Franklin Lee Brosseau (born July 31, 1944) is an American former

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. He played three 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), ...

as a right-handed

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for the and

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 ...

. A graduate of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, where he received a B.A. degree in mathematics, Brosseau stood tall and weighed . Brosseau began his six-season (1966–71) professional career as 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 cat ...

in the Pirates'

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. But after

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only .176 and .211 in successive campaigns in Class A, he converted to pitcher in 1968, and posted strong

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 ...

s in both 1968 (1.88, with the

Gastonia Pirates The Gastonia Pirates were a minor league baseball team, based in Gastonia, North Carolina, between 1959 and 1972. The club was a Class-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates and played primarily in the Western Carolinas League. The club was origin ...

of the Class A Western Carolinas League) and 1969 (1.90, with the

York Pirates The York White Roses was the name of a minor league baseball team in the city of York, Pennsylvania, US, that existed from 1894–1969. History Early years The York White Roses began as members of the short-lived Keystone Association in 1884. ...

of the Double-A Eastern League). Brosseau was then recalled by Pittsburgh in September 1969 for his first taste of MLB service. In his debut game, on September 10 at Forbes Field, he replaced

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

Steve Blass Stephen Robert Blass (born April 18, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player and television sports color commentator. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates in a ...

in the fourth

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against the St. Louis Cardinals, with the Bucs already trailing 4–0. Brosseau gave up a run-scoring

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to Curt Flood, but got the final

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to limit the damage.1969-9-10 box score from Retrosheet
/ref> However, in the fifth inning, he left the bases loaded with only one out before being relieved by

Bruce Dal Canton John Bruce Dal Canton (June 15, 1941 – October 7, 2008) was a major league pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1967–70), Kansas City Royals (1971–75), Atlanta Braves (1975–76), and Chicago White Sox (1977). Career Dal Canton's career ...

, who then allowed two of Brosseau's runners to score. Those two earned runs would account for the only runs charged to Brosseau in his brief MLB career. Brosseau retired the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

in order in his second appearance on September 21, 1969; then, recalled from the Triple-A Charleston Charlies in June 1971, Brosseau again faced the Cardinals and, this time, retired all five batters he faced.1971-6-13 box score from Retrosheet
/ref> All told, in 3⅔ Major League

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 ...

, he gave up three

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, two earned runs, and two

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 ...

, with two strikeouts.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brosseau, Frank 1944 births Living people Baseball players from North Dakota People from Pembina County, North Dakota Charleston Charlies players Columbus Jets players Gastonia Pirates players Major League Baseball pitchers Pittsburgh Pirates players Raleigh Pirates players Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball players York Pirates players