I was looking up some stuff and decided to investigate a Columbus resident from long ago,. Bob Poser.
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Bob Poser was a Columbus Wisconsin native, Born March 16th 1910. He played 26 games for the Minneapolis Millers and the Toronto (ILL) Maple Leaf in 1932 and was called up to THE SHOW to play for the Chicago White Sox. His debut was on April 17th 1932, which is odd since he already had played 22 games in the minors. He pinch hit for Milt Gaston on that day and struck out. The Soxs lost the game 6-1 thus ending his playing time in the majors for 1932. He did not play any more in 1932 (injured?). Bob earned a salary of $3000 that year which in today's money is $49,822. Not bad for one at bat.
In 1933 he played 12 games for the Des Moines Demons hitting a robust .464 with 4 doubles in 28 at bats. In 1934 he had 190 ABs and hit .289 with 10 doubles and a triple.
Then in 1935 back up in the Majors playing for the St. Louis Browns he came into On August 13 in the top of the 7th as a clean up pitcher as his team was losing 10-1 to the Philadelphia Athletics. Poser did pretty well for 2 innings but the wheels fell off in the 9th and he gave up 6 hits and 4 runs.
One week later he was going to start against the Boston Red Sox who was led by Joe Cronin. In this game Bob was going up against future Hall of Famer, Lefty Grove.
Lefty pitched well as he always did (he was 16-8 that year).
Bob did not fair as well giving up 4 runs in two innings and giving way to Fay Thomas in the 3rd inning. The Browns lost 7-3.
However Bob would not have to wait long. Since he only pitched 2 innings the very next day he was called upon to pitch again against the New York Yankees with Earl Combs and Lou Gehrig.
He entered the game in the top of the 6th when the Browns were already losing 6-1 with two runners on base.
By the time Poser left the game 2 2/3 innings later the score was now 12-1.
Six days later our hero Bob Poser would have his best and last outing in the Majors. The one he would always remember.
It was the first game of a double header against the Washington Senators. The manager of the Browns, Roger Hornsby had Dick Hoffman going but ol' Dicky only lasted 1 inning giving up 3 runs to his first 7 batters. In comes Bob Poser for the game of his career.
The Browns were winning 4-2 as Poser takes the mound. In his six innings he gave up eight hits, walked three and gave up three runs but when he left the game the Browns were inning 10-6 and Bob Poser was credited with the victory.
That was the last game Bob would play in professional ball. He made $1,650 that last year which is about $27,000.
I believe he joined the Army soon after after that year. (correct me if I am wrong).
In 1938 he wrote a book called" Sulfanilamid and Its Effect on Ent Injections" which makes absolutely no sense to me (if you can read Germain look it up) and in 1946 he wrote another book called "Case Histories for American College of Surgeons"
Bob passed away on May 21, 2002 and has been playing pick up games in the
Hillside Cemetery.
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Happy Easter everyone!
Rod
