Philip Robert James (born October 21, 1949), better known as Skip James, is a former American professional baseball player. He played in the Major League Baseball(MLB) before a brief stint with the San Francisco Giants, and then played in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yokohama Taiyo Whales.
| Skip James | |
|---|---|
| First baseman | |
| Born: (1949-10-21) October 21, 1949 (age 72) Elmhurst, Illinois | |
Batted: Left Threw: Left | |
| Professional debut | |
| MLB: September 12, 1977, for the San Francisco Giants | |
| NPB: April 5, 1980, for the Yokohama Taiyo Whales | |
| Last appearance | |
| MLB: September 23, 1978, for the San Francisco Giants | |
| NPB: October 23, 1980, for the Yokohama Taiyo Whales | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .167 |
| Home runs | 0 |
| Runs batted in | 6 |
| Teams | |
| |
James attended Shawnee Mission North High School, and then played football and baseball at the University of Kansas,[1] graduating in 1971.[2] He played in the Pacific Coast League for eight years and was finally drafted in 1977 by the San Francisco Giants;[3] he made his debut on September 12, 1977. He played for the Giants[4] for four months as a pinch-hitter (hitting a game-winning two-run single in September against the Los Angeles Dodgers[1]) before they sent him back to the minors.[3] He played for the Vancouver Canadians in 1979,[5] and in 1980 left the United States to play in Japan for the Yokohama Taiyo Whales,[3][6] besides Félix Millán.[7]
In 1982, he was hired as a graduate assistant coach at Kansas,[2] and worked there as an assistant coach in 1983 and 1984 as well.[8][9]