Charles Alfonzo Beamon (December 25, 1934 – May 3, 2016) was a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

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

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

from to . Listed at 5' 11", 195 lb., he batted and threw right handed. Beamon was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, where he graduated from

McClymonds High School McClymonds High School is a public high school in the West Oakland neighborhood of Oakland, California, United States. In addition to being the third oldest high school in Oakland, it is the only comprehensive high school in West Oakland, operat ...

. He made his debut with the Orioles in September 1956, pitching a four-hit, 1–0

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

against the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

at Memorial Stadium. He did strike out nine batters in the process, including

Billy Martin Alfred Manuel Martin Jr. (May 16, 1928 – December 25, 1989), commonly called "Billy", was an American Major League Baseball second baseman and manager who, in addition to leading other teams, was five times the manager of the New York Yan ...

three times. Beamon played from 1953 through 1961 for eight different teams in nine

Minor League Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

seasons, going 89–69 with a 3.76

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

in 226 pitching appearances. Charlie Metro was his manager on the 1957-1959 Vancouver Mounties and had this to say about him: "He had to be, in my assessment, one of the finest pitching athletes I've had. I've had quite a few that I could put in that category. Charlie Beamon could do everything. He was strong as an ox. He could run, and he could swing a bat.... Beamon was a tremendous athlete and should have been a good big league pitcher. He won for us out there. It's a mystery why he didn't do better in the majors." In between, Beamon played winter ball with the

Leones del Caracas The Caracas Base Ball Club C.A. or better known by its commercial name as the ''Leones del Caracas'', is a professional baseball team of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. In its creation, its headquarters are the University Stadium of C ...

club of the

Venezuelan Winter League The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League or Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional (LVBP) is the professional baseball league in Venezuela. The league's champion takes part in the Caribbean Series each year. History Early years Baseball exp ...

in the 1957–1958 season. He posted a 9–6 record with 55

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s and a 2.49 ERA in 130 innings, leading the league in ERA, while tying with Magallanes'

Ramón Monzant Ramón Segundo Monzant Espina (January 4, 1933 – August 10, 2001) was a , right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the New York / San Francisco Giants in all or parts of six seasons between 1954 and 1960. He compil ...

for the most wins. His son, Charlie Beamon, Jr., played

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

and

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

in part of three Major League seasons spanning 1978–1981. Beamon Sr. died in 2016 in

San Leandro, California San Leandro (Spanish for " St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland to the northwest, and Ashland, Castro Valley, and Hayward to the sou ...

, at the age of 81.Mr. Charles Beamon Obituary
. ''Tributes.com''. Retrieved on September 12, 2016.

Sources

External links

, o

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beamon, Charlie 1934 births 2016 deaths African-American baseball players Amarillo Gold Sox players Ardmore Rosebuds players Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Oakland, California Leones del Caracas players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Major League Baseball pitchers Oakland Oaks (baseball) players San Jose Missions players Seattle Rainiers players Stockton Ports players Vancouver Mounties players Victoria Rosebuds players Wenatchee Chiefs players 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people