| Ed Bouchee | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First baseman | |
| Born:(1933-03-07)March 7, 1933 Livingston, Montana, U.S. | |
| Died: January 23, 2013(2013-01-23) (aged 79) Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. | |
Batted: Left Threw: Left | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 19, 1956, for the Philadelphia Phillies | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| July 24, 1962, for the New York Mets | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .265 |
| Home runs | 61 |
| Runs batted in | 290 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
Edward Francis Bouchee (March 7, 1933 – January 23, 2013) was anAmerican professionalbaseballfirst baseman. He appeared inMajor League Baseball (MLB) for threeNational League (NL) ballclubs – thePhiladelphia Phillies,Chicago Cubs, andNew York Mets – from1956 to1962.
Born inLivingston, Montana, Bouchee moved with his family toSpokane, Washington duringWorld War II. He attendedLewis and Clark High School in Spokane, where he was an all-state athlete infootball,basketball, and baseball. In high school, Bouchee became longtime friends with future big leaguepitcherJack Spring.[1]
Bouchee attendedWashington State College, where he playedcollege baseball for theCougars in 1952.[2]
Following the1957 season, Bouchee was namedNL Sporting News Rookie Player of the Year Award and finished second inNL Rookie of the Year voting, owing to his impressive .293batting average, with 17home runs, and 76runs batted in (RBIs). Those would all prove to be career single-season highs for Bouchee. On April 24, 1957, hisbases-loadedtriple againstBob Friend of thePittsburgh Pirates allowedpinch runnerJohn Kennedy, the first black player in Phillies' history, to score his only major leaguerun.
On January 17, 1958, Spokane police arrested Bouchee[1] for exposing himself to several young girls. He pleaded guilty to a series of charges, includingindecent exposure. Bouchee was sentenced to three years of probation, spent a few months in apsychiatric institution inConnecticut, and then was allowed to return to the Phillies on July 1, 1958.[3] It is for this reason that what would've been his 1958Topps card (#145) was not issued.
Bouchee was drafted by the New York Mets from the Cubs in the1961 Major League Baseball expansion draft. He retired from professional baseball following the 1963 season, having spent most of his last two years in the minor leagues.[4]
After retiring from baseball at the age of 30, Bouchee moved to Chicago and worked forACDelco as a warehouse supervisor. He later retired from business, moving toGilbert, Arizona.[1]
Bouchee died inPhoenix, Arizona, on January 23, 2013. His wife Joanne survived him. One of their four children, Chris Bouchee, played minor league baseball in the Phillies farm system, in1977–1978.[1]