3/27/2000 - At First with Bobby Knoop

The Toronto Blue Jays hit 1017 singles during the 1999 campaign. During their stay at first base, Toronto runners got advice from first base coach Alfredo Griffin. This coming season, however, a new face will greet them as they make their way to first, that of Bobby Knoop.

Knoop (pronounced "Kuh-NOP") was born on October 18, 1938 in Sioux City, Iowa. He entered professional baseball, playing for Leesburg in the Florida State League in 1956, where he hit .190 in 42 games. As a superb second baseman, Knoop continued to play in the minors, including playing for Toronto's International League team in 1962, where he went hitless in seven at-bats, during seven games, before heading off to Hawaii to play in the Pacific Coast League.

He was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels (soon to be the California Angels) from Denver (of the Milwaukee Braves organization) on December 2nd, 1963.

He debuted in the big leagues to begin the 1964 season. In his first season in the majors, Knoop hit .216 with seven home runs and 38 runs batted in, as he played in all 162 games that season.

However, his best season was 1966, when he hit a career high 17 homers. Of course, he also struck out 144 times, good (or bad) enough to earn him a spot in the Top 100 list for strikeouts in a single season. On April 30th, Knoop hit a home run and a double in the same inning. In that season, Knoop won the first of three consecutive Golden Gloves. Called "the Nureyev of second base" by sportswriters, he set an American League record for putouts by a second baseman in a nine-inning game with twelve on August 6th. On May 1st, he and his shortstop turned 6 doubleplays, another AL record. Oh, and that shortstop was also Knoop's roommate with the Angels: Jim Fregosi.

Knoop was named to the 1966 American League All-Star team, along side such stars as Catfish Hunter, Brooks Robinson, Mel Stottlemyre and Carl Yastrzemski, not to mention Jim Fregosi. The game was played in 105-degree heat, and went on for ten innings at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis before the National League won 2-1. Knoop went hitless in two at-bats.

On May 19, 1969, Knoop was traded to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for infielder Sandy Alomar and right-handed pitcher Bob Priddy, Knoop would finish off the season with Chicago and stay one more year, before being sold to Kansas City on March 24, 1971. Knoop would play for the Royals for two seasons, before being released at the end of the 1972 season.

With that, Knoop's playing days were over. He had appeared in 1153 games, and had a lifetime batting average of .236 with 56 home runs and 331 runs batted in. He had also won the Angels' Owner's Trophy for "inspirational leadership, sportsmanship and professional ability".

Rather than leave baseball altogether, Knoop went into managing, starting first with Quad Cities of the Midwest League in 1975. Knoop led the team, an affiliate of the Angels to a record of 78-47, good enough for first place, although the team lost to Waterloo 2-0 in the finals of the play-offs that year. In 1976, he led El Paso to a second place finish, with a 75-56 record in the Texas League.

The next year, Knoop was back in the majors, this time as a coach for the Chicago White Sox from 1977-1978. The year after, he came back to the Angels to serve as their first base coach until 1996. When he left the Angels, he co-held the record for the longest time in an Angels uniform with Jimmie Reese.

Knoop stepped away from the game until October 12, 1999 when his old roommate, Jim Fregosi, now managing the Toronto Blue Jays, hired him to the team's first-base coach.

John M. Milner firmly believes that Joe Carter's home run in the 1993 World Series was one of the turning points of his life. Discuss this, his columns, baseball or life in general with him at docmilner@yahoo.ca.

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