Carden Edison Gillenwater (May 13, 1917 – May 10, 2000) was a Major League Baseball

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the c ...

. A native of Riceville, Tennessee, he played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1940),

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

(1943),

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

(1945–1946) and Washington Senators (1948). Gillenwater threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed . After beginning his 18-year professional baseball career in 1937, he made his major league debut on September 22, 1940 with the St. Louis Cardinals. He played seven games that season, hitting .160 for the Cardinals. After two years in the minor leagues, he played in eight games for the

in 1943. Gillenwater's best season was 1945, when he was a regular center fielder for the Braves, appearing in 144 games. He hit .288 (149-for-517) with 7

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, 72 runs batted in, and 74

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls ...

, and led National League outfielders with 451 putouts and 24 assists. He also ranked in the league's top ten for

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

, and

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

. Gillenwater tied a major league outfield record with 12 putouts in a game in 1946. He was a part-time player in 1946 and 1948, appearing in a total of 176 games and batting .236. On September 27, 1948 he was traded by the Washington Senators to the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

for outfielder

Clyde Vollmer Clyde Frederick Vollmer (September 24, 1921 – October 2, 2006) was an American professional baseball outfielder, who played in 685 games in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, Washington Senators and Boston Red Sox. During t ...

, and never again played in a major league game. In a total of 335 MLB games, he was 261-for-1004 (.260), and 153 walks and three

hit by pitch In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provided ...

es pushed his

up to .359. He had 11 HR, 114 RBI, scored 129 runs, and had a

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

of .348. In the outfield he handled 869 out of 888

chances Chances may refer to: * ''Chances'' (TV series), an Australian soap opera * ''Chances'' (Philippine TV series), a prime-time soap opera * '' Chances: The Women of Magdalene'', a 2006 documentary film * ''Chances'' (novel), a 1981 novel by Jac ...

successfully for a .979

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

. Gillenwater died at the age of 82 in Largo, Florida, only three days before his 83rd birthday.

References

External links

RetrosheetBaseball Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillenwater, Carden 1917 births 2000 deaths Baseball players from Tennessee Boston Braves players Brooklyn Dodgers players Columbus Red Birds players Kinston Eagles players Major League Baseball center fielders Milwaukee Brewers (AA) players People from McMinn County, Tennessee New Orleans Pelicans (baseball) players Rochester Red Wings players St. Louis Cardinals players St. Paul Saints (AA) players Schenectady Blue Jays players Syracuse Chiefs players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players