Robert Raymond Pfeil (born November 13, 1943 in Passaic, New Jersey) is a former right-handed Major League Baseball third baseman who played in 1969 and 1971 for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.

He attended Reseda High School, making the varsity team his junior year.

Originally signed as an undrafted free agent by the Chicago Cubs in 1961, Pfeil was traded with Hal Gilson to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bob Humphreys on April 7, 1965. Before the start of the 1968 season, he was sent from the Cardinals to the Mets in an unknown transaction.

He made his big league debut at the age of 25 on June 26, 1969 against pitcher Grant Jackson and the rest of the Philadelphia Phillies. Pfeil went 1-for-4 in his debut, although Jackson shut the Mets out 2-0 and held them to just four hits. In addition, he collected ten strikeouts in that game. Pfeil did well during the first two weeks of his debut - he was hitting .333 on July 4 - but by July 31 his batting average had slumped to .232. Coincidentally, that is what his final batting average for the season would end up being. After July 31, he was able to pull his average above .240 only once, and he let is slip down to .217 at one point. However, after going 3-for-6 in the final two games of the season, he brought his average up to its final mark of .232. In 211 at-bats, he also scored 20 runs, drove 10 runs in, doubled nine times, tripled and homered zero times, walked seven times and struck out 27 times.

Although the Mets reached the playoffs and eventually won the World Series in 1969, Pfeil neither appeared in the playoffs or the Fall Classic. However, when President Nixon attended a World Series game, Pfeil lent him his glove for protection.

On May 26, 1970, Pfeil was sent as the player to be named later to the Phillies to complete a trade that occurred originally on April 10 of that year. In return for Pfeil, the Mets received Ron Allen.

Pfeil would not appear in the majors in 1970, however by 1971 he was back in a Major League uniform. He appeared in 44 games for the Phillies that year, collecting 19 hits in 70 at-bats for a .271 batting average. He played his final game on September 6 against the Cardinals as a defensive replacement. He made his big league debut against the Philadelphia Phillies while playing for the New York Mets. Coincidentally, he ended up facing the Mets while playing for the Philadelphia Phillies in his final career at-bat, on September 5.

Overall in his big league career, he played in 106 games, collecting 68 hits in 281 at-bats for a .242 batting average. He had 12 doubles, no triples and two home runs to go along with 25 runs, 19 RBI, one stolen base, 13 walks and 36 strikeouts. He had a .976 career fielding percentage.

Although he didn't play in the majors after 1971, he was still active in the minor leagues. On February 8, 1972, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for a player to be named later, who ended up being minor leaguer Chico Vaughns. On March 20 of that year, he was purchased by the Boston Red Sox from the Brewers.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]