{{Short description|American baseball player (1915–1993)}} {{distinguish|Bob Meyer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography |name=Bob Maier |image=Bob Maier 1945.jpg |position=Third Baseman |bats=Right |throws=Right |birth_date={{birth date |1915|9|5}} |birth_place=Dunellen, New Jersey |death_date={{death date and age |1993|8|4|1915|9|15}} |death_place=South Plainfield, New Jersey |debutleague = MLB |debutdate=April 17 |debutyear=1945 |debutteam=Detroit Tigers |finalleague = MLB |finaldate=September 20 |finalyear=1945 |finalteam=Detroit Tigers |statleague = MLB |stat1label=Batting average |stat1value=.263 |stat2label=Home runs |stat2value=1 |stat3label=Runs batted in |stat3value=34 |stat4label=Stolen bases |stat4value=7 |teams= * Detroit Tigers ({{mlby|1945}}) | highlights = *World Series champion ({{wsy|1945}}) }} '''Robert Phillip Maier''' (September 5, 1915 – August 4, 1993) was an American professional baseball player from 1937 to 1945. He played one season in Major League Baseball as a third baseman for the Detroit Tigers during their 1945 World Series championship season.
Maier was born in Dunellen, New Jersey, in 1915. He played minor league baseball from 1937 to 1944, including four years with the Salisbury Cardinals in the Eastern Shore League (1938–1941), two years with the Hagerstown Owls in the Interstate League (1942–1943), and one year with the Buffalo Bisons of the International League.<ref name=Minor>{{cite web|title=Bob Maier Minor League Statistics|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|work=Baseball-Reference.com|accessdate=May 26, 2014|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=maier-001rob}}</ref> In 1943, he set an Interstate League single season record with 52 doubles. The 52 doubles were also a high for all of professional baseball in 1943.<ref>{{cite web|title=1943 Minor League Batting Leaders|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/leader.cgi?type=bat&year=1943|accessdate=11 May 2014|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|work=Baseball-reference.com}}</ref>
Maier played only one season in the big leagues, but he spent that season on a championship team. Maier played in 132 games for the 1945 Detroit Tigers, batting .263 in 486 at bats with 58 runs, 34 RBIs, 25 doubles, 7 triples, and 7 stolen bases.<ref name=BR>{{cite web|title=Bob Maier Statistics and History|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|work=Baseball-Reference.com|accessdate=May 26, 2014|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/maierbo01.shtml}}</ref> He was one of three Tigers with ten at bats in a 24-inning, 1–1 tie with the Philadelphia Athletics that season.<ref>{{cite web|title=July 24, 1945 Detroit Tigers at Philadelphia Athletics Box Score and Play by Play|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHA/PHA194507210.shtml|accessdate=11 May 2014|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|work=Baseball-reference.com}}</ref> The game remains as the longest in Detroit Tigers history.<ref>{{cite web|title=Game Length Records|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_gmlg.shtml|accessdate=11 May 2014|newspaper=Baseball Almanac}}</ref>
Though he was the starting third baseman during the regular season, the starting job went to Jimmy Outlaw in the 1945 World Series, as Outlaw moved from the outfield to third base to make room for Hank Greenberg who had returned from military service late in the season. Maier appeared in Game 6 of the World Series as a pinch hitter for catcher Paul Richards.<ref>{{cite web|title=October 8, 1945 World Series Game 6, Tigers at Cubs|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN194510080.shtml|accessdate=10 May 2014|newspaper=Baseball-reference.com}}</ref> His one at bat in the World Series proved to be his last in professional baseball, and he hit a single off Chicago Cubs pitcher Claude Passeau for a lifetime batting average of 1.000 in the postseason. Maier was replaced as the Tigers starting third baseman in 1946 by future Hall of Famer George Kell.<ref>{{cite web|title=1946 Detroit Tigers|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/DET/1946.shtml}}</ref> Maier died in 1993 in South Plainfield, New Jersey.<ref name=BR/>
==Further reading==
*Smith, Burge Carmon. ''The 1945 Detroit Tigers: Nine Old Men and One Young Left Arm Win It All''. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2010. Format: Paperback, 303 pp. {{ISBN|978-0-786441-96-9}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{1945 Detroit Tigers}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maier, Bob}} Category:1915 births Category:1993 deaths Category:Hagerstown Owls players Category:Minor league baseball managers Category:Detroit Tigers players Category:Major League Baseball third basemen Category:Baseball coaches from New Jersey Category:People from Dunellen, New Jersey Category:Baseball players from Middlesex County, New Jersey Category:20th-century American sportsmen