Gene Bearden

Infobox MLB retired
name=Gene Bearden
position=Pitcher


bgcolor1=#023465
bgcolor2=#990000
textcolor1=white
textcolor2=white
birthdate=September 5, 1920
city-state|Lexa|Arkansas
deathdate=death date and age|2004|3|18|1920|10|5
city-state|Alexander City|Alabama
bats=Left
throws=Left
debutdate=May 10
debutyear=1947
debutteam=Cleveland Indians
finaldate=September 5
finalyear=1953
finalteam=Chicago White Sox
stat1label=Pitching Record
stat2label=Earned run average
stat3label=Strikeouts
stat1value=45-38
stat2value=3.96
stat3value=259
teams=
*Cleveland Indians (1947-1950)
*Washington Senators (1950-1951)
*Detroit Tigers (1951)
*St. Louis Browns (1952)
*Chicago White Sox (1953)
highlights=
*World Series champion: 1948
*American League ERA champion: 1948
*1 20-win season

Henry Eugene "Gene" Bearden (September 5, 1920 – March 18, 2004) was a left-handed knuckleball pitcher in Major League Baseball who completed a remarkable rookie season by closing out the Cleveland Indians' last World Series championship in 1948.

Biography

Bearden was born in Lexa, Arkansas [http://www.city-data.com/city/Lexa-Arkansas.html] . His boyhood idol was Lou Gehrig and he learned baseball on the Tennessee sandlots. In the minors, he played for manager Casey Stengel with the Acorns when the team was the property of the New York Yankees. The Yankees traded Bearden to Cleveland after the 1946 season.

In 1948 Bearden was 20-7 with a league-leading 2.43 ERA, and he completed 15 of his 29 starts with six shutouts. Pitching on a staff with future Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Bob Lemon and Satchel Paige, Bearden emerged as the star of the Indians. Bearden's 20th victory came in a one-game playoff for the AL pennant. Picked by manager Lou Boudreau to start on only one day of rest, Bearden responded by pitching a five-hitter and leading the Indians over Ted Williams and the Boston Red Sox 8-3.

The 1948 World Series between the Indians and the Boston Braves was tied at 1 when Bearden started Game 3 at Cleveland. The 28-year-old lefty was at his best, shutting out the Braves on five hits in a 2-0 victory; at the plate, he contributed a double and a single. In Game 6 at Braves Field, Bearden was summoned from the bullpen to relieve Lemon in the eighth inning. Bearden got the final five outs for a save and the Indians held on for a 4-3 win that clinched the championship.

Bearden's success was even more amazing considering he had pitched in only one major league game prior to 1948. The year before, he worked one-third of an inning for the Indians and allowed three earned runs, two hits and one walk, giving him an ERA of 81.00. There was just one MLB Rookie of the Year picked in the majors that season, and the award went to Alvin Dark of the Braves.

Bearden, however, never came close to duplicating his rookie season. He never won more than eight games in a year after that, and twice led the AL in wild pitches. The Indians put him on waivers during the 1950 season, and he was claimed by Washington Senators.

Bearden finished with a 45-38 record, 259 strikeouts, 435 walks and a 3.96 ERA in a career that lasted until 1953. He also pitched for the Detroit Tigers, the St. Louis Browns and the Chicago White Sox. However, his '48 big season was enough to make a great impression on Ted Williams, who wrote in his book "My Turn At Bat", that "Gene Bearden was a left-handed knuckleball pitcher who ordinarily wouldn't draw a second glance on a staff with Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Early Wynn and Mike Garcia. Every ball he threw was either a little knuckleball or a little knuckle curve."

When the Indians celebrated their 100th anniversary (2001), Bearden was selected as one of the greatest 100 players in the team's history. The choice of Bearden to pitch theplayoff championship game was against tradition. The Red Soxdespite Williams presence were predominantly right-handedpower hitting team, and Fenway Park had a short left field( a/k/a "Green Monster")fence . Left-handed pitchers werenot very successful there, so sending Bearden with a shortrest, is an excellent example of Booudreau's managing skill.The two homers Lou hit were also an example of his clutchhitting ability.

Gene Bearden was struck by shrapnel causing serious head injurywhile serving on a cruiser in WW 2. It required removal of some skull bone. He was fitted with a silver replacement for thecranial bones removed in the surgery . However, secondaryto these injuries he had chronic headaches and intermittantoptical incidents. They required the use of painkilling drugsand others aimed at addressing optical and balance issues.Bearden turned to ETOH to help deal with these problems.His relatively short career was as much a product of his self medication with ETOH , and the war caused traumatic injuries as any physical pitching problems.

Indeed, they blighted his life for long periodsalthough better pharmaceuticals and surgical proceduresgave him greater relief from the principal symptomslater in life. Bearden's life was a casualty of the War,despite his relatively long physical presence after it. Gene Bearden died in Alexander City, Alabama, at 83 years of age.

See also

* List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
* Chicago White Sox all-time roster

External links

*
* [http://www.genebearden.com Official page] (coming soon)
* [http://oaklandoaks.tripod.com/bearden.html Oakland Oaks page]
* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/submit/Cleveland_Indians1.stm The Top 100 Greatest Indians Roster page at "Baseball Library"]
* [http://www.thedeadballera.com/Obits/Beardon.Gene.Obit.html The Deadball Era]
* [http://www.historicbaseball.com/players/b/bearden_gene.html Historic Baseball]
* http://www.arksportshalloffame.org/lists.php/mode/details/id/116