Arthur Junior Gardner (born September 21, 1952) is a former

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

who played for the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

and

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

in part of three seasons spanning 1975–1978."Art Gardner Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2011-02-27. Gardner was the Astros' opening day center fielder in 1977.

Baseball career

Gardner was selected out of

South Leake High School South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

Walnut Grove, Mississippi Walnut Grove is a town in Leake County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 510 at the 2020 census, a sharp decrease from 1,911 at the 2010 census, due to the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility being closed by the state in Septem ...

in the 2nd round (36th overall) of the 1971 June amateur Baseball draft by the

References

External links

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Baseball Reference (Minor and Japanese leagues)
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Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Winter League)
1952 births Living people African-American baseball players Baseball players from Mississippi Cedar Rapids Astros players Cocoa Astros players Columbus Astros players Covington Astros players Denver Bears players American expatriate baseball players in Japan Hiroshima Toyo Carp players Houston Astros players Iowa Oaks players Major League Baseball outfielders Memphis Blues players Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Phoenix Giants players People from Leake County, Mississippi San Francisco Giants players Tulsa Drillers players {{US-baseball-outfielder-1950s-stub