Robert Ford Garrison (August 29, 1915 – June 6, 2001), nicknamed "Rocky" and "Snapper", 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 Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. An

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 c ...

, the native of Greenville, South Carolina, threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed . He appeared in 185 games 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

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

(1943–44) and Philadelphia Athletics (1944–46).

Career

Garrison played 1,822 games during a long minor league career (1938–43; 1946–52; 1954–56). The bulk of his Major League playing career took place during World War II — although he missed part of the 1945 season while serving in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

.BaseballinWartime.com
/ref> His best season was , when he was a regular outfielder for the Athletics after the Red Sox traded him on May 7. In 134 games that year he

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

.267 ( 133-for- 498) with four home runs, 39

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

, and 63 runs scored. He tied for tenth in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

with ten stolen bases and tied for fifth with 19

sacrifice hits In baseball, a sacrifice bunt (also called a sacrifice hit) is a batter's act of deliberately bunting the ball, before there are two outs, in a manner that allows a baserunner to advance to another base. The batter is almost always put out, an ...

. He played in just six games for the A's in 1945 and in just nine in 1946. In a total of 185 career MLB games, Garrison was 180-for-687 (.262), and 37 walks and two hit by pitches pushed his on-base percentage up to .302. He had six home runs, 56 RBI, and scored 80 runs. He was an above-average defensive outfielder for his era, handling 425 out of 431 chances successfully for a .986 fielding percentage. His minor league career also was interrupted by one season () as a Major League coach on the staff of

Cincinnati Redlegs Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

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 ...

Rogers Hornsby Rogers Hornsby Sr. (April 27, 1896 – January 5, 1963), nicknamed "The Rajah", was an American baseball infielder, manager, and coach who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1915–1926, 193 ...

. Hornsby managed Garrison in 1950 when both were with the

Beaumont Roughnecks Beaumont may refer to: Places Canada * Beaumont, Alberta * Beaumont, Quebec England * Beaumont, Cumbria * Beaumont, Essex ** Beaumont Cut, a canal closed in the 1930s * Beaumont Street, Oxford France (communes) * Beaumont, Ardèche * ...

of the Double-A

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

. Garrison died at the age of 85 in

Largo, Florida Largo is the third largest city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, as well as the fourth largest in the Tampa Bay area. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 82,500, up from 69,371 in 2000. Largo was first incorporated in ...

References

External links

*
Retrosheet
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Garrison, Ford 1915 births 2001 deaths Amsterdam Rugmakers players Augusta Tigers players Baseball players from South Carolina Beaumont Exporters players Beaumont Roughnecks players Boston Red Sox players Cincinnati Redlegs coaches Fort Worth Cats players Harlingen Capitals players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball outfielders Newark Bears (International League) players Philadelphia Athletics players Portland Beavers players Sportspeople from Greenville, South Carolina United States Navy personnel of World War II