gene bearden sabr

Smith, Red. Tribe fever was at an all-time high as the Cleveland Indians’ train pulled into Terminal Tower from Boston. Such stuff is usually reserved for a Hollywood lot, where make-believe rules. Bearden won 3 and lost 4 for the Tigers with an earned-run average of 4.64. He’ll be in the bullpen and ready for relief if we need him tomorrow. Both teams won titles in those initial ventures and now each was looking to add another. Phoenix, AZ 85004 Henry "Gene" Bearden. His favorite hamburger was named the Bearden Burger. Or was it Bearden’s winking at training rules? But the magic was gone. Henry Eugene Bearden was born on September 5, 1920, in Lexa, Arkansas. ; He began pitching in the minor leagues in 1940 at age 19. But umpire Bill Stewart ruled that Masi got back to the bag ahead of the tag by shortstop Lou Boudreau. More fame came Bearden’s way when he played himself in The Stratton Story, a movie about Monty Stratton starring Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson. There was a World Series to be played and perhaps new heroes would emerge. Meanwhile Bearden was breezing along. His war injuries would plague him the balance of his life. In 1940, he was 18-10 with a 1.63 earned-run average at Miami Beach of the Class D Florida East Coast League, and in 1941 returned to Miami Beach, where he won 17 and lost 7 (2.40 ERA). He wrote: “High-powered masterminding strategic concepts and Machiavellian managerial maneuvering are awesomely impressive when they work. Others have journeyman careers, but for one season they shine and bring glory to their team and themselves. Marse Joe McCarthy carefully studied the wind which blew out toward the short left field fence today and abandoned all notions of using his stylish southpaw, Mel Parnell. He pitched four more years in the minor leagues with Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento and Minneapolis. 555 N. Central Ave. #416 He frustrated the Red Sox with his herky-jerky motion and his dead-fish-diving knuckleball, and the Indians came away with an 8-3 win and the American League pennant. On September 16, the Indians and the Red Sox each had 87 wins. Red Smith on Baseball. Suddenly the Helena was struck by three torpedoes. When Bearden had three balls on a hitter, he would come in with his fastball and they would tee off on it. End of story? The crowd filled Cleveland Stadium as 70,306 kept the arms of the turnstiles working at a frenzied pace. But Bearden was not about to give up center stage. The trickster and the illogical won the day over reason. Instead he gambled on the ancient Denny Galehouse, a cutie on the hill who uses guile in place of speed. But there is a backstory with the Bearden saga. Like many Arkansas boys in the 1920s, he spent his hot summer days with a fishing pole and a baseball. Despite major injuries suffered in World War II, he was still able to craft a seven-year career that was highlighted by his role as a starting pitcher on the 1948 Cleveland Indians team that won the World Series. It was the first World Series the locals were able to see in person since 1920. The Indians scored again in the fourth, and it was that old bugaboo for Bickford, the base on balls, that started the rally. It was Gene Bearden's unfortunately unsustainable rookie year (20 wins and a league-best 2.43 ERA, marks he'd never again come close to matching). Bearden was the trickster with his trick knuckleball. Bearden did sustain a thigh injury in 1949 that lingered and this may have played a part in his struggles. You could also do it yourself at any point in time. Bearden was cool and calm before the big game. Game Three was a pitching matchup of two rookie hurlers. That's it. He told Bearden, “Let them hit it.” Keltner told Bearden, “It’s a ten-minute cab ride to center field.” Buoyed by Keltner’s words, Bearden defeated Sid Hudson of the Senators, 6-1. Houston Stackhouse. “I just didn’t have the control,” said Bickford. He owned a car dealership and a storage company. Cronkite School at ASU Gene Bearden's nine inning, one earned run performance brought his earned run average (ERA) down to 2.43, which led the American League. retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1948/B10080CLE1948.htm. Compositions by Hayes Biggs. Neither team could mount much of an offensive attack until Cleveland struck for a run in the bottom of the third. Hayes Biggs. Winning 20 and losing 7 in the regular season with a league leading 2.43 earned run average, six shutouts and 15 complete games, it seemed he would be a shoo-in for Rookie of the Year honors. SABR Baseball Biography Project. And Bearden showed his appreciation by winning eight of his next 12 starts. Phoenix, AZ 85004 Bickford was charged with one earned run, but he walked five batters in 3⅓ innings pitched. Fully recovered, in 1948 he pitched the most important game of his life. Or was it Casey Stengel? He won 4 and lost 4 before joining the Navy, where he received basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, just outside Chicago. Bearden grew up playing baseball on sandlots in Tennessee. Playing with a club that had lost 102 games the previous year was not an ideal place to work things out. The final score was Cleveland 2, Boston 0. He posted an impressive 11-5 record with an ERA of 3.27. Then a slump hit him, and he lost his next four starts. Bob Lemon was the starter, and he held a 4-1 lead when he loaded the bases in the eighth inning with one out. Gene Bearden was carried off the field a second time in one week. Coffin, Tristram. After his baseball career, Bearden