Charlie Peete

Biography

Charles Peete (February 22, 1929 – November 27, 1956) was an American professional baseball player. The reigning 1956 batting champion of the Triple-A American Association, who received a one-month, 23-game trial with the 1956 St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball, Peete was projected by some as the leading candidate to be the Cardinals' 1957 starting center fielder, but he was killed in a commercial airplane crash near the Caracas airport in Venezuela while flying to his winter-league baseball team in late November 1956. Peete's wife, Nettie, and their three young children were also among the 25 victims of the crash. Despite his premature death, Peete played a key role in the integration of professional baseball during the American civil rights movement and was among the first Black players in the history of the Cardinals organization. He is also believed to be the first active MLB player to have died in a commercial plane crash.

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