 |
.jpg) |
Fred Earl Gladding
Houston Astros
Pitcher
Born: June 28, 1936, Flat Rock, MI
Signed: Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent before 1956 season
Major League Teams: Detroit Tigers 1961-1967; Houston Astros 1968-1973
Died: May 21, 2015, Columbia, SC (age 78)
Fred Gladding was a successful reliever, splitting his 13-year big league career almost equally between the Tigers (217 games) and the Astros (233 games). He had a career record of 48-34 with a 3.13 ERA and 109 saves. All but one of his 450 total appearances came in relief.
His best season came in 1967 for the Tigers when he went 6-4 over 42 games with a 1.99 ERA and 12 saves. His .703 winning percentage (26-11) with Detroit is the highest in franchise history for a pitcher appearing in at least 200 games. Gladding would return to the Tigers in 1976 to serve as manager Ralph Houk's (#447) pitching coach, and he held that role in 1976, 1977 and 1978.
With the Astros, Gladding led the N.L. in saves in 1969 with 29, the first year the statistic was officially tracked. His other claim to fame is owning the lowest non-zero batting average in major league history for his .016 (1 for 63) lifetime average. His one hit came on July 30, 1969 in a 16-3 drubbing of the Mets. He managed an RBI single off the Mets' Ron Taylor (#72) for his milestone hit.
Fred Gladding was a successful reliever, splitting his 13-year big league career almost equally between the Tigers (217 games) and the Astros (233 games). He had a career record of 48-34 with a 3.13 ERA and 109 saves. All but one of his 450 total appearances came in relief.
His best season came in 1967 for the Tigers when he went 6-4 over 42 games with a 1.99 ERA and 12 saves. His .703 winning percentage (26-11) with Detroit is the highest in franchise history for a pitcher appearing in at least 200 games. Gladding would return to the Tigers in 1976 to serve as manager Ralph Houk's (#447) pitching coach, and he held that role in 1976, 1977 and 1978.
With the Astros, Gladding led the N.L. in saves in 1969 with 29, the first year the statistic was officially tracked. His other claim to fame is owning the lowest non-zero batting average in major league history for his .016 (1 for 63) lifetime average. His one hit came on July 30, 1969 in a 16-3 drubbing of the Mets. He managed an RBI single off the Mets' Ron Taylor (#72) for his milestone hit.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #111
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
The Card / Astros Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
1969 Season
As the closer for Harry Walker's (#633) club, Gladding was 4-8 with a 4.21 ERA in 57 games and 72 2/3 innings pitched. He converted 29 saves, but blew six games, and he had two relievers close behind him for the league lead with 27 saves - the Braves' Cecil Upshaw (#568) and the Reds' Wayne Granger (#551).
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #312
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1964-1973
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #158
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 57 in the Beckett online database as of 6/3/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set. That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon. I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.
This is the 34th of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York. My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside. After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far. With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298. The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards, with this card costing me less than a dollar. If I stick to composing posts five times a week, I should go through the stack and be caught up by the end of January. But as the summer begins, that's becoming a bigger If.
The Card / Astros Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Topps uses a photo here likely from way back in 1964, taken at the same time as the photos used for Gladding's 1965 and 1966 Topps cards. He's wearing a Tigers jersey here.
The back of the card mentions Gladding's "arm miseries" in 1968 that limited him to seven games for the Astros. Topps correctly predicts he'd rebound and find success in 1969, and as mentioned above he'd lead the league with 29 saves.
The back of the card mentions Gladding's "arm miseries" in 1968 that limited him to seven games for the Astros. Topps correctly predicts he'd rebound and find success in 1969, and as mentioned above he'd lead the league with 29 saves.
Accuracy Index: Gladding receives the standard -8 for a player shown in a prior team's uniform (-5) while being hatless (-3).
1969 Season
As the closer for Harry Walker's (#633) club, Gladding was 4-8 with a 4.21 ERA in 57 games and 72 2/3 innings pitched. He converted 29 saves, but blew six games, and he had two relievers close behind him for the league lead with 27 saves - the Braves' Cecil Upshaw (#568) and the Reds' Wayne Granger (#551).
|
|
|
|
|
First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #312
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1964-1973
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #158
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 57 in the Beckett online database as of 6/3/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
No comments:
Post a Comment