was involved in a number of enterprises. Register Pitching; Year Age AgeDif Tm Lg Lev Aff W L W-L% ERA RA9 G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/W; 1940: … The weather forecast was for mostly cloudy skies with a threat of scattered rainshowers as the day wore on. Henry E “Gene” Bearden was born in Lexa, Arkansas on September 5, 1920. Boudreau said years later that “Bearden was my best pitcher — better than Bob Feller, better than Bob Lemon, better than Steve Gromek. Phone: 602.496.1460 The Senators soon were aware that this was not the Bearden of 1948. He is buried in Sunset Memorial Park in West Helena, Arkansas. His head had been badly smashed open, and one of his knees was a mass of wounded flesh. ... Jim Turner of the Boston Braves in 1937, and Gene Bearden of Cleveland in 1948. Alex Johnson, born December 7th, 1942 in Helena, AR, was a professional baseball player between 1964-1976.During that time, Johnson played with 8 MLB teams, more than any other Arkansas-born player. The Old Ballgame. Skeet Seaton. Bearden then ran off three more consecutive wins. The tall, slim Bearden (6-feet-3, 198 pounds), a left-handed pitcher, began his professional baseball career in 1939 pitching for Moultrie of the Class D Georgia-Florida League, where he won 5 games and lost 11 as an 18-year-old. With one away, Bearden doubled to right field. Ken Keltner walked to lead off the inning. The wounded World War II survivor pitched himself and the Cleveland Indians to the summit in 1948. The author accessed Baseball-Reference.com for box scores/play-by-play information and other data, as well as retrosheet.org. Check out highlights and more information on the 2021 SABR Virtual Analytics Conference. In 12 games (9 starts) during the rest of the season, he was 3-5 with a 4.20 ERA. Ramsey and Gene Bearden would eventually reach the major leagues, and Bearden would become the hero of the 1948 World Series. On the early morning of July 6, 1943, the cruiser USS Helena was in the Kula Gulf in the South Pacific near the Solomon Islands, where it was part of an American task force battling the Japanese. The Chicago White sox became his last stop. Gene Bearden gets Tommy Holmes to fly out to seal Game 6 and earn the Indians their second World Series title While the fans greeted the players with hearty cheers, they showered umpire Stewart with loud boos. Gene Bearden was born on Sunday, September 5, 1920, in Lexa, Arkansas. In 1950, Bearden started only three games for the Indians and was 1-3 with a 6.15 ERA on August 2, when he was sent to the Washington Senators in a waiver deal. They included Jack Graney, Tris Speaker, Elmer Smith, Steve O’Neill, and Bill Wambsganss. Still, Bearden managed to stay in the big leagues through the 1953 season. 555 N. Central Ave. #416 3 Harry Jones, “Indians Goal 4 Straight Victories After Bearden Beats Braves, 2-0,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 9, 1948: 17. Just better. Lou was going with the horse that got them there. He won 18 games for San Francisco in 1955 and 15 for Sacramento in ’56. The wounded World War II survivor pitched himself and the Cleveland Indians to the summit in 1948. He graduated from Technical High School in Memphis in 1938. Gene Bearden Books. Veeck and the Browns were patient and gave Bearden the entire season to see if he could work things out and return to the form he had shown in 1948. New York: Arbor House, William Morrow, 1990, March 18, 2004 at Alexander City, AL (USA). The man who drifted in a raft in the Pacific desperately fighting for his life was now borne as if on air to a happy celebration. PubMed. Career: 45-38, 3.96 ERA, 259 SO, P, Indians/Browns/... 1947-1953, t:L, 1x ERA Leader, born in AR 1920, died 2004 Out of a crew of 900 on the Helena, 168 died as it sank. Gene Bearden's path to the majors is a story of courage and perseverance.. Ted Williams made what turned out to be almost a prophetic statement after the 1948 season. The Indians have not won a World Series since. After an accidental shooting ended his major-league pitching career, Monty Stratton made a courageous comeback to professional baseball, inspired an Oscar-winning movie and experienced more personal tragedy. Bearden was also involved with American Legion baseball and helped many youngsters to enjoy the sport and to further their education. However, Dark’s relay throw to first base was high and sailed into the Indians dugout. 2 Weather Report, Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 8, 1948: 13. American destroyers darted in and out trying to save as many lives as possible. In 1949, he was 8-8, with an earned-run average of 5.10. baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE194810080.shtml. But Bearden fed the poison in large doses to the Red Sox and killed their pennant hopes.”. That was his only big-league appearance for 1947 and he wound up with an astronomical earned run average of 81.00 and a trip back to Oakland for the remainder of the 1947 season. Side, manager Joe McCarthy ’ s second and last World championship the Cleveland Indians the of! Named Gene Bearden was born on Sunday, shut out the Indians a... Hall of Fame, but his hitting sparkled role in his ineffectiveness debut on 05-10-1947 with the Cleveland writers... Regular in manager Marty Marion ’ s winning ways were broken momentarily May. Ii survivor pitched himself and the Cleveland Indians ’ 4-3 win of control –he walked 63 batters in innings. Of 3.27 teammate, third baseman Ken Keltner, gave him words of encouragement by scoring runs! 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