Jake Daubert
One of the best first basemen to play for the Dodgers, Jake Daubert starred for the team in the 1910s, before being dealt to the Reds in a trade fueled by spite. With his short left-handed stroke, he hit .300 or higher in seven of his nine seasons with Brooklyn, winning back-to-back batting titles in 1913 and 1914. In 1913 he was named Most Valuable Player in the National League. Daubert continued his success in Cincinnati, setting career highs with 205 hits, 114 runs, and 22 triples in 1922 at the age of 38. After undergoing a series of operations in October of 1924, Daubert died suddenly at the age of 40.
Played For
Brooklyn Dodgers (1910-1917)
Cincinnati Reds (1920-1924)
Minor League Experience
First played professionally for Lykens, PA, then played with Kane, PA, and Marion, OH. Was signed by Cleveland in 1908, but failed to make the team, and was assigned to Nashville. Spent 1909 season between Memphis and Toledo, before landing with Brooklyn for good in 1910.
All-Time Rankings
Jake Daubert ranks #42 among the Top 50 all-time at 1B. Rankings ⇒
Best Season: 1913
His 1922 season was very good, but in 1913 he was putting up big offensive numbers in a deadball era. He led the loop with his .350 average, and out-pointed Gavvy Cravath for the Most Valuable Player Award.
Factoids
On August 15, 1914, in a season in which he would win his second straight batting crown, Brooklyn's Jake Daubert recorded four sacrifice bunts in one game, tying a big league record.
Description
"Daubert's intelligence was delightful - he [excelled] in every angle of the game, he could give a newspaper man a better talk than almost any player of the age. Well versed in topics outside baseball, he was an entertaining conversationalist, while hislanguage was meticulously free from profanity or even common slang." — The Sporting News, October 16, 1924
Born
Jacob Ellsworth Daubert was born on April 7, 1884, in Shamokin, PA.
Died
October 9, 1924, Cincinnati, OH
Batted: Left
Threw: Left
Primary Position: 1B
Primary Team: BRO
Major League Debut
April 14, 1910
Nine Other Players Who Debuted in 1910
Max Carey
Jake Daubert
Roger Peckinpaugh
Shano Collins
Duffy Lewis
Eddie Foster
Chick Gandil
Ray Caldwell
Hank Gowdy
Similar Players
Dan McGann
Related Players
two of his best friends were his longtime Brooklyn teammates, George Cutshaw and Zack Wheat... Gil Hodges broke Daubert's Brooklyn record for most games played at first base.
| Hall of Fame Voting |
| Year |
Election |
Votes |
Pct |
| 1936 |
BBWAA |
1 |
.4% |
1936 |
Veterans |
1 |
% |
1937 |
BBWAA |
2 |
1.0% |
1938 |
BBWAA |
1 |
.4% |
1939 |
BBWAA |
1 |
.4% |
1951 |
BBWAA |
1 |
.4% |
1955 |
BBWAA |
1 |
.4% |
|
Post-Season Appearances
1916 World Series
1919 World Series
Post-Season Notes
From all accounts, Daubert avoided any of the suspicious activity that surrounded the 1919 World Series. He hit .241 with a triple and four runs scored in the eight game series, won by Cincinnati.
Awards and Honors
1913 NL MVP
Notes
Daubert was captain of the Cincinnati team, from 1919 until his death in 1924.
Injuries and Explanation for Missed Playing Time
Daubert fully intended to return to the Reds in 1925, until he was stricken with appendicitis and gallstones. He died after undergoing two operations, apparently due to an infection. He was 40 years old. Earlier in the season, Reds' manager Pat Moran had died suddenly.
Physicians at the Cincinnati hospital, noted that insomnia may have contributed to Daubert's weakened state. Early in the '24 season, Daubert had been beaned in the head by a pitch from a St. Louis pitcher, and had trouble sleeping during the balance of the campaign.
Hitting Streaks
22 games (1922)
Transactions
February 1, 1919: Traded by the Brooklyn Robins to the Cincinnati Reds for Tommy Griffith.
There's more to this than appears at first glance. Brooklyn got rid of Daubert because he had won a court case to secure the balance of his 1918 salary, after the season ended on Labor Day due to the Great War. After the National Commission, pressured by the federal government, ruled that the '18 campaign would end early so able-bodied players could help the war cause, many teams refused to pay their players their salary for the last four weeks of the season. Daubert, and many others, balked, but Jake had the audacity to follow through with a lawsuit.
Griffith was six years younger than Daubert, but never his equal. He did hit .300 twice in his six full seasons with Brooklyn, but he was essentially a singles hitter with mediocre skills around the bag defensively.
Best Strength as a Player
Amazingly, despute the fact that he was usually the best, or second-best hitter in every lineup he played in, Daubert was a fantastic sacrifice bunter. He set a National league record for sacrifices, with 392. Once, with Brooklyn, he laid down four in one game.
Learn More about Jake Daubert
Search Amazon.com for Books about Jake Daubert ⇒
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View a map of his hometown at Mapquest ⇒
