Hobie Landrith - Personal Life

Personal Life

Landrith met his wife, Peggy, at Estrabrook Grammar School in tenth grade. They had five children; Gary, Carol, Randy, Beth Anne, and David.

While playing winter ball in Puerto Rico, his wife gave birth to a son on November 18, 1954. With the team owner's approval, he flew home on Christmas day to see his new son at his own expense. The downside to all this was after paying to fly back and playing just one game, his team released him despite having the 3rd highest batting average in the league.

Four days after being drafted to the New York Mets, his son David was born at Mills Hospital in San Mateo, California on October 14, 1961. David Landrith played two seasons in the minor leagues from 1983 to 1984 in the Kansas City Royals farm system for the Butte Copper Kings and Charleston Royals after being drafted in the 12th Round, 309th overall by Kansas City in the 1983 amateur draft. He had previously turned down an offer to play professional baseball after being drafted in the sixth round of the 1979 draft by the Cleveland Indians. A year later, David was part of the Arizona Wildcats baseball team becoming National Champions in winning the 1980 College World Series.

David is the current head baseball coach of the Flowing Wells High School Caballeros in Tucson, Arizona. David's daughter, Robin Landrith, a softball catcher out of Ironwood Ridge High School in Oro Valley, Arizona, is committed to attend and play softball for Baylor University. His son Tyler played at Eastern Arizona College for the 2012 season.

Hobie Landrith attended Michigan State University, where he pursued a degree in physical education. After learning that the state of Michigan required a master's degree to be a coach in high school, Landrith made the decision to go into professional baseball. As Hobie was just beginning his professional career, his father, Charles, operated a fishing and boat and bait equipment camp at Lake Erie.

Before playing at catcher for Northwestern High School, his two brothers Nuel and Charles played behind the plate for the team, starting a streak of nine years of Landriths playing at catcher for the school. Nuel played in the minor leagues for the 1942 and 1946 seasons for the Lamesa Dodgers and Quincy Gems, and Charles also contributed two years in the minor league system, playing from 1948 to 1949 for the Pine Bluff Cardinals and Ogdensburg Maples.

After being traded to the Chicago Cubs, Hobie took a winter job as a successful auto salesman in Detroit, Michigan. When his career in baseball was over, Landrith went on to be the director of sales for 45 Volkswagen dealerships in northern California as of 1983, joining the auto business full-time in January 1965 as a public relations agent.