Page 26 - Poat_to_Poot_Engels

Raymond Willis ("Ray") Poat [7430]
December 19, 1917 - April 29, 1990

Ray was a professional baseball player 1939-1949. He was born in 1917 in
Chicago, Illinois. He was the son of Joseph Poat, a bookkeeper for the
Illinois Trust and Savings Bank. Joseph Poat was the brother of W.F. Poat.
At 6'2" and 200 pounds, Ray was tall and sturdy like most of the Poats. He
was a star baseball player at Lindblom High School in Chicago. He played
college baseball while attending the University of Illinois at Champaign
1935-37. In 1937 he was honored as the Big Ten - Most Valuable Player
for his 9-0 record. Ray was then signed to play professionally in the minor
leagues for the Cedar Rapids Raiders, in the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League.
The Raiders captured the 1939 pennant, and finished first in the league in
1940 and 1942.

Ray advanced to the major leagues with the American League Cleveland
Indians in 1942-44. Starting in 1947 he played in the National League for
the New York Giants. In 1948 he suffered an elbow injury that shortened
his career. After only two games in 1949, he was traded to the Pittsburgh
Pirates for the remainder of the season.

Ray was a pitcher, although his batting was sometimes good. His play was
of professional quality and his statistics were above average. Ray's best
seasons were in 1947 and 1948. He achieved distinction by pitching three
shutouts in 1948. Sportswriters teased the team that traded him by
quipping "they missed the Poat!" Except when a starter pitcher in 1948 for
the New York Giants, he was usually a relief pitcher. He retired from
baseball in 1949.

In 1950 he joined Corn Products Corporation (now CPC International) to
work as a quality control chemist. He was promoted to the important
position of Quality Control Manager of the Starch Division before he
retired in 1979. Ray died in 1990 in the Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn,
Illinois.

Dr. L. D. (Lourens Dirk) Terlaak Poot - 1890-1974

He was a highly visible and influential theologian in the Netherlands. He
graduated from university in 1912. Dr. Poot was a minister in the Dutch
Reformed Church (Hervormde Kerk) at the important church in
Amsterdam. He wrote extensively and published many books from 1920
until the 1950s. His famous 1947 book, "The Tyranny Expelled" (De
Tyrannie Verdrijven) was critical of passive accommodation toward the
Nazis and was controversial.

From 1939-1950 he was leader of the Christian School in The Hague ('s-
Gravenhaagsch Christelijk Gymnasium). He worked on revising the

(revised 10-2005) - Historical Poots - - page 7 -