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Don Blasingame

Don Lee Blasingame (Blazer)

Positions: Second Baseman and Shortstop
Bats: Left, Throws: Right
Height: 5' 10", Weight: 160 lb.

Born: March 16, 1932 in Corinth, MS
High School: Corinth HS (Corinth, MS)
Signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent in 1953. (All Transactions)
Debut: September 20, 1955
Teams (by GP): Cardinals/Senators/Reds/Giants/Athletics 1955-1966

Final Game: August 27, 1966
Died: April 13, 2005 in Fountain Hills, AZ
Buried: Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, AZ
Relatives: Son-In-Law of Walker Cooper
    About biographical information

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All-Star

Standard Fielding

Adv Fielding w/ run summary
Year Tm Lg Age Pos G GS CG Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld% Rtot Rtot/yr RF/9 RF/G lgFld% lgRF9 lgRFG Awards
1955 STL NL 23 2B 3 3 3 31.0 22 8 13 1 1 .955 6.10 7.00 .974 5.49 5.43
1955 STL NL 23 SS 2 2 2 18.0 9 2 6 1 1 .889 4.00 4.00 .964 5.00 5.00
1956 STL NL 24 2B 98 96 95 859.2 591 280 303 8 89 .986 13 19 6.10 5.95 .980 5.34 5.28
1956 STL NL 24 SS 49 49 43 417.0 241 93 135 13 31 .946 0 0 4.92 4.65 .962 4.94 4.89
1956 STL NL 24 3B 2 0 0 6.0 4 0 4 0 0 1.000 0 40 6.00 2.00 .955 3.00 3.00
1957 STL NL 25 2B 154 154 153 1410.1 898 372 512 14 128 .984 19 16 5.64 5.74 .977 5.37 5.41 MVP-12
1958 STL NL 26 2B 137 133 129 1180.2 718 312 380 26 97 .964 -6 -6 5.27 5.05 .975 5.33 5.30 AS
1959 STL NL 27 2B 150 148 139 1290.0 818 362 439 17 104 .979 -5 -5 5.59 5.34 .976 5.27 5.22
1960 SFG NL 28 2B 133 126 121 1141.2 661 318 329 14 66 .979 -3 -3 5.10 4.86 .974 5.20 5.19
1961 CIN NL 29 2B 116 110 103 978.2 598 277 304 17 53 .972 -2 -2 5.34 5.01 .976 5.51 5.45
1962 CIN NL 30 2B 137 130 116 1150.2 703 334 352 17 66 .976 6 6 5.37 5.01 .974 5.30 5.25
1963 TOT MLB 31 2B 75 69 62 602.0 381 184 193 4 58 .990 1 2 5.64 5.03 .979 5.10 5.11
1963 CIN NL 31 2B 11 9 5 73.0 39 22 16 1 6 .974 -1 -21 4.68 3.45 .974 5.22 5.19
1963 CIN NL 31 3B 2 0 0 4.0 1 0 1 0 0 1.000 0 30 2.25 0.50 .940 2.92 2.90
1963 WSA AL 31 2B 64 60 57 529.0 342 162 177 3 52 .991 2 5 5.77 5.30 .980 5.08 5.09
1964 WSA AL 32 2B 135 118 107 1054.0 609 259 336 14 70 .977 2 2 5.08 4.41 .980 5.17 5.16
1965 WSA AL 33 2B 110 95 77 837.1 491 235 248 8 68 .984 3 4 5.19 4.39 .978 5.07 5.06
1966 TOT AL 34 2B 62 53 45 469.0 269 124 141 4 34 .985 1 3 5.09 4.27 .975 5.09 5.09
1966 WSA AL 34 2B 58 50 44 446.0 255 119 132 4 32 .984 1 2 5.07 4.33 .975 5.09 5.09
1966 WSA AL 34 SS 1 0 0 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 -0 -60 0.00 0.00 4.95 4.80
1966 KCA AL 34 2B 4 3 1 23.0 14 5 9 0 2 1.000 0 16 5.48 3.50 .975 5.09 5.10
12 Seasons 2B 1310 1235 1150 11005.0 6759 3065 3550 144 834 .979 29 3 5.41 5.05 .977 5.27 5.24
3 Seasons SS 52 51 45 437.0 250 95 141 14 32 .944 -0 -0 4.86 4.54 .962 4.94 4.89
2 Seasons 3B 4 0 0 10.0 5 0 5 0 0 1.000 0 36 4.50 1.25 .952 2.97 2.95
12 Seasons TOT 1366 1286 1195 11452.0 7014 3160 3696 158 866 .977 29 3 5.39 5.02 .976 5.26 5.22
Lg Pos G GS CG Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld% Rtot Rtot/yr RF/9 RF/G lgFld% lgRF9 lgRFG Awards
Note: Fielding stats are a combination of official records and RetroSheet records. Both are likely to have substantial errors and will not match perfectly.
View Complete Notes on Fielding Data
Leagues historically made no effort to balance team, league, and player fielding stats. Since 1990 or so, computers have made this feasible, but prior to that there are hundreds or thousands of discrepancies each year in games played (even whether a player played a position), putouts, assists, double plays and errors.
  • Pre-1948 SB & CS data for catchers is estimated from catcher assists, games started and opposition stolen bases.
  • From 1948 on SB, CS, Pickoff, & WP data for catchers and pitchers is taken from play-by-play accounts in the retrosheet files. There are several hundred games without pbp from 1948 to 1973 and for those we may not have any data.
  • CG & GS come from the retrosheet data and should be complete and pretty accurate from 1918 on.
  • Innings played (like SB and CS) come from the retrosheet play-by-play data and should be considered mostly complete from 1948 to 1973 and complete from then on.
  • Stats (PO,A,G, etc) for LF-CF-RF positions (since 1918) is taken from play-by-play or box score data as available.
  • Stats (PO,A,G,etc) for C,P,1B,2B,3B,SS,OF positions is taken from the official reported totals and may have been corrected at various times since their publication.
  • For detailed information on which games retrosheet is missing play-by-play from 1948 to 1973, please see their most wanted games list
  • For detailed information on the availability of data on this site by year, see our data coverage page

