Zachariah Davis Wheat (May 23, 1888 – March 11, 1972), nicknamed "Buck",[1] was an American professional baseball player.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a left fielder from 1909 to 1927, most notably as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers who were known as the Robins at that time.

Although Wheat spent the first part of his career playing in the Dead ball era, he hit over .300 in 13 seasons and won the National League batting championship in 1918.

[3] Wheat was also known as a stylish and graceful outfielder, leading National League left fielders in putouts seven times and fielding percentage twice.

For many years, it was believed that Wheat was at least partially of Cherokee descent but, according to the Society for American Baseball Research, this was likely untrue.

[4] He batted .284 that season, the second-lowest average of his career, which led the team, and was among the league leaders in hits, doubles, and triples.

[7] Wheat continued his steady and consistent climb up the batting charts in 1912, hitting .305 and finishing the season among the league leaders in home runs and slugging percentage.

Each time Wheat held out, he received more money, the club not wanting to lose one of its best hitters and the team's most popular player.

[7] This tactic of threatening to hold out served him well during throughout his career, including during the World War I era, when he raised and sold mules to the United States Army as pack animals.

In the World Series, they faced the Boston Red Sox, who had the formidable pitching rotation of Ernie Shore, Dutch Leonard, Carl Mays, and Babe Ruth.

[7] When owner Charles Ebbets died in 1925, new team president Ed McKeever reassigned Robinson into the front office and named Wheat as player-manager.

[7] McKeever caught pneumonia at Ebbets' funeral, and died soon afterward, and Robinson quickly returned to the manager's position.

In 1931, Steve McKeever, Ed's brother, hired Wheat as a coach, leading to widespread speculation that he was being groomed for the manager's spot, threatening Robinson's job for a second time in seven years, and he treated his former star as coldly as ever.

[1] After Wheat retired from baseball, he moved back to his 160-acre (0.65 km2) farm in Polo, Missouri, until the Great Depression forced him to sell it in 1932.

[7] One of the grandest guys ever to wear a baseball uniform, one of the greatest batting teachers I have seen, one of the truest pals a man ever (had) and one of the kindliest men God ever created.