Former Pirates First Baseman Dies at 94
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PITTSBURGH — A former Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman, who played for the team in the 1960s, sadly died recently.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced that Jim Marshall died at the age of 94 years old on Sept. 7.
Marshall spent one season with the Pirates in 1962, joining the team in May, after he played in 17 games with the New York Mets, slashing .344/.400/.656 for an OPS of 1.056 in the first season of the franchise's existence.
He played in 55 games with Pittsburgh in that season, where he slashed .220/.319/.350 for an OPS of .669, with 22 hits in 100 at-bats, five doubles, one triple, two home runs, 12 RBIs and 15 walks to 19 strikeouts.
Hall of Famers in right fielder Roberto Clemente, outfielder/first baseman Willie Stargell and second baseman Bill Mazeroski were three of the players that Marshall played with on the Pirates that season.
Marshall finished his five-year career after playing with the Pirates, which also saw him play for the Baltimore Orioles (1958), Chicago Cubs (1958-59) and the San Francisco Giants (1960-61).
He also made history, becoming a player in the first interleague trade, with the Cubs sending him to the Boston Red Sox on Nov. 21, 1959, who he never played for.
Marshall slashed .242/.320/.388 for an OPS of .708 in 411 games, 206 hits, 24 doubles, seven triples, 29 home runs, 106 RBIs and 101 walks to 139 strikeouts.
Rufus James Marshall was born on May 25, 1931 in Danville, Ill. and grew up in Long Beach, Calif, where he attended Long Beach State, before playing in the minor leagues prior to his MLB career.
He also played three seasons for the Chunichi Dragons in the Nippon Baseball League in Japan, 1963-65, batting .268, hit 78 home runs and 252 RBIs in 408 games. He was the first American-born player that went from the MLB and then played in Japan.
Marshall then entered his coaching career, where he started out in the Cubs' organization, coaching in the minor leagues, before taking over as the third base coach in 1974, before taking over as manager on July 25.
He led the Cubs to a 25-44 record the rest of the 1974 season, finishing 66-96 overall. He then led the team to 75-87 finishes in both 1975 and 1976, before the Cubs let him go.
Marshall spent time coaching in the minor league systems of the Montreal Expos and the Oakland Athletics, before taking over as manager of the 1979 Oakland Athletics, who had a 54-108 record.
He coached in the minor league systems of the New York Yankees in 1984 and the Chicago White Sox in 1986, before serving as a scout for Japanese teams for American players and then as a senior adviser for the Pacific Rim operations for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.