Remembering Original Met Jim Marshall (1962)

Jim Marshall was one of the seven last surviving players of the 45 men who played on the 1962 original Mets team. 

Rufus James Marshall was born May 25th, 1931, in Danville, Illinois. The family moved west & he grew up in Long Beach California. The six foot, one left-handed hitter attended Long Beach State University.

Pacific Coast League: Marshall was originally signed by the Chicago White Sox, spending seven seasons in the Pacific Coast League mostly with the Oakland Oaks. In December 1957 he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles along with Larry Doby, Jack Harshman & Russ Heman for Tito Francona, Billy Goodman & Ray Moore.

In 1958 Marshall, became the Orioles starting first baseman as a rookie hitting 5 HRs with 19 RBIs in 85 games before getting put on waivers then getting picked up by the Chicago Cubs. He spent two years with the Cubs splitting time at first base with Dale Long, having career highs in 1959 with 11 HRs 40 RBIs & a .252 average.

In November 1959, Marshall was involved in the first interleague trade that did have anything to
do with waivers, as he was traded along with another future Met Dave Hillman to the Boston Red Sox for Dick Gernet. 

But at Spring Training 1960, he was then sent to the San Francisco Giants for Al Worthington. He played there in parts of two seasons at first base & some outfield.

Original Met: In October 1961, he was purchased by the expansion New York Mets for their inaugural season.

On April 11th, in the Mets first game, Marshall came to bat as a pinch hitter in the top of the 9th inning for pitcher Clem Labine drawing a walk in the 11-4 loss. In the second game, the Mets first home opener Marshall was the Mets first base runner, drawing a walk off the Pirates Tom Studivant. After pitcher Sherman Jones collected the Mets first hit at the Polo Grounds, Marshall collected the second hit with a leadoff double in the bottom of the 5th inning of the 4-3 loss.

First Met to Have Back-to-Back HR Games: On April 14th & 15th Marshall was the first Mets player to hit HRs in back-to-back games, both solo shots coming against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Polo Grounds.

On April 27th Marshall had three hits in a game against the Phillies at the Polo Grounds raising his average to .364. In his next game he hit his third HR, all solo shots as he was among the Mets slugging leaders early on.

Marshall played in 17 games for the Mets hitting .344 with three HRs a double & four RBIs with a .400 on base % & a 1.056 OPS. Those good early numbers got him traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher Vinegar Bend Mizell. In 55 games there he hit .220.

In his five-year MLB career, in 410 games, Marshall batted .242 with 206 hits 29 HRs 24 doubles 106 RBIs, posting a .320 on base % & .709 OPS. 

Japan Central League: Marshall became one of the first American players to play in Japan, signing with the Chunichi Dragons for three years. There he was a teammate of Ken Aspromonte. Marshall became a HR slugger for the Dragons, leading the team with 28 HRs with 92 RBIs in his first season, following up with another team leading 31 HRs & 88 RBI in 1964. In 1965 he played his final season of pro ball hitting another 19 HRs & 72 RBIs.

Retirement- Managing Career: In 1968 Marshall became a manager in the Cubs minor leagues thru 1973. In 1974 he was named third base coach for the Cubs under Whitey Lockman. 

On July 25th, 1974, he replaced Lockman after he was let go, going 25-44 the rest of the way. Over the next two seasons, Marshall remained Cubs manager winning 75 games both times. After the 1976 season he was not retained & was replaced by Herman Franks. 

In 1979 he became manager of the Oakland A's (54-108) finishing last. He was replaced the next year by Billy Martin. In his managerial career he was 175-218 (.455).

Marshall went on to manage in the minor leagues until the late 1980's then also managed in Japan. Marshall remained a Pacific Rim advisor for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Mets Honors: In May of 2025, he was issued a commemorative Mets Jersey with his age #93 honoring his 1962 Original Mets heritage, in a pregame ceremony before a Mets Diamondbacks game.

Passing: On September 7th, 2025, Marshall passed away after a brief illness at age 94.