Charles Cason Gassaway (August 12, 1918 – January 15, 1992) nicknamed "Sheriff", was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player, a left-handed

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 ...

whose 16-season (1937–52) playing career included all or parts of three seasons in

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), ...

for the Chicago Cubs (1944), Philadelphia Athletics (1945), and

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

(1946). Born in Gassaway, Tennessee, he stood tall and weighed . Gassaway won 153 games in minor league baseball, with a career high of 17 victories in 1944 for the Milwaukee Brewers of the top-level

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

. He was called up to the Cubs and made two late-season starts but was ineffective. The 1945 season — the last year of the World War II player shortage — was Gassaway's only complete year in the Majors. Pitching for the last-place Philadelphia Athletics, he worked in 24 games pitched (including 11 starting assignments) and 118 innings, and posted a 4–7 record with an

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

of 3.74 and four complete games. He split 1946 between the MLB Indians and the Triple-A Oakland Oaks, working in 13 games for Cleveland (with six more starts) from July through the end of the season. He then returned to the minors for the remainder of his active career, and spent nine years as a minor league

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

, working mostly for the Philadelphia Phillies' organization. During his MLB career, Gassaway appeared in 39 games (with 19 starting assignments) and 180 innings pitched, allowing 188 hits and 91 bases on balls. He

struck out 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 denote ...

80 and registered four complete games.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gassaway, Charlie 1918 births 1992 deaths Baseball players from Tennessee Binghamton Triplets players Chicago Cubs players Cleveland Indians players Elmira Pioneers players Jersey City Giants players Kansas City Athletics scouts Major League Baseball pitchers Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Minor league baseball managers Montreal Royals players Nashville Vols players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Pensacola Pilots players Philadelphia Athletics players Tri-City Braves players Tyler Trojans players Wenatchee Chiefs players