Rudy York

Preston Rudolph York (August 17, 1913 — February 5, 1970) was a Major League Baseball first baseman who played for the Detroit Tigers (1934, 1937–45), Boston Red Sox (1946–47), Chicago White Sox (1947) and Philadelphia Athletics (1948). York was born in Ragland, Alabama. He batted and threw right-handed.

With one-eighth Cherokee ancestry and less-than-perfect fielding abilities, York prompted one sportswriter to declare: "He is part Indian and part first baseman".

Early life

York's family moved from Ragland, Alabama, to Aragon, Georgia, when Rudy was a small boy. Rudy's mother moved the family to the Cartersville, Georgia, area sometime in the late 1920s. They lived in the American Textile Company (ATCO) mill town on the outskirts of Cartersville, where Rudy began working in his early teens.

Baseball career

Amateur career

In his mid-teens, Rudy was playing baseball with older men on the ATCO mill team and receiving local attention for his prowess at the plate. Rudy would become the team's star player from 1930 to 1933.

Professional career

Minor leagues

York received a tryout and was signed by the Knoxville club of the Southern League in April 1933 but was released after appearing in just three games. Rudy returned to the Atco community and briefly resumed play with the mill team. He spent most of June of that year playing for a semi-pro team in Albany, Georgia, before returning to Atco for another brief stint with the mill team. In early July,...
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