Smoky Burgess Stats

Smoky Burgess was born on Sunday, February 6, 1927, in Caroleen, North Carolina. Burgess was 22 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 19, 1949, with the Chicago Cubs. His biographical data, year-by-year hitting stats, fielding stats, pitching stats (where applicable), career totals, uniform numbers, salary data and miscellaneous items-of-interest are presented by Baseball Almanac on this comprehensive Smoky Burgess baseball stats page.

Baseball Almanac Top Quote

"Smoky Burgess did not possess the physique of a Greek god, nor even that of the average major leaguer. Standing in at a pudgy 5’8”, Burgess was saddled with such unflattering descriptions as 'a walking laundry bag' and 'barely fit enough to play for the Moose Lodge softball team.' Physical conditioning aside, nobody debates that Smoky Burgess could hit at any time, against any pitcher, in any situation." - Sturgill, Andy. Sweet '60: The 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates. SABR, 2 April 2013. Page 16.

Smoky Burgess

Smoky Burgess Autograph on a 1989 Pacific Baseball Card (#201)

Smoky Burgess Autograph on a 1989 Pacific Baseball Card (#201)

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Birth Name:   Forrest Harrill Burgess
Nickname:   Smoky
Born On:   02-06-1927  (Aquarius)
Place of Birth Data Born In:   Caroleen, North Carolina
Year of Death Data Died On:   09-15-1991 (500 Oldest Living)
Place of Death Data Died In:   Asheville, North Carolina
Cemetery:   Sunset Memorial Park, Forest City, North Carolina
High School:   Corleen High School (Corleen, NC)
College:   None Attended
Batting Stances Chart Bats:   Left   Throwing Arms Chart Throws:   Right
Player Height Chart Height:   5-08   Player Weight Chart Weight:   187
First Game:   04-19-1949 (Age 22)
Last Game:   10-01-1967
Draft:   Not Applicable

Smoky Burgess

Smoky Burgess Pitching Stats

- - Did Not Pitch - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Smoky Burgess

Smoky Burgess Hitting Stats

1949 22 Cubs 46 56 4 15 0 0 1 0 12 4 0 4 0 - 0 1 .268 .317 .321
1951 24 Cubs 94 219 21 55 4 2 2 0 20 21 5 12 0 - 0 10 .251 .317 .315
1952 25 Phillies 110 371 49 110 27 2 6 0 56 49 1 21 3 - 1 4 .296 .380 .429
1953 26 Phillies 102 312 31 91 17 5 4 0 36 37 5 17 0 - 2 11 .292 .370 .417
1954 27 Phillies 108 345 41 127 27 5 4 0 46 42 5 11 1 4 0 10 .368 .432 .510
1955 28 Phillies 7 21 4 4 2 0 1 0 1 3 1 1 0 0 0 3 .190 .292 .429
1955 28 Redlegs 116 421 67 129 15 3 20 2 77 47 4 35 2 6 1 11 .306 .373 .499
1956 29 Redlegs 90 229 28 63 10 0 12 0 39 26 4 18 1 2 0 5 .275 .346 .476
1957 30 Redlegs 90 205 29 58 14 1 14 0 39 24 5 16 0 3 0 4 .283 .353 .566
1958 31 Redlegs 99 251 28 71 12 1 6 0 31 22 3 20 0 0 1 8 .283 .343 .410
1959 32 Pirates 114 377 41 112 28 5 11 0 59 31 9 16 2 6 2 10 .297 .349 .485
1960 33 Pirates 110 337 33 99 15 2 7 0 39 35 12 13 0 4 0 6 .294 .356 .412
1961 34 Pirates 100 323 37 98 17 3 12 0 52 30 8 16 0 1 2 7 .303 .365 .486
1962 35 Pirates 103 360 38 118 19 2 13 0 61 31 9 19 2 6 0 6 .328 .375 .500
1963 36 Pirates 91 264 20 74 10 1 6 0 37 24 8 14 0 4 1 12 .280 .338 .394
1964 37 Pirates 68 171 9 42 3 1 2 0 17 13 3 14 2 0 1 9 .246 .303 .310
1964 37 White Sox 7 5 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 .200 .429 .800
1965 38 White Sox 80 77 2 22 4 0 2 0 24 11 4 7 0 1 0 2 .286 .371 .416
1966 39 White Sox 79 67 0 21 5 0 0 0 15 11 2 8 0 1 1 0 .313 .413 .388
1967 40 White Sox 77 60 2 8 1 0 2 0 11 14 6 8 0 1 1 2 .133 .303 .250
18 Years 1,691 4,471 485 1,318 230 33 126 2 673 477 96 270 13 39 13 121 .295 .362 .446