Sabermetric Fielding

Year Tm Lg Age Pos Rtot Rtot/yr Rtz Rtzhm Rtzrd Rdp Rof Rctch Rdrs Rdrs/yr Rpm Rdp Rbnt Rof Rhr RerC RsbC RsbP
1955 STL NL 23 2B
1955 STL NL 23 SS
1956 STL NL 24 2B 13 19 9 5 5 4
1956 STL NL 24 SS 0 0 1 3 -2 -1
1956 STL NL 24 3B 0 40 0 0 0 0
1957 STL NL 25 2B 19 16 15 14 1 4
1958 STL NL 26 2B -6 -6 -7 -3 -4 1
1959 STL NL 27 2B -5 -5 -7 -4 -3 2
1960 SFG NL 28 2B -3 -3 -0 0 -0 -3
1961 CIN NL 29 2B -2 -2 1 1 1 -3
1962 CIN NL 30 2B 6 6 8 8 -0 -2
1963 CIN NL 31 2B -1 -21 -2 -0 -2 1
1963 CIN NL 31 3B 0 30 0 0 0 0
1963 WSA AL 31 2B 2 5 1 -2 3 1
1964 WSA AL 32 2B 2 2 3 2 0 -1
1965 WSA AL 33 2B 3 4 2 1 1 1
1966 WSA AL 34 2B 1 2 1 1 -0 0
1966 WSA AL 34 SS -0 -60 -0 0 -0 0
1966 KCA AL 34 2B 0 16 0 0 0 0
12 Seasons 2B 29 3 24 23 1 5
3 Seasons SS -0 -0 1 3 -2 -1
2 Seasons 3B 0 36 0 0 0 0
12 Seasons TOT 29 3 25 26 -1 4
Lg Pos Rtot Rtot/yr Rtz Rtzhm Rtzrd Rdp Rof Rctch Rdrs Rdrs/yr Rpm Rdp Rbnt Rof Rhr RerC RsbC RsbP

