Kid Durbin


Blaine Alphonsus "Kid" Durbin, also nicknamed "Danny Dreamer," was a left-handed Major League Baseball outfielder and pitcher. He was born in Lamar, Missouri.

Major League career

Kid Durbin made his Major League debut on April 24, 1907, for the Chicago Cubs. That season, he appeared in 5 games as a pitcher, going 0–1 with a save. He also played the outfield in 5 games that season. Durbin played for the Cubs during their 1907 and 1908 pennant-winning seasons but did not play in either World Series. Before being traded to the Reds on January 18, 1909, Durbin had a batting average of only.250 in 14 games, and on May 28, after appearing in only six games for Cincinnati, he was shipped to Pittsburgh, doing little more than ride the bench before being released scarcely one month later. Durbin appeared only once, as a pinch-runner representing the potential tying run in the ninth inning of a 3-2 loss to Chicago, on June 30, 1909, in the first game ever played at Forbes Field.

After career

After playing a few years in Minor League Baseball, Durbin retired as a baseball player. Just one day after his 57th birthday on September 11, 1943, Durbin died in Kirkwood, Missouri. Durbin's burial is located at Saint Peters Cemetery in Kirkwood at St. Louis County in Missouri. Durbin was memorialized as the protagonist in the historical novel "The Best Team Ever" by Alan Alop and Doc Noel.