Smoky Burgess

Smoky Burgess Fielding Stats

1949 Cubs C 8 5 129 27 3.4 27 21 6 0 2 0 0 0 1.000 5.65
1951 Cubs C 64 49 1,392 250 3.9 245 210 35 5 6 6 36 15 .980 4.75
1952 Phillies C 104 102 2,754 497 4.8 486 439 47 11 6 2 27 26 .978 4.76
1953 Phillies C 95 85 2,256 421 4.4 418 395 23 3 8 10 19 6 .993 5.00
1954 Phillies C 91 85 2,249 396 4.4 386 356 30 10 4 5 21 16 .975 4.63
1955 Phillies C 6 6 153 36 6.0 36 35 1 0 0 1 1 0 1.000 6.35
1955 Redlegs C 107 103 2,736 499 4.7 492 457 35 7 6 8 25 18 .986 4.86
1956 Redlegs C 55 53 1,389 275 5.0 275 257 18 0 2 4 20 7 1.000 5.35
1957 Redlegs C 45 42 1,135 241 5.4 238 223 15 3 0 3 23 6 .988 5.66
1958 Redlegs C 58 53 1,419 322 5.6 318 297 21 4 2 3 14 10 .988 6.05
1959 Pirates C 101 95 2,394 488 4.8 480 441 39 8 4 3 30 21 .984 5.41
1960 Pirates C 89 86 2,245 526 5.9 523 485 38 3 7 2 22 22 .994 6.29
1961 Pirates C 92 83 2,188 457 5.0 453 426 27 4 4 7 20 12 .991 5.59
1962 Pirates C 101 94 2,522 602 6.0 595 550 45 7 5 11 45 18 .988 6.37
1963 Pirates C 72 65 1,720 408 5.7 404 364 40 4 4 7 36 20 .990 6.34
1964 Pirates C 44 40 1,075 257 5.8 255 237 18 2 3 1 20 6 .992 6.40
1965 White Sox C 5 3 78 20 4.0 20 17 3 0 0 0 1 1 1.000 6.92
1966 White Sox C 2 0 15 4 2.0 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 7.20
C Totals 1,139 1,049 27,849 5,726 5.0 5,655 5,214 441 71 63 73 360 204 .988 5.48
17 Years 1,139 1,049 27,849 5,726 5.0 5,655 5,214 441 71 63 73 360 204 .988 5.48

Smoky Burgess

Smoky Burgess Miscellaneous Stats

1949 Cubs 0 0 .000 39 0 n/a 56.0 14.0 4.7 - - -
1951 Cubs 2 0 1.000 39 0 n/a 109.5 18.3 11.0 - - -
1952 Phillies 3 1 .750 7 0 n/a 61.8 17.7 6.6 - - -
1953 Phillies 3 2 .600 9 0 n/a 78.0 18.4 8.7 - - -
1954 Phillies 1 5 .167 20 0 n/a 86.3 31.4 7.5 - - -
1955 Phillies 0 0 .000 1 0 n/a 21.0 21.0 21.0 - - -
1955 Redlegs 1 1 .500 11 0 n/a 21.1 12.0 5.5 - - -
1956 Redlegs 0 1 .000 37 0 n/a 19.1 12.7 5.9 - - -
1957 Redlegs 0 0 .000 48 0 n/a 14.6 12.8 5.3 - - -
1958 Redlegs 0 0 .000 44 0 n/a 41.8 12.6 8.1 - - -
1959 Pirates 0 0 .000 19 0 n/a 34.3 23.6 6.4 - - -
1960 Pirates 0 1 .000 24 0 n/a 48.1 25.9 8.6 - - -
1961 Pirates 1 0 1.000 15 0 n/a 26.9 20.2 6.2 - - -
1962 Pirates 0 1 .000 5 0 n/a 27.7 18.9 5.9 - - -
1963 Pirates 0 1 .000 23 0 n/a 44.0 18.9 7.1 - - -
1964 Pirates 2 1 .667 24 0 n/a 85.5 12.2 10.1 - - -
1964 White Sox 0 0 .000 7 0 n/a 5.0 0.0 5.0 - - -
1965 White Sox 0 0 .000 77 0 n/a 38.5 11.0 3.2 - - -
1966 White Sox 0 0 .000 79 0 n/a 0.0 8.4 4.5 - - -
1967 White Sox 0 0 .000 77 0 n/a 30.0 7.5 5.5 - - -
18 Years 13 14 .481 605 0 n/a 35.5 16.6 6.6 - - -

