The late 1950s were years in which several great outfielders roamed the center field grass. There was always a debate, especially in New York, as to who was the greatest - Willie, Mickey or the Duke. Outside New York, many considered Richie Ashburn to be as good as any of them defensively, and occasionally the name of Jimmy Piersall or Bill Virdon was mentioned. Speaking strictly from the standpoint of defensive statistics, a case might be made for any of them. Here is how they lined up (excluding Duke Snider, whose better years came earlier), with composite stats from the 1955-1960 period, prorated to 154 games.
G PO A E TC DP Pct.
Ashburn 154 440 11 9 459 3 .9808
Mays 154 412 15 8 435 4 .9813
Piersall 154 415 9 4 428 1 .9897
Virdon 154 408 13 7 428 2 .9827
Mantle 154 369 8 5 382 2 .9880
There was another great center fielder in that era, perhaps little known but equally superb defensively. Like each of the others, he was a regular, playing over 800 games in those six years, all with a single team. His stats were actually better than the best of the players listed above in virtually every category. His name was Al Heist.
Heist 154 441 16 3 460 3 .9930
If you don't remember the name, you weren't following the Pacific Coast League in the late 1950s. He played for the Sacramento Solons. But it's hard for pure glove men to get to the majors. If he'd been able to hit a little better, Al would have made the majors long before he finally did, at the age of 32. As it was, his time in the show was brief, consisting of one full year and part of another with the Chicago Cubs and a short stint with the Houston Colt .45s.
Alfred Michael Heist was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. on October 5, 1927. He somehow made it out to the West Coast to begin his baseball career with Redding, CA of the Class D Far West league in 1949. After playing for a while (and not especially well) at third base, he moved to the outfield, where he would distinguish himself with his glove work for the next 15 years. The .326 batting average he registered with Redding would turn out to be a career high. In 1950, Heist moved up a notch to Stockton of the Class C California League and played there for two years. He sat out the 1952 season, then caught on for 1953 and 1954 with Lewiston in the Class A Western InterNational League, being chosen to the league All-Star team in the latter year.
It was at Lewiston that Al had his best years with the bat. The W.I.L. was a league filled with veteran West Coast players, many of whom had spent several years in the PCL. It was also a hitter's league, so the .287 and .299 averages that Heist posted there were not really outstanding. However, he did lead the league in runs scored and walks in 1954 and finished among the leaders in on base percentage, stolen bases and triples. In center field, there was nobody like him in the league in 1954 or at any level of the minors. His range was such that he recorded an amazing 468 putouts in 138 games, or 3.39 per game. (For reference purposes, that figure had been exceeded only three times in the majors, with 3.55 being the all-time record.) In addition, Heist had 17 assists, not quite enough to lead the league but well ahead of any other center fielder, and made only 5 errors, for a .990 fielding percentage.
This was, of course, the minor leagues, and we are taught to take minor league statistics with a grain or two of salt. However, fielding statistics are not subject to the same illusions as batting statistics. Generally speaking, the caliber of defense is much worse in the minors than the majors, as less favorable field and playing conditions enter into the picture. When a player posts the sort of defensive numbers that would stand out even in the major leagues, he is worthy of notice.
The Western International League folded after the 1954 season, and a few of its better players found their way to the Pacific Coast League. The PCL in those years represented the highest level of the minors, actually carrying an "open" classification in 1952-1957 rather than AAA. It had franchises in all the major West Coast cities (San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle) in the days before the majors moved west, and the baseball played there was perhaps just short of major league caliber. In 1955, then 27 years old, Al Heist came to the Sacramento Solons of the PCL and began a run of six years during which there may have been nobody better anywhere - majors or minors -- at the center field position.
Heist led PCL outfielders in his first year there (1955) with a .993 percentage, just 3 errors in 405 chances, and his range factor of 3.05 was also best in the league. In 1956, he wasn't quite at the top in fielding percentage at .990 but again led the league in range factor with a 3.11 mark. His 1957 stats were even more remarkable: a fielding percentage of .996, a 2.98 range factor (best in the PCL), 20 assists and just 2 errors in 166 games.
