Daniel John Dobbek is a retired American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 professional baseball

Professional baseball

Baseball is a team sport which is played by several professional leagues throughout the world. In these leagues, and associated farm teams, players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system....

 player. An outfielder

Outfielder

Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...

, he played one full season and parts of two others for the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins

Minnesota Twins

The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...

 franchise of Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

; his only full MLB campaign, 1960

1960 Washington Senators season

The Washington Senators won 73 games, lost 81, and finished in fifth place in the American League. They were managed by Cookie Lavagetto and played home games at Griffith Stadium. This was their final season in Washington, as they moved to Minnesota and became the Twins in , which they have been...

, was as a member of the last "original" Washington Senators team that moved to the Twin Cities

Twin cities

Twin cities are a special case of two cities or urban centres which are founded in close geographic proximity and then grow into each other over time...

 for 1961. Dobbek appeared in 110 games for that team, including 58 in center field, batting

Batting average

Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...

 .218 in 288 at bats with 10 home runs and 30 runs batted in.

Dan Dobbek attended Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University is a public university located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1903 by Dwight B. Waldo, and as of the Fall 2010 semester, its enrollment is 25,045....

 and signed with Washington in 1955. He threw right-handed, batted left-handed, and was listed at 6 feet (1.8 m) and 195 pounds (88.5 kg). His first professional season, with the 1956 Hobbs Sports of the Class B Southwestern League

Southwestern League

The Southwestern League was the name of three former minor league baseball leagues that operated in the Southwestern United States. The first league, also known as the Oklahoma State League, was in operation for the 1904 season. The second league operated from 1921 to 1926...

, was his finest: he batted .340 with 23 home runs in 129 games. He missed the 1957–1958 seasons due to military service.

He was recalled from the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts

Chattanooga Lookouts

The Chattanooga Lookouts are a minor league baseball team based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. They are named for nearby Lookout Mountain. The team, which plays in the Southern League, has been a Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers major-league club since the 2009 season. The Lookouts...

 — after hitting 23 home runs in the Southern Association

Southern Association

The Southern Association was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A , Class A1 and Class AA...

 — in September 1959. But while Dobbek showed some power during his MLB service, he batted only .208 in 198 games and 433 at bats, including a lowly .168 for the Twins' in their 1961 debut season

1961 Minnesota Twins season

The Minnesota Twins season was a season in American baseball. The team finished with a record of 70-90, seventh in the American League, which had expanded from 8 to 10 teams during the 1960-61 offseason. It was the franchise's first season in Minnesota after 60 seasons in Washington, D.C....

 in Minnesota. He spent part of that season with the Twins' Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs affiliate, then was traded in a waiver deal to the Cincinnati Reds

Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....

 for catcher

Catcher

Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...

 Jerry Zimmerman

Jerry Zimmerman

Gerald Robert Zimmerman was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds and the Minnesota Twins from 1961 to 1968...

in January 1962. He spent the remainder of his playing career in the minors, retiring after the 1963 season.

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