Ed Fitz Gerald

This article is about the baseball player. For the Ohio County executive, see Ed FitzGerald.
Ed Fitz Gerald

Ed Fitz Gerald

Ed Fitz Gerald in 1948
Catcher
Born: (1924-05-21) May 21, 1924
Santa Ynez, California
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 19, 1948, for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Last MLB appearance
September 15, 1959, for the Cleveland Indians
MLB statistics
Batting average .260
Home runs 19
Runs batted in 217
Hits 542
Teams

Edward Raymond Fitz Gerald (born May 21, 1924 in Santa Ynez, California) is a retired American professional baseball player and coach. A former catcher, he appeared in 807 games played in Major League Baseball over 12 seasons (1948–1959) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Senators and Cleveland Indians. He attended Saint Mary's College of California and served in the United States Army in the European Theater of Operations in World War II[1] before beginning his professional career in 1946.

Fitz Gerald threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 170 pounds (77 kg) during his playing days. Used primarily in a backup role throughout his career, he exceeded 100 games played as a rookie with the 1948 Pirates (102 games), and again with the 1954 Senators (115). He ended his career with a .260 batting average, 82 doubles, ten triples, 19 home runs, 217 runs batted in and 542 hits.

While with the Pirates, Fitz Gerald caught Cliff Chambers' no-hitter on May 6, 1951.[2] As a Washington Senator, he also broke up Chicago White Sox pitcher Billy Pierce's bid for a perfect game on June 27, 1958 by doubling with two out in the ninth, the ball landing just inches inside the first-base line.[3]

Following his retirement as an active player, Fitz Gerald coached in the American League from 1960–1964 for the Indians, Kansas City Athletics and Minnesota Twins, and briefly managed the Fresno Giants of the Class A California League.

References

  1. ↑ Baseball in Wartime
  2. ↑ Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ Retrosheet

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 4/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.