Eddie Knoblauch, OF, Houston Buffs, 1942, 1946-49 (15 Season Total Minor League Career, 1938-1955).
Eddie Knoblauch is always a guy I come back to write about. As a kid, he was one of my first heroes with the Houston Buffs and a longtime productive player for the Buffs and several other clubs in the Texas League. With a career batting average of .313 and 2,543 total base hits, Eddie only banged only 20 career homers, but his speed on the base paths and on defense and his rather formidable throwing arm made him a major threat for run-and-gun offensive teams.
Many people today simply don’t realize how tough it was to even grab a cup of coffee in the big leagues back in the days of on only 16 big league clubs and reserve clause controlled farm systems through which clubs like the Cardinals and Yankees could stockpile and control which players would even get a chance. Knobby never got his shot. He most certainly would have during World War II, but his two plus years of military service during the quickly put him in the same boat with those who were being taken away. So the chance never came.
At 5’10” and 180 pounds, Eddie had a muscular appearance that combined with his speed to make him look something like a runaway train engine on the base paths. As a lefty all the way, Knoblauch also was a master of placing “Punch and Judy” hits to left that played into doubles against defenses that weren’t prepared to play against his flexible batting style.
The Knoblauch family sprang from a strong baseball gene. Brother Ray Knoblauch spent time as a minor league pitcher and then moved on to a long-term as the very successful baseball coach at Bellaire High School in the near southwestern Houston suburbs. Ray’s son, and Eddie’s nephew, Chuck Knoblauch, of course, later attended Tex A&M on a baseball scholarship before moving on to a major league career with the Twins, Yankees, and Royals (1991-2002).
Eddie Knoblauch also played some winter ball in the Latin American countries, highlighted by a 1950 Caribbean Series starting appearance with Navegantes del Magallanes. He lived and worked in Houston for years following his playing career before retiring to the Hill Country, He died in his home at Schertz, Texas of heart trouble on February 26, 1991 at the age of 73.
Hope you’ve found your eternal Field of Dreams, Eddie. That surprise opposite field pop into the corn rows down the left field line ought to be hard to defend against.
PS: Uniform Fashion Note. If the Astros could come up with a traditional and simple uniform design like the one Eddie is wearing in our feature story photo, that would be great too. The heart-side breast-plate circle could be used to hold that orbiting logo around the dome, or a giant “H” – or whatever the club decides to use as the new star logo. (All in orange & blue, of course.)
Tags: Eddie Knoblauch
The Pecan Park Eagle 
February 6, 2012 at 2:53 pm |
I have a scored 1947 Buffs program. Knoblauch went 1 for 4 in the game. Too bad I never got him to sign it.
August 10, 2018 at 7:19 pm |
Edward Knoblauch died February 26 1991 and is buried with his wife at the our lady of perpetual help cemetery in bexar county