Appearances

Year Tm Lg Age G GS Batting Defense P C 1B 2B 3B SS LF CF RF OF DH PH PR
1955 STL NL 23 5 5 5 5 0 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1956 STL NL 24 150 145 150 146 0 0 0 98 2 49 0 0 0 0 0 3 1
1957 STL NL 25 154 154 154 154 0 0 0 154 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1958 STL NL 26 143 133 143 137 0 0 0 137 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3
1959 STL NL 27 150 148 150 150 0 0 0 150 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
1960 SFG NL 28 136 126 136 133 0 0 0 133 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2
1961 CIN NL 29 123 110 123 116 0 0 0 116 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 2
1961 SFG NL 29 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
1962 CIN NL 30 141 130 141 137 0 0 0 137 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
1963 WSA AL 31 69 60 69 64 0 0 0 64 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0
1963 CIN NL 31 18 9 18 13 0 0 0 11 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2
1964 WSA AL 32 143 118 143 135 0 0 0 135 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 24 1
1965 WSA AL 33 129 95 129 110 0 0 0 110 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 4
1966 WSA AL 34 68 50 68 59 0 0 0 58 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 6
1966 KCA AL 34 12 3 12 4 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0
12 Seasons 1444 1286 1444 1363 0 0 0 1310 4 52 0 0 0 0 0 99 21
Appearances table is calculated solely from full RetroSheet play-by-play data available from 1973 on. A combination of RetroSheet (starting with the 1918 season) and non-RetroSheet data is used for other seasons.

Advanced Fielding -- 2B*

Putouts Assists Errors Double Plays
Year Tm Lg Age PA RHB% BIP% GBIP% Fld F2O% FC Tot Cgt Frc Tag Tot 1B 2B Hm Rly Tot Cch Fld Thr ROE Tot 643 543 463 43 GB GBs GBr LD LDs LDf
1955 STL NL 23 124 60% 78% 29% 15 93% 1 8 3 3 2 13 10 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
1956 STL NL 24 3665 63% 81% 27% 372 94% 0 278 105 124 49 299 251 39 0 2 8 1 7 0 3 90 26 23 21 7 80 28 50 9 5 4
1957 STL NL 25 6003 60% 81% 28% 627 93% 4 382 150 165 68 517 431 70 2 1 14 0 12 2 10 131 42 20 40 7 120 48 67 9 6 3
1958 STL NL 26 5156 59% 79% 26% 485 90% 1 312 124 143 46 378 304 62 0 6 26 2 22 2 18 98 31 18 33 1 86 35 51 12 6 6
1959 STL NL 27 5645 58% 78% 26% 540 92% 0 364 136 169 59 433 357 62 0 5 18 2 14 2 13 104 34 23 33 2 95 35 58 6 4 2
1960 SFG NL 28 4830 64% 79% 26% 424 95% 1 319 118 135 67 331 271 48 0 6 14 2 8 4 9 65 21 14 22 1 60 23 37 3 1 1
1961 CIN NL 29 4180 62% 80% 26% 412 92% 1 269 123 103 45 297 249 38 0 8 17 3 11 3 12 55 19 7 15 1 48 16 27 5 3 2
1962 CIN NL 30 4861 64% 78% 26% 484 94% 1 334 157 122 56 353 301 41 0 4 17 1 14 2 9 66 24 15 17 0 60 17 40 4 4 0
1963 WSA AL 31 2287 63% 84% 29% 227 93% 0 167 60 79 28 187 154 26 0 1 3 0 3 0 2 53 23 7 11 2 44 13 30 8 4 3
1963 CIN NL 31 314 63% 86% 25% 29 93% 0 23 11 6 6 17 12 5 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 6 1 0 5 0 6 5 1 0 0 0
1964 WSA AL 32 4519 63% 81% 27% 432 91% 1 261 106 115 40 332 270 49 1 7 14 1 10 3 10 71 21 11 26 1 61 28 33 9 3 5
1965 WSA AL 33 3588 67% 79% 25% 321 91% 0 238 89 88 61 245 202 37 0 3 8 0 7 1 7 68 22 12 19 3 61 22 36 5 2 3
1966 WSA AL 34 1870 68% 80% 26% 153 93% 0 116 39 60 17 129 105 18 0 1 4 0 3 1 3 32 13 5 7 0 28 8 20 4 3 1
1966 KCA AL 34 108 52% 80% 25% 9 89% 0 6 0 2 4 9 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1
12 Seasons 47150 62% 80% 27% 4530 93% 10 3077 1221 1314 548 3540 2925 497 3 44 145 12 112 21 97 842 277 156 249 25 751 278 451 75 41 31
MLB Averages 63% 80% 27% 93%

