Bob Petrie
Toronto Daily Star, March 24 1930
There was a Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team before there was a hockey team of the same name. The baseball Maple Leafs played in the Eastern League from 1902 to 1911 (and briefly in 1899). Moving to the International League, the Maple Leafs existed until 1967.
Robert Petrie (1904-1969) did become a member of the Maple Leafs in 1930, but it doesn't look like he made the starting lineup: he appeared in 63 of the team's 139 games, sometimes as a pinch-hitter, and batted .259. He played for two International League teams in 1931 - Reading and Jersey City - but then disappeared from organized baseball and from history.
In more recent times, the name "Robert Petrie" was more commonly associated with The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Created August 25, 2025.