runs, 61 RBI and 1 stolen base at (.303/.330/.476) in 105 games. In 1931, he had 143 hits, 47 runs, 25 doubles, 10 triples, 4 home runs, 44 RBI and 1 stolen base at (.291/.328/.407) in 128 games. In 1930, his best year in the minors, he had 8 home runs and 113 RBI at (.375). In 1929, he had 202 hits, 97 runs, 34 doubles, 15 triples, 8 home runs, 113 RBI and 2 stolen bases at (.327/.389/.469) in 163 games.

Overall in MLB, he had 298 hits, 118 runs, 69 doubles, 18 triples, 12 home runs, 111 RBI and 2 stolen bases at (.287/.321/.423) in 292 games. Overall in the minors, he had 44 home runs and 413 RBI.

Worthington was a World War II veteran (BN). He was a brewer at the Lucky Brewing Company. He died at age 57 at a Veterans Administration Hospital in Los Angeles, CA from pneumonia following surgery for an esophageal ulcer on December 8, 1963 and is buried at San Gabriel Mission Cemetery in San Gabriel, CA.

Sources

Principal sources for Red Worthington include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs (none) (WW), old Baseball Registers (none) (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN (none) (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) ; The Pacific Coast League: A Statistical History, 1903-1957 by Dennis Snelling; The Texas League in Baseball, 1888-1958 by Marshall D. Wright; The International League: Year-by-year Statistics, 1884-1953 by Marshall D. Wright; and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.

Further Reading

• Jimmy Keenan: "Red Worthington", in Charles F. Faber, ed.: The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals: The World Champion Gas House Gang, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2014, pp. 233-237. ISBN 978-1-933599-731

Related Sites

• Red Worthington at the SABR Bio Project
• Red Worthington on Retrosheet
• Red Worthington on at the Baseball Almanac
• Bio at Baseball Page
• The Baseball Chronology for Red Worthington
• and a full Bibliography from SABR's The Baseball Index (TBI)