Hobie Landrith

Hobie Landrith

Hobart "Hobie" Neal Landrith (born March 16, 1930 in Decatur, Illinois) is a former American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1950 through 1963 for the Cincinnati Reds & Redlegs, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles, and Washington Senators. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.

For most of his career the well-traveled Landrith was a second or third string catcher, but he is best known as the first pick of the New York Mets in the 1961 expansion draft. He was a backup catcher for Andy Seminick and Smoky Burgess in Cincinnati, and later a regular with the Cubs in 1956. The following two years he backed up All-Stars Hal Smith and Walker Cooper with the Cardinals. He then had a three season campaign in San Francisco, including his most successful season in 1959. Landrith closed out his career with short stints with the Mets, Orioles, and expansion Senators before drawing his career to a close. In a career that spanned 14 seasons, Landrith had a career .233 batting average with 34 home runs, 203 runs batted in, and 450 hits in 772 games played.