In 1958, Al Heist went through the entire season without an error (396 chances) and once again had the best range factor among PCL outfielders. That year, for the first time, The Sporting News named a minor league all-star fielding team and Al was on it. The honor was based strictly on official fielding averages, and he had the only flawless record in the minors. He missed that Silver Glove team the following year, but stood out nonetheless. Heist had a career best 25 assists in 1959, started a league best 8 double plays from his CF spot, made only 4 errors in 134 games, and once again led the league in range factor.
From 1955 through 1959, Heist was undoubtedly a great center fielder, but never had a nibble from major league clubs. He was just a great three-tool player, who could run, throw and catch the ball but could not hit for either average or power as the level at which he played got better. Overall, Al averaged .264 in his PCL years, and had a very modest 7 home runs and 7
stolen bases (per 154 games). In 1960, though, he was having his best season offensively, hitting .299 with 13 HR through 89 games, when he finally got his major league opportunity with the Cubs. The Solons had been walking a thin line financially for several years (and in fact would fold after the 1960 season). They sold his contract to Chicago and Al made his major league debut on July 17, 1960.
The Cubs in those days were at the bottom of the National League. Ernie Banks provided what little star power they had, and the rest of the roster was in a constant state of flux. Center field belonged to Richie Ashburn, acquired from Philadelphia the previous January. It is doubtful that Chicago had any idea of turning the job over to Al Heist. The veteran Ashburn could still cover ground and batted .291 that year. Moreover, Heist was only seven months younger than Richie. In any event, Al got a few starts late in the year and wound up playing in 41 games. He was about the same hitter he had been in the PCL, finishing with a .278 average that included a few doubles and triples, and he was his usual self in the outfield - just one error in 68 chances.
In 1961, Chicago began to show some improvement. Billy Williams, a rookie called up near the end of 1960, won the full-time left field job. The right fielder was George Altman, who enjoyed a career year. And, with Ashburn nearing the end of the line, Al Heist took over most of the playing time in center. In 109 games, Heist batted .255 and hit seven home runs. He also did a respectable job in the field, but there was no future in Chicago for a relatively light-hitting 33-year old center fielder. Late that season, a speedy rookie named Lou Brock was given a look by the Cubs. They evidently liked what they saw, and both Ashburn and Heist were gone before 1962 began, Richie to the expansion New York Mets and Al to the expansion Houston Colt .45s.
Houston had about a dozen castoff outfielders in 1962, some older but several younger than Al Heist, and he failed to make much of the few chances he was given. His 27 games and 72 at bats for the Colt .45s represented Heist's last major league stats. He did stay with the Houston organization, though, and from 1963 through 1965 he played out the string with its Oklahoma City farm team, also working with young outfielders such as Rusty Staub and Jim Wynn coming through on their way to the majors.
When he finally retired as a player after 16 major and minor league seasons, Al served as a coach with the Astros for the 1966 and 1967 seasons. He later did some scouting for the San Diego Padres.
Fielding Statistics
Year Team G PO A E TC DP Pct.
1949 Redding 86 181 13 6 200 1 .970
1950 Stockton 120 278 17 5 300 6 .983
1951 Stockton 132 233 16 5 254 4 .980
1952 (DNP)
1953 Lewiston 133 370 22 8 400 6 .980
1954 Lewiston 138 468 17 5 490 3 .990
1955 Sacramento 132 389 13 3 405 2 .993
1956 Sacramento 158 477 14 5 496 1 .990
1957 Sacramento 166 474 20 2 496 3 .996
1958 Sacramento 136 389 7 0 396 2 1.000
1959 Sacramento 134 349 25 4 378 8 .989
1960 Sacramento 87 249 8 1 258 0 .996
Chicago 33 65 2 1 68 0 .985
1961 Chicago 99 211 9 5 225 0 .978
1962 Houston 23 36 1 1 38 0 .974
1963 Okla. City 110 218 6 3 227 4 .987
1964 Okla. City 43 64 0 1 65 0 .985
1965 Okla. City 21 25 1 0 26 0 1.000
» Bob Allen, President of SABR in 1974, is retired and lives in North Carolina.
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Copyright © 1999 by Robert T. Allen. Posted November 20, 2001.
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