Happy 82nd Birthday, Forrest Jacobs

[philliesfiend55]

Former Philadelphia and Kansas City Athletic, Forrest Jacobs turns 82 tomorrow. (Birthdate: 11/4/1925). He made his major leagues debut with the final Athletics team in Philadelphia in 1954. He had 508 at bats that year for a .258 batting average, while playing second baseman, his only year as a regular in the majors. He played for the A's after their move to KC in '55. Unfortunately, the next season, 1956 (with the Pittsburgh Pirates), would prove to be his final major league season.
A website for Delaware claims that Jacobs is now the oldest living major leaguer who was born in Delaware.
Military service at the end of World War Two delayed the start of his professional baseball career until 1946, when he was almost 21. Playing for a Brooklyn Dodgers' farm team that year Jacobs began a slow, eight -year ascent through the minors, that culminated with his three years in the big leagues in the mid-1950's.

[GIANT]

Jacobs had a great nickname "Spook."

[penncentralpete]

Jacobs had a great nickname "Spook."

Forrest "Spook" Jacobs:

[penncentralpete]

Forrest Jacobs:

[AutographCollector]

How he looks now with his wife:

[Bill_McCurdy]

I took this picture of Spook Jacobs back around 2000-2001. He had come to the annual St. Louis Browns alumni & fans banquet in St. Louis in the company of Ronnie Joyner and Bill Bozman, the artists who have done a lot of work for several of the old original franchise clubs. My memories of Spook go back to watching him play 2nd base for Max Macon's 1953 Fort Worth Cats in the Texas League. Spook hit .282 with 40 RBI in the leadoff spot for the Cats that year. Never known for his bat-pop, Spook had 0 HRs for Fort Worth in 1953, but he was a pest on the bases and a scrappy fielder.