Jim Baxes
Encyclopedia
Dimitrios Speros "Jim" Baxes (July 5, 1928 – November 14, 1996) was a Major League Baseball
player for the Los Angeles Dodgers
and Cleveland Indians
for one season.
After a long and successful minor league career, Baxes finally made his major league debut April 11, 1959, for the Dodgers. He played in 11 games for Los Angeles, mostly at third base, and hit .303 with a .515 slugging percentage. When the Dodgers removed Baxes from their roster on cut-down day, he considered the idea of quitting baseball. Then, on May 22, Baxes was traded to Cleveland for $10,000 cash and a player.
Baxes played in 77 games for the Indians in 1959 - 48 at second base and 22 at third. He hit .239 for the Tribe and belted 15 home runs. Baxes finished with season and career totals of 17 home run
s and a .246 batting average
and was selected to the Topps All-Star Rookie Roster
. However, it was his only major league season, as he was back in the minor leagues in 1960. After the 1961 campaign, he retired from organized baseball.
On April 15, 1959, he hit his first major league home run off Bob Gibson
. Baxes, the first batter Gibson faced, would collect 16 more that year, while Gibson would surrender just three more in his rookie campaign.
Jim was the older brother of fellow former major leaguer Mike Baxes
. Jim and his wife Jeanne Yvonne Baxes (1927-2002) are buried together in Magnolia Memorial Park in Garden Grove, California.
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
player for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
and Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
for one season.
After a long and successful minor league career, Baxes finally made his major league debut April 11, 1959, for the Dodgers. He played in 11 games for Los Angeles, mostly at third base, and hit .303 with a .515 slugging percentage. When the Dodgers removed Baxes from their roster on cut-down day, he considered the idea of quitting baseball. Then, on May 22, Baxes was traded to Cleveland for $10,000 cash and a player.
Baxes played in 77 games for the Indians in 1959 - 48 at second base and 22 at third. He hit .239 for the Tribe and belted 15 home runs. Baxes finished with season and career totals of 17 home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s and a .246 batting average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
and was selected to the Topps All-Star Rookie Roster
Topps All-Star Rookie Rosters
This is a year-by-year list of the Topps All-Star Rookie teams. Note that players selected for a particular team appear in the following year's set release...
. However, it was his only major league season, as he was back in the minor leagues in 1960. After the 1961 campaign, he retired from organized baseball.
On April 15, 1959, he hit his first major league home run off Bob Gibson
Bob Gibson
Robert "Bob" Gibson is a retired American professional baseball player. Nicknamed "Hoot" and "Gibby", he was a right-handed pitcher who played his entire 17-year Major League Baseball career with St. Louis Cardinals...
. Baxes, the first batter Gibson faced, would collect 16 more that year, while Gibson would surrender just three more in his rookie campaign.
Jim was the older brother of fellow former major leaguer Mike Baxes
Mike Baxes
Michael Baxes is a former professional baseball player. He played two seasons in Major League Baseball, primarily as a second baseman and shortstop, in 1956 and 1958 for the Kansas City Athletics....
. Jim and his wife Jeanne Yvonne Baxes (1927-2002) are buried together in Magnolia Memorial Park in Garden Grove, California.