Smoky Burgess

Smoky Burgess Miscellaneous Items of Interest

1949 Chicago Cubs 8, 4 $4,800.00 - -
1951 Chicago Cubs 11 $7,000.00 - -
1952 Philadelphia Phillies 21 $7,500.00 - -
1953 Philadelphia Phillies 21 $11,000.00 - -
1954 Philadelphia Phillies 21 $12,000.00 Stats -
1955 Philadelphia Phillies 21 $15,500.00 - -
1955 Cincinnati Redlegs 7 "     "     Stats -
1956 Cincinnati Redlegs 7 $18,000.00 - -
1957 Cincinnati Redlegs 7 $18,000.00 - -
1958 Cincinnati Redlegs 7 $18,000.00 - -
1959 Pittsburgh Pirates 6 $20,000.00 Stats -
1960 Pittsburgh Pirates 6 Undetermined Stats Stats
1961 Pittsburgh Pirates 6 Undetermined Stats -
1962 Pittsburgh Pirates 6 Undetermined - -
1963 Pittsburgh Pirates 6 Undetermined - -
1964 Pittsburgh Pirates 6 $28,500.00 Stats -
1964 Chicago White Sox 49 "     "     - -
1965 Chicago White Sox 2 $28,500.00 - -
1966 Chicago White Sox 2 Undetermined - -
1967 Chicago White Sox 2 Undetermined - -

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Forrest Harrill Burgess was a Major League Baseball player with the Chicago Cubs (1949, 1951), Philadelphia Phillies (1952-1955), Cincinnati Reds (1955-1958), Pittsburgh Pirates (1959-1964), and Chicago White Sox (1964-1967). Smoky, his nickname, led all National League catchers in fielding percentage in 1953 (.993), 1960 (.994) and 1961 (.991). Besides being defensively solid, Burgess often spoke with the hitters while they were trying to hit, as illustrated by this wonderfully written passage in The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (James, Bill. Free Press Publishing. 13 June 2003.Page 392):

"One of my favorite paragraphs was written about Smoky Burgess in The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading, and Bubble Gum Book. 'Smoky Burgess was fat,' it begins, 'Not baseball fat like Mickey Lolich or Early Wynn. But FAT fat. Like the mailman or your Uncle Dwight. Putsy Fat. Slobby Fat. Just Plain Fat. In fact I would venture to say that Smoky Burgess was probably the fattest man ever to play professional baseball.'

Some catchers like to chatter at the hitters to see if they can mess them up while they're trying to hit. Smoky was the world's champion. He used to drive Richie Ashburn nuts. He'd say, 'Get ready, Rich; it's a fastball.' Ashburn would pop up or something, so Burgess would say 'You didn't do too well on the fastball, Richie; let's try a curve.' Of course, Ashburn never could believe him and couldn't ignore him. One time he asked the umpire, 'Isn't there some rule that will make that guy shut up?'"

Smoky Burgess Rookie Baseball Card

Smoky Burgess Rookie Card | 1951 Bowman Baseball Card (#317 | Checklist)
Baseball Almanac Collection

Did you know that when Smoky Burgess hung up his cleats in 1967, he held the Major League record for career pinch-hits with 145? The previous mark of 114 pinch hits, set by Red Lucas, was crushed and Burgess held onto the record until 1979, when Manny Mota passed him, settling in at the 150 mark — since passed as well by Mark Sweeney (175) and Lenny Harris (212).

Did you know Smoky Burgess hit three home runs in a game played on July 29, 1955? Burgess drove in nine runs that day — the second most RBI in a game in team history for the Cincinnati Reds at the time behind Walker Cooper who had ten RBI on July 6, 1949.

Did you know Smoky Burgess was the backstop on May 26, 1959, when Harvey Haddix took a perfect game into the thirteenth inning against the Milwaukee Braves?

Did you know Smoky Burgess had twenty pinch hits in 1965, the most in season by a Chicago White Sox pinch hitter and only four shy of the American League record set by Dave Philley, twenty-four in 1961?

Did you know Smoky Burgess hit sixteen pinch hit home runs in his career? Second most in Major League history when he retired, behind Jerry Lynch (18).

Smoky Burgess, Lance Parrish and Paul Lo Duca

Smoky Burgess (L), Lance Parrish (C), Paul Lo Duca (R)
Topps Cards Collage by Baseball Almanac

Paul Lo Duca wore three different uniforms (Dodgers in 2003 & 2004 / Marlins in 2005 / Mets in 2006) in three different All-Star Games as a catcher (who actually played in the game). Lance Parrish came before Lo Duca, matching the feat with the Tigers in 1980, 1982-1986, the Phillies in 1988, and the Angels in 1990. Smokey Burgess was the first backstop in baseball history in the "journeyman All-Star Catching-Club" wearing a Phillies uniform in 1954, a Redlegs uniform in 1955, and a Pirates uniform in 1959, 1960, 1961, and 1964.