San Diego Gets Savage, Trades Savage

Sorry for the delay between posts, as we welcomed first grandchild Wyatt Amos Hooks last week!

We get Savage today, Bob Savage, a pitcher in the forties for the A's and Browns. His Baseball-Reference page mentions his waiver pickup by the Brownies, but not how he goes to San Diego (and the Cleveland system) after just a few games with St. Louis. Savage's 1949 season started poorly in the majors, with a 6.43 ERA in 4 games. He was then shipped to San Diego in this deal found in the May 20, 1949 Milwaukee Journal...

“The St. Louis Browns Thursday sold pitcher Bob Savage to San Diego of the Pacific Coast League”

Short and to the point!

 Savage spent the rest on 1949 and all of 1950 with San Diego, then went to San Francisco and the Yankees system in this deal chronicled in the Spokesman-Review of Dec. 7, 1950...

“SAN DIEGO, CALIF. Dec. 6 – A Pacific Coast Baseball league trade sending heavy-hitter Jack Graham to San Francisco was announced here today. The San Diego club said it was also sending pitcher Bob Savage with Graham and was getting outfielders Jackie Tobin and Don White from the San Francisco club.”

This deal is not mentioned on Savage, Graham, Tobin or White's major league Baseball-Reference pages.

So we are back in action, and a couple previously unknown deals are out to the blog-reading public!

Savage pic from

www.baseball-almanac.com

Graham Pic from 

www.vintagecardprices.com

White and Tobin from Pinterest

Gene Bearden: A Knuckler in a Whirlwind

Gene Bearden is best known for his great performance for the World Champion Cleveland club in 1948, going 20-7 as a rookie pitcher and beating the Red Sox in a playoff, then winning and saving one in the World Series.

His career didn't finish with such a flourish in the majors, and he went from the Indians to the Senators, Tigers, Browns, and finally, the White Sox in 1953. His Baseball Reference page lists the move from the Browns to the Sox as:

March 18, 1953: Selected off waivers by the Chicago White Sox from the St. Louis Browns.

But the Daily Independent Journal of Feb. 10, 1953 has something a little different:

"Veteran Pitcher Gene Bearden was sold Wednesday (Feb. 9) by the St. Louis Browns to the Chicago White Sox for an undisclosed amount in excess of the waiver price."

 Bearden was pretty effective for the ChiSox, but evidently not effective enough, as he was traded to the PCL. 

From the Ellensburg Daily Record of Feb. 15, 1954:

"Gene Bearden, former Cleveland Indian pitcher, Saturday was acquired by the Seattle Rainiers of the Coast League in a deal that sent shortstop Alex Garbowski and pitcher Art Del Duca to Charleston of the American Assn.”

Charleston was the White Sox AAA team in 1954. Seattle was independent.

Bearden was sent away with many other Seattle players right before the 1955 season as Manager Fred Hutchinson decided to clean house. The book "The San Francisco Seals, 1946-1957: Interviews with 25Former Baseballers" by Brent P. Kelley spells out the process, but doesn't give out the exact details of how Bearden got to San Francisco, another independent PCL club at the time.

Bearden then became property of the Red Sox, when the BoSox bought the San Francisco ballclub. From the Nashua Telegraph of Nov. 29, 1955:

"In addition to the franchise, the Red Sox acquired the contracts of 19 players, including veterans like Gene Bearden, Wally Judnich and Bill Serena….who have had a whirl in the majors."

 He didn't stay in the Red Sox system for long, as the Braves bought his contract...from the Milwaukee Journal of Feb. 28, 1956:

“Just 10 days ago the Braves bought him conditionally for their Wichita farm club with the promise that he would be transferred to the varsity if his showing warranted.”

The article has many quotes form Bearden as to how he had matured as a person, and from Braves management saying he had a good chance of sticking with the club out of spring training. He didn't.

From the Desert Sun of March 28, 1956:

"Former San Francisco Seals pitcher Gene Bearden, who has been working out here with the Milwaukee Braves, has been released by the major league club and assigned to Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League."

Other articles have him assigned by the Braves there, though Sacramento was independent at the time. Bearden stayed the full season there, then requested a trade in the off-season. He recanted that later, but was dealt partway into the 1957 season to Minneapolis in the Giants' organization.

From the Roseburg, OR News-Review of March 30, 1957:

 "Sacramento announced the acquisition of outfielder Edward Perry White from Minneapolis of the American Assn., in exchange for outfielder Jackie Tobin, veteran pitcher Gene Bearden and an undisclosed amount of cash."

 Bearden would end his career in Minneapolis.

Whew! What a whirlwind! And so many players that had been in the majors.

If you can add to this list, or any other entry to the blog, feel free to do so!

Bearden pic lifted from www.tradingcarddb.com