Phil Weintraub

Philip Weintraub (October 12, 1907 – June 21, 1987) was an American professional baseball first baseman and outfielder.

Author Joe Cox, writing in The Immaculate Inning: Unassisted Triple Plays, 40/40 Seasons, and the Stories Behind Baseball's Rarest Feats (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018), observed: "The biggest mystery of Weintraub is why a hitter with a career .295 batting average and capable power (.440 slugging percentage) could never get more than 361 at bats in a big league season -- or top 1,382 career at bats... One biographer cites anti-semitic theories of the time ...."[4] Through 2010, Weintraub was fifth all-time in batting average (behind Hank Greenberg, Ryan Braun, Buddy Myer, and Lou Boudreau) among Jewish major league baseball players.

[8][16] In 1941 he played for the Los Angeles Angels and batted .302 with 18 home runs (3rd in the league) and a .504 slugging percentage, in 1942 he played for the St. Paul Saints (during the season, he fought a verbally abusive fan in Minneapolis, and "clocked" him) and the Toledo Mud Hens, and in 1943 he again played for Toledo, batting .334 with 16 home runs and 96 RBIs (each 3rd in the league) and a .443 on-base percentage and .507 slugging percentage (both 2nd in the league).

[18] That year in spring training, despite a team reservation Weintraub and Harry Danning were once refused entry to the Flamingo Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, which had a "No Jews" policy, but they were allowed to stay when Giants manager Bill Terry threatened he would take the whole team to another hotel if his Jewish ballplayers were not allowed in.

[19][20][21] Called "baseball's best-dressed pinch hitter" in 1935 by journalist Fred Lieb, Weintraub reportedly owned 100 suits.

[22][23][24][2] In December 1935 Weintraub was traded by the Giants with pitcher Roy Parmelee and cash to the St. Louis Cardinals for second baseman Burgess "Whitey" Whitehead.

[18] In that season Weintraub finished 3rd in the National League in on-base percentage (.422), 9th in batting average (.311), and 10th in walks (64).

[4] After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the 34-year-old Weintraub reported for examination by the draft board, but was declared unfit for military service.

[18] In April 1944, in a stunt during a preseason exhibition game Weintraub caught a baseball dropped from a blimp that was 400 feet above him.

[3] Through 2010, Weintraub was fifth all-time in batting average (behind Hank Greenberg, Ryan Braun, Buddy Myer, and Lou Boudreau) among Jewish major league baseball players.

[27] After he retired from playing baseball, in 1946 Weintraub was the Manager of the Bloomingdale Troopers in the North Atlantic League.

"[29] He next worked in the wholesale food business in New York, and then sold real estate in Palm Springs, California.

[30] Weintraub died from a heart attack, after suffering from cancer, on June 21, 1987, in Palm Springs, at the age of 79.