Dick Schofield
1935 - 2022
Dick Schofield who died this past week at the age of 87 carved out a major league career that lasted for 19 seasons. He played in 1,321 games with seven different teams, mainly as a utility infielder who managed to compile an ordinary .227 career batting average. Six of those seasons, 1959-65, came with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and, as such, he was a member of perhaps the most iconic team in all of Pittsburgh sports history, the 1960 World Series Champion Pirates, and when a member of that team leaves us, his passing is worth noting.
Schofield played an heroic role with that storied team. He filled in for most of the month of September when shortstop Dick Groat, who would become that season's batting champ and MVP, was sidelined with a broken wrist. Schofield responded by hitting .400 for the month. He hit .333 in 81 games for the Pirates that season, easily the highest average of his career.
Early in the 1965 season, Schofield was traded to the Giants for infielder Jose Pagan, who served the Pirates long and well, and was member of the 1971 World Series Championship team, so even when he left, he served the Pirates well.
Schofield's death leaves only seven remaining members of that twenty-five man World Series roster: Joe Christopher, Roy Face, Dick Groat, Vernon Law, Bill Mazeroski, Bob Oldis, and Bob Skinner. Of those men, Oldis is the oldest at age 94, and Maz, 86, is the youngest.
RIP Dick Schofield.
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