Batting average .232 Games played 114 Runs scored 25 Name Johnny Schaive | Home runs 7 Role Baseball player Runs batted in 32 | |
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Died May 11, 2009, Springfield, Illinois, United States | ||
John Edward Schaive (February 25, 1934 – May 11, 2009) was a backup second and third baseman who played in Major League Baseball between the 1958 and 1963 seasons. Listed at 5' 8", 175 lb., Schaive batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Springfield, Illinois.
Schaive spent 14 years in baseball as a player, manager, coach and scout. He signed with the Chicago White Sox in 1952 and started his career in their minor league system. In 1955, he led a Class-D league in four offensive categories. The next season, he attended spring training with the Sox big league camp, but he had to spend two seasons in military service.
When Schaive got back to baseball, he contended he was not the player he once had been and was released by Chicago. Nevertheless, he spent five seasons in the American League, playing from 1958 through 1960 with the original Washington Senators and for the expansion franchise Washington Senators in 1962 and 1963.
In a five-season career, Schaive was a .232 hitter (75-for-323) with seven home runs and 32 RBI in 114 games, including 25 runs, 18 doubles, and one triple without stolen bases.
Following his majors career, Schaive played and managed for the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern Association (1956, 1958–1959) and the York White Roses of the Eastern League (1963).
A .291 hitter in more than 1,100 minor league games, Schaive hit .293 on the Class AA level and .282 in five Triple-A seasons. Schaive even did some pitching. He was 2-3 in 13 appearances as a 20-year-old for the Decatur Commodores of the Mississippi–Ohio Valley League in 1954. Then in 1963 with the aforementioned York, he was 2-1 in eight appearances.
Eventually injuries caught up with Schaive, who ended his career in 1966 as a player-manager for the Sultanes de Monterrey of the Mexican League.
When his playing days were over, Schaive came back to Springfield, where he helped raise his family. He coached the Springfield Caps of the Central Illinois Collegiate League in the 1970s and became the head coach when Sangamon State University fielded a baseball team. Although he never officially worked as a scout for any professional organization, Schaive served as an area scout for his many friends in baseball. He also was one of the founding fathers of the Springfield Sports Hall of Fame and a charter member in 1991.
Scheive died in his hometown of Springfield at the age of 75.