David Frederick Gerard (August 6, 1936 – October 10, 2001), 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 baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player, a right-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 career extended for ten seasons (1955–1964). A native of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, he grew up in

Yardley, Pennsylvania Yardley is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Yardley borders the Delaware River and Ewing, New Jersey to its east and Lower Makefield Township to its north, west, and south. The United States Post Office assigns many addresses in Lower Mak ...

. Gerard stood tall and weighed . He appeared in the Major Leagues in 39

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

in 1962 for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

. Gerhard was signed by the Cubs as an amateur free agent. In 58

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

for the ninth-place Cubs, Gerard allowed 67 hits and 28

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 ...

. 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 ...

30 and recorded three saves. Shortly before the 1963 season opened, Gerhard was traded to the

Houston Colt .45s 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 s ...

along with Danny Murphy for

Hal Haydel John Harold Haydel (July 9, 1944 - September 12, 2018) was an American professional baseball player who was a pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). Haydel signed with the Milwaukee Braves as a free agent in 1962. Later that year, he was drafted ...

Dick LeMay Richard Paul LeMay (August 28, 1938 – March 19, 2018) was an American professional baseball player. A left-handed pitcher, LeMay appeared in parts of three Major League Baseball seasons (1961–63), but had a long career in minor league basebal ...

and

Merritt Ranew Merritt Thomas Ranew (May 10, 1938 – October 18, 2011) was an American professional baseball catcher who appeared in 269 games over all or parts of five Major League Baseball seasons (1962–65; 1969) for five different teams. He batted left ...

. He spent the entire season with the

Oklahoma City 89ers Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

, the Colt .45s'

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

minor league affiliate. After beginning the 1964 season in Oklahoma City, he was traded to the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

organization and finished his playing career with the AAA

Columbus Jets The Columbus Jets were a Minor League baseball team that played in Columbus, Ohio, from 1955 to 1970. The team moved from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada where they were known as the Ottawa Athletics. The Jets were a member of the Triple-A (baseball), Tr ...

References

External links

1936 births 2001 deaths Baseball players from Pennsylvania Chicago Cubs players Columbus Jets players Fort Worth Cats players Houston Buffs players Lafayette Oilers players Major League Baseball pitchers Oklahoma City 89ers players People from Bucks County, Pennsylvania Paris Lakers players Salt Lake City Bees players San Antonio Missions players Baseball players from New York City {{US-baseball-pitcher-1930s-stub