Bobby Knoop
Robert Frank Knoop is an American former Major League Baseball second baseman and coach. In his nine-year MLB career, he appeared in 1,153 games as a member of the Los Angeles / California Angels, Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals. He threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed.
Early life
Knoop was born on October 18, 1938, in Sioux City, Iowa to parents Frank and Mabel Knoop. His father was a German immigrant while his mother was a descendant of Swiss and Norwegian immigrants. Frank lived to be 101. The family moved to Montebello, California when he was young, and he attended Montebello High School, where he starred in baseball, football and basketball. He also played American Legion baseball.Baseball career
Knoop was signed by the Milwaukee Braves in 1956.Minor league player
He played for ten different minor league teams between 1956 and 1963, his best year being in 1963 with the Hawaii Islanders of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, where he had a.283 batting average, with 20 homeruns, 72 runs scored, 67 RBIs, and a.965 fielding percentage.Major league player
Nicknamed "Nureyev" by sportswriters for his exciting and acrobatic fielding plays, Knoop played a deep second base, with exceptional range and a strong arm. In another version, Knoop says the nickname derived from not only his acrobatic skills at second base, but a fabricated story he told the writers that his mother had made him take ballet lessons.In December 1963, the Los Angeles Angels obtained him via the Rule 5 draft, by the rules of which he was required to remain on the 1964 major-league roster. The Angels were already familiar with Knoop because the Islanders were their Triple-A affiliate, not Milwaukee's. The Angels were particularly impressed with his defensive ability, manager Bill Rigney considering Knoop as good defensively as any second baseman in the American League, including Yankee second baseman Bobby Richardson.
Knoop played in every game in 1964, and remained the Angels' regular second baseman for the next five and a half years, winning the club's MVP award four times in the span, a mark tied by Garret Anderson and Mike Trout. In 1966, he led all AL second basemen in fielding percentage, with Richardson second.
He turned the double play well along with shortstop Jim Fregosi, to give the Angels outstanding keystone defense. Fregosi was his roommate and closest friend in baseball, as well as a teammate. In, the pair both won the Gold Glove award at their respective positions—the second of three Gold Gloves Knoop would capture from 1966 to 1968. He was the American League's starting second baseman in the 1966 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, and went hitless in two at bats. As a hitter, he had his best season during, with career-highs of 17 home runs, 72 RBIs, 54 runs and 11 triples.
Knoop was sent to the White Sox in mid-1969 for Sandy Alomar Sr. and Bob Priddy and then was traded to the Royals in 1971, where he also rejoined former Angels third baseman Paul Schaal. Knoop played his final two years with Kansas City, mostly as a backup for Cookie Rojas.
In his career, Knoop batted.236, with 56 home runs, 331 RBIs, 337 runs, 856 hits, 129 doubles, 29 triples, and 16 stolen bases in 1153 games. In addition to leading all AL second baseman in fielding percentage in 1966, he was fifth in 1964, second in 1967, fourth in 1968 and 1969, and third in 1970. He is tied for the record of most double plays in a game by a second basemen, six, held with Alfonso Soriano and Bill Doran, which Knoop did on May 1, 1966. He is also tied for the record of most putouts in a game by a second baseman, twelve, being the most recent person to accomplish this on August 30, 1966.