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William Ben Chapman
Class of 1971

Category: Baseball

Born: 12/25/1908
Died: 6/15/1993
Birthplace: Nashville, TN

William Ben Chapman was born December 25, 1908, in Nashville, Tennessee. He moved to Birmingham, Alabama, in 1915 and had a brilliant athletic career at Phillips High School. He turned down football scholarships at Alabama and Purdue. His professional baseball career spanned the years from 1928 to ‘46 as a player and from 1945 to ‘53 as a manager. He played at New York, Washington, Boston, Cleveland, Brooklyn and Philadelphia where he also managed for four years. He led the American League in stolen bases for 4 years and had a major league batting average of .302. Ben played for six years on the New York Yankees team with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. He passed away in 1993.




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