Today’s Dodger of the Day is outfielder and third baseman Joe Schultz Sr.

Schultz was born July 24, 1893 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and spent nearly 30 years involved in professional baseball; 18 as player, seven as a manager and three as a farm director. Schultz is most closely associated with the St. Louis Cardinals, although he played for seven of the eight National League teams that existed at the time. The New York Giants were the odd team out.

His sole season with the then Brooklyn Robins came in 1915. The 21-year-old Schultz debuted for the Robins with a 2-for-4 game April 14, 1915 at the Giants. He also had one RBI in the 16-3 loss. He would remain the regular 3rd baseman until May 20, slashing .295 /.356 /.358 over that span. After that, he transitioned into a pinch hitter role, seeing regular pinch-hit appearances until August 27. That date would see his last game in a Robins uniform, an 0-for-1 day in an 11-7 loss against the St. Louis Cardinals.

He was traded with $3000 to the Chicago Cubs at the end of the month for pitcher Larry Cheney. His time with the Cubs was rather uneventful, batting .250 with two hits over eight at-bats.

Schultz’s first professional contract came in 1911 from an independent team in Altoona, Pennsylvania. His major league debut came the next year: an 0-for-2 appearance for the Boston Braves September 27. Schultz functioned as a second baseman for the Braves the rest of 1912 and parts of 1913. He saw 13 games worth of action over those two years. He notched only eight total bases.

He spent most of 1913 with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League. His .299 BA over 489 plate appearances was good enough to earn a September call up back to the Braves. Schultz returned to the Braves September 18 for a doubleheader against the Cubs in Chicago. He went a combined 1-for-8 in those two games. His final appearance was a 1-for2 game with one RBI October 3.

In 1914, Schultz spent the season with the Rochester Hustlers of the International League. He played with several future or former major leaguers, including Wally Pipp. Schultz exceled with the Hustlers; 1914 saw career highs in hits, triples and plate appearances.

The Cubs sold Schultz to the Pirates in 1916. He went 1-for-1 in hios Pirates debut April 12 and spent the next four months alternating between 2nd base, 3rd base, right field, left field and pinch hitter. The Pirates sent him to the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League in mid-August. This makes him the first Dodger of the Day to actually play in Los Angeles.

He spent the rest of 1916 with the Angels, hitting .281 with a .326 slugging percentage. He returned to both Toronto and Los Angeles in the 1918 season, batting .298 with 171 hits. The next year, he went to the Kansas City Blues of the American Association. He batted .306 in 62 games, good enough to impress somebody in the St. Louis Cardinals.

Schultz’s son Joe Jr. was born during Sr.’s time with Kansas City. Jr. would become a player and manager in his own right.

In 1919, he returned to the majors with the Cardinals and he would stay in their system for the next five years and change. Schultz played under future Dodger general manager Branch Rickey (who I will absolutely get to when I do Jackie Robinson) during his time in St. Louis. Although the Cardinals never finished 3rd in the National League during Schultz’s tenure, Schultz himself did quite well; he never batted below .250 and his .816 in 1921 was a career high.

That 1921 team was also the closest he would ever get to a World Series, finished seven games back of the pennant-winning New York Giants. The Giants would win the World Series in eight games over the New York Yankees.

He was sold to the Phillies June 6, 1924 and spent about a year with the team. Over the course of 1924, he hit six home runs with the Phillies and slashed .282/.329/.394. He played in 57 games in 1925 for both the Phillies and Cincinnati Reds, slashing .333/.368/.421.

The Reds would be the last major league team he played for. Schultz’s last major league hit came in his last appearance October 4, 1925. He was 31.

Schultz spent the rest of his playing career in the St. Louis minor league system. He spent 1926 with the Mobile Bears of the Southern Association before becoming the player-manager for several minor leagues.

And man, would he tear the minor leagues a new one. His lowest batting average the last four years of his career was .272 and he hit .358 with the 1927 Topeka Jayhawks. Along with that career high in batting average, he would set career highs in home runs (seven) and slugging percentage (.510) in his lone season in Topeka. He spent the last two years of his playing career as the player manager of the Danville Veterans in Danville, Illinois.

After that, he became solely a manager, managing the Houston Buffaloes for three seasons. Schultz was rather successful as a manager; he only finished outside the top 3 in his leagues once and managed the 1931 Houston Buffaloes to a Texas League championship.

The 1931 team had two future Cardinal greats and Hall of Famers: Joe Medwick and Dizzy Dean. It was also #42 on MiLB’s Top 100 Best Minor League Baseball Teams and the highest-ranked Cardinals affiliate on the list. The 1934 edition of Schultz’s former club, the Los Angeles Angels, placed #1. Joe Jr. was the Buffaloes’ batboy in 1932 and appeared as a pinch hitter for the Buffaloes.

After managing the 1933 Springfield Cardinals to a 73-50 record, he left the diamond for the final time. In 1939, he became the farm director for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Joe Jr. began playing for the Pirates as a catcher the same year. On a 1941 scouting trip to a Pirates farm team in Moultrie, Georgia, Schultz died of hepatitis at the age of 47.