Bob Scherbarth

Robert Elmer Scherbarth

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 180 lb.
• High School West Division High School (Milwaukee)
• Debut April 23, 1950
• Final Game April 23, 1950
• Born January 18, 1926 in Milwaukee, WI USA
• Died January 31, 2009 in Presque Isle, WI USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Bob Scherbarth played one game in the majors.

He served in the military during World War II and was fresh out of the United States Navy when he signed as an amateur free agent with the Boston Red Sox before the 1946 season. The 20-year-old catcher was assigned to the Roanoke Red Sox of the class B Piedmont League for his first season in pro baseball, and he managed a .225 batting average with 4 home runs. Bob spent his second year with the same club and upped his average to .265 and hit 15 homers.

1948 saw Scherbarth hit for the highest average of his pro baseball career when he hammered a .350 average with 10 round-trippers in a split season between the El Paso Texans of the Arizona-Texas League and the San Jose Red Sox of the California League. He had another solid season in 1949 with the Louisville Colonels of the American Association, hitting .289 in 83 games behind the plate. Scherbarth went to Spring Training with the Red Sox in 1950.

You would really be a Red Sox fanatic if you could name all four catchers who saw playing time for the team during the 1950 season before Sammy White took over for most of the rest of the decade. The four were Birdie Tebbetts, Matt Batts, Buddy Rosar and Scherbarth. It's also understandable that you might not remember that last name since the native of Milwaukee made his only appearance in a big league game on April 23rd of that year and never made it to the plate before being sent down to Louisville. Scherbarth recalls being in the on-deck circle when there was a pitching change and he was lifted for pinch-hitter Merrill Combs.

Bob went back to Louisville, finishing out 1950 with the Colonels, hitting just .244 in 80 games. He was with the same club again in 1951, fell to .231 with the bat in 84 games. The Milwaukee native wound up his baseball career in 1952 with the Albany Senators of the Eastern League and the Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association where he did hit .270 in 80 games. He developed arm trouble, though, and this was his last season in pro baseball, ending his seven-year run with a .275 average and 36 home runs while appearing in 615 games. He also later was a scout for the New York Mets.

After leaving baseball, Bob returned to his native Milwaukee and entered the printing business, which he operated for over thirty years. He retired to Presque Isle, WI, where he died on January 31, 2009, at the age of 83.

Sources

• Baseball Players of the 1950s
  
• Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball
  

Related Sites

• Bob Scherbarth at the SABR Bio Project
• BR Minors page
• Bob Scherbarth Obituary - Villas County News Review
• Bob Scherbarth, 83, Former Boston Red Sox Catcher