Sam Chapman

Samuel Blake Chapman (April 11, 1916 – December 22, 2006) was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1938 to 1951. He batted and threw right-handed. Chapman spent nearly his entire career with the Philadelphia Athletics (1938–1941, 1945–1951) and finished the 1951 season with the Cleveland Indians. Before professional baseball he was a halfback at the University of California, named a consensus All-American in 1937 and playing in the 1938 Rose Bowl; he was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the third round of the 1938 NFL draft but chose baseball. His best season came in 1941, when he batted .322 with 25 home runs and 106 runs batted in. Over 1,368 games he recorded a .266 average with 1,329 hits, 180 home runs, and 773 RBIs, and he led the American League in putouts four times. He was selected to the 1946 All-Star team. Chapman's career was interrupted by service as a U.S. Navy pilot and flight instructor during World War II from 1942 to 1945. He was later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. His playing career fell within baseball's pre-integration era.