Choo Choo Coleman
From BR Bullpen
Clarence Coleman
- Bats Left, Throws Right
- Height 5' 9", Weight 165 lb.
[edit] Biographical Information
Choo Choo Coleman played four seasons in the majors in the 1960's. After starting his major league career with the 1961 Phillies, he became famous as one of the original 1962 New York Mets.
Coleman was born in Orlando, FL in 1937. At a young age he played briefly for the Indianapolis Clowns in the Negro Leagues and was signed in 1955 by the Washington Senators. He was released in 1957 and later signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers, and then drafted in the Rule 5 Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies.
Choo Choo played in the minors with Orlando in 1955-56 and 1958-59, was with Macon and Montreal in 1960, and spent most of 1961 with Spokane, for whom he posted a batting line of .288/.344/.518. A teammate at Spokane was 35-year-old Don Newcombe.
The 1961 Phillies went 47-107, and Coleman hit .128 for them in 34 games. The team as a whole hit .243, and several part-time players other than Coleman also hit under .200. The regular catcher, Clay Dalrymple, hit .220.
The 1962 Mets thought enough of Coleman to draft him away from the Phillies in the expansion draft. Choo Choo had his best major league season playing with the Mets in 1962. He hit .250 (the team as a whole hit .240) and slugged .441, which made him one of the top sluggers on a team which went 40-120.
Chris Cannizzaro is listed as the regular catcher for the 1962 Mets, but actually several players shared the position. Cannizzaro had 376 innings at catcher, Sammy Taylor had 362 innings, Coleman had 320 innings, Joe Pignatano had 147 innings, Hobie Landrith had 118 innings, Harry Chiti had 92 innings and Joe Ginsberg had 13 innings at catcher.
Coleman also played in 71 games with the 1962 Syracuse Chiefs.
The following year, the 1963 Mets improved to a record of 51-111, and Coleman became the regular catcher. However, he hit only .178 (the team hit .219) while committing 15 errors defensively, and was out of the majors until he came back with the 1966 Mets for six games, hitting .188.
Choo Choo had spent 1964-65 with the Buffalo Bisons, and for most of 1966 was with the Jacksonville Suns. In 1969 he came back to play 94 games with the Tidewater Tides.
In 11 minor league seasons, Coleman had an overall batting average of .251 and a SLG of .385. He also stole more bases than one would expect from a catcher.
