Loyd Christopher

{{Short description|American baseball player (1919–1991)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Loyd Christopher

|position=Outfielder

|image=Loyd Christopher 1946.jpg

|width=180px

|caption=Christoper, circa 1946

|bats=Right

|throws=Right

|birth_date={{Birth date|1919|12|31}}

|birth_place=Richmond, California, U.S.

|death_date={{death date and age|1991|9|5|1919|12|31}}

|death_place=Richmond, California, U.S.

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=April 20

|debutyear=1945

|debutteam=Boston Red Sox

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=May 13

|finalyear=1947

|finalteam=Chicago White Sox

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.243

|stat2label=Home runs

|stat2value=0

|stat3label=Runs batted in

|stat3value=4

|teams=

• Boston Red Sox (1945)
• Chicago Cubs (1945)
• Chicago White Sox (1947)}}Loyd Eugene Christopher (December 31, 1919 – September 5, 1991) was an American professional baseball player and scout. During his on-field career (1938–1952; 1955), he was an outfielder who appeared in Major League Baseball for 16 games for the Boston Red Sox (1945), Chicago Cubs (1945) and Chicago White Sox (1947). The native of Richmond, California, stood {{convert|6|ft|2|in}} tall and weighed {{convert|190|lb}}, and threw and batted right-handed. His brother Russ Christopher was a Major League pitcher.

In the Majors, Loyd Christopher collected nine hits in 37 at bats for a batting average of .243, with one triple, four runs batted in, five runs scored, and an on-base percentage of .333. In the field he recorded 24 putouts, one assist, no errors and participated in one double play.{{sabrbio|dbc6569a|Bill Nowlin|2016-03-12}}

In the Minors, Christopher played a total of 16 seasons, including 13 seasons at the highest (Double-A, then Triple-A) level, from 1940 through 1952. One of his best seasons was 1946, when he played 158 games for the Los Angeles Angels, batted .304, and hit 26 home runs to lead the Pacific Coast League in that category.

After his playing career, Christopher became a scout based in Northern California for the Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Montreal Expos and California Angels, signing players such as future Baseball Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley, Dick Tidrow, Carney Lansford, Larry Andersen, Gary Pettis, Steve Dunning and Ron Romanick.

Christopher died in his hometown of Richmond at the age of 71.