Advanced Fielding -- SS*

Putouts Assists Errors Double Plays
Year Tm Lg Age PA RHB% BIP% GBIP% Fld F2O% FC Tot Cgt Frc Tag Tot 1B 2B Hm Rly Tot Cch Fld Thr ROE Tot 643 63 463 163 363 GB GBs GBr LD LDs LDf
1955 STL NL 23 37 46% 89% 32% 3 67% 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1956 STL NL 24 1756 64% 81% 28% 185 88% 1 90 47 30 13 134 97 30 1 6 14 1 13 0 8 31 11 2 8 3 1 27 13 12 4 3 1
1966 WSA AL 34 6 50% 83% 33% 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Seasons 1799 64% 82% 28% 188 87% 1 90 47 30 13 136 99 30 1 6 15 1 13 1 9 31 11 2 8 3 1 27 13 12 4 3 1
MLB Averages 63% 80% 27% 91%

Advanced Fielding -- 3B*

Putouts Assists Errors Double Plays
Year Tm Lg Age PA RHB% BIP% GBIP% Fld F2O% FC Tot Cgt Frc Tag Tot 1B 2B Hm Rly Tot Cch Fld Thr ROE Tot 543 53 GB LD LDs LDf bFld bF2O%
1956 STL NL 24 27 78% 89% 33% 3 100% 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1963 CIN NL 31 20 55% 85% 30% 1 100% 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 Seasons 47 68% 87% 32% 4 100% 0 0 0 0 0 4 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
MLB Averages 63% 80% 27% 89% 62%

* Many Detailed Statistics are based on play-by-play accounts accumulated by RetroSheet. These totals may be incomplete (3.6% of all plays from 1918 to 1973 are missing or have incomplete accounts, click link for year and team summary) for some players prior to 1974 and even complete seasons may not match the official totals due to errors in both the official totals and the play-by-play accounts. Pre-1954 seasons have a substantial numbers of games missing play-by-play accounts and should be viewed as essentially incomplete.

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Stats are Year-Value-Rank · Glossary

All-Star Games
1958 *

MVP (yr lg (rk, shr))
1957 NL (12, 8%)
0.08 Career Shares (972nd)

Assists† s c a p y
1956 NL  442 (3rd)
1957 NL  512 (1st)
1959 NL  439 (4th)

Errors Committed† s c a p y
1958 NL  26 (5th)

Total Zone Runs† s c a p y
1957 NL  19 (3rd)

Def. Games as 2B s c a p y
1957 NL  154 (1st)
1958 NL  137 (3rd)
1959 NL  150 (4th)
1960 NL  133 (4th)
1961 NL  116 (3rd)
1964 AL  135 (5th)
Career  1,310 (59th)

Putouts as 2B s c a p y
1956 NL  280 (5th)
1957 NL  372 (4th)
1958 NL  312 (4th)
1959 NL  362 (2nd)
1960 NL  318 (3rd)
1961 NL  277 (4th)
Career  3,065 (57th)

Assists as 2B s c a p y
1957 NL  512 (1st)
1958 NL  380 (2nd)
1959 NL  439 (2nd)
1960 NL  329 (4th)
1961 NL  304 (5th)
Career  3,550 (71st)

Errors Committed as 2B s c a p y
1957 NL  14 (4th)
1958 NL  26 (1st)
1959 NL  17 (4th)
1960 NL  14 (3rd)
1961 NL  17 (3rd)
1962 NL  17 (5th)
1964 AL  14 (5th)

Total Zone Runs as 2B s c a p y
1956 NL  13 (2nd)
1957 NL  19 (1st)
1962 NL  6 (3rd)
Career  29 (46th)

Range Factor/9Inn as 2B† s c a p y
1956 NL  6.10 (1st)
1957 NL  5.64 (1st)
1959 NL  5.59 (1st)
1962 NL  5.37 (3rd)
1965 AL  5.19 (4th)

Range Factor/Game as 2B s c a p y
1956 NL  5.95 (1st)
1957 NL  5.74 (1st)
1958 NL  5.05 (5th)
1959 NL  5.34 (2nd)
1960 NL  4.86 (4th)

Fielding % as 2B s c a p y
1956 NL  .986 (2nd)
1957 NL  .984 (3rd)
1959 NL  .979 (4th)
1960 NL  .979 (2nd)
1965 AL  .984 (3rd)

                                         

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Name and misspellings: Don Blazer dave Don donald Lee Blasingame

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The play-by-play information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet.