Franklin Washington "Gid" Gardner (May 6, 1859 – August 1, 1914) was a

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), ...

player during the 19th century. Between 1879 and 1888, Gardner played all or part of seven seasons for eight different teams in three different major leagues. He appeared in 199 games, mostly 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 ...

, but also spent some time as a second baseman and

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 ...

. He had a career

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .233 and a

pitching record Pitch may refer to: Acoustic frequency * Pitch (music), the perceived frequency of sound including "definite pitch" and "indefinite pitch" ** Absolute pitch or "perfect pitch" ** Pitch class, a set of all pitches that are a whole number of octave ...

of 2–12."Gid Gardner Statistics and History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved September 2, 2011.

Career

Gardner was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1859. He played on several amateur baseball teams in Cambridge until 1878."'Gid' Gardner Dead"
''Sporting Life''. August 22, 1914. p. 3. In 1879, he started his professional baseball career with the National Association's Worcester Grays, batting .188 in nine games. He then joined the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

Troy Trojans The Troy Trojans are the sports teams of Troy University. They began playing in the NCAA's Division I-A in 2001, became a football only member of the Sun Belt Conference in 2004, and joined that conference for all other sports in 2005. Troy Univer ...

and made his major league debut on August 23. He pitched in two games for Troy that year and lost both. The following season, Gardner played for the Cleveland Blues; he made nine starts, going 1–8 with a 2.57

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 ...

. Gardner spent 1881 in the Eastern Championship Association and 1882 in the

League Alliance The League Alliance was the first semi-affiliated minor league baseball league. Proposed by Al Spalding on January 15, 1877. Independent baseball teams were to affiliate with National League teams, which would honor their respective contracts. The ...

."Gid Gardner Minor League Statistics & History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved September 2, 2011. He started 1883 with the Camden Merritts of the Interstate Association, but the team disbanded in July, and he was acquired by the

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 ...

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 ...

. Gardner was mostly an outfielder for Baltimore. Over the rest of the season, he played in 42 games and batted .273. Gardner started 1884 with the Orioles. He played 41 games for them, batting .214, and then finished the season in the

Union Association The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for just the 1884 season. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season. Seven of the twelve teams who were in the Association at some poi ...

, batting .255 there. He returned to Baltimore in 1885 and hit .218 while playing mostly at second base. Gardner then went back down to the minors in 1886. He played 56 games for the Southern Association's Charleston Seagulls and batted .262. In 1887, he became captain of the

New England League The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states (Vermont excepted) between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League B ...

's Boston Blues, where he "reached the height of his fame," and also appeared in 18 games for the National League's

Indianapolis Hoosiers Indianapolis Hoosiers was the name of three major league and at least three minor league baseball clubs based in Indianapolis. * Indianapolis Hoosiers (American Association), which played in 1884 * Indianapolis Hoosiers (National League), which pla ...

. While at Indianapolis, Gardner became part of the first known platoon arrangement in baseball, as he split time with left-handed hitting Tom Brown. Gardner had a .175 batting average in his 18 games. In October 1887, Gardner was traded to the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

. He played one game for Washington before being traded in May 1888, to the Philadelphia Quakers, for

Cupid Childs Clarence Lemuel "Cupid" Childs (August 8, 1867 – November 8, 1912) was an American second baseman in Major League Baseball with a 13-season career from 1888, 1890–1901, playing for the Philadelphia Quakers, Cleveland Spiders, St. Louis Pe ...

and cash. Gardner appeared in one game for Philadelphia, but Childs refused to report to the Nationals, and the trade was nullified. Gardner returned to Washington and played his final major league game on May 29. In 1889, Gardner played for the Central Interstate League's Evansville Hoosiers. In early 1890, he signed with the John P. Lovell

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a consid ...

team, and by August was with a team based in

Norwich, Connecticut Norwich ( ) (also called "The Rose of New England") is a city in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The Yantic, Shetucket, and Quinebaug Rivers flow into the city and form its harbor, from which the Thames River flows south to Long ...

. Gardner then ended his professional baseball career the following season with Worcester of the New England League. After his baseball days were over, Gardner lived in Cambridge and "had no steady employment." He was working as a traveling salesman when, in 1914, he was confined to the

Cambridge Hospital Cambridge Hospital is a community teaching hospital located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is one of three hospitals that are parts of Cambridge Health Alliance. Services The main Cambridge Hospital campus has a wide variety of health services ...

for several weeks before dying of an aneurysm of the aorta."Gid Gardner Death Certificate"
. thedeadballera.com. Retrieved September 2, 2011. According to Gardner's obituary in '' Sporting Life'', from 1878 until about 1890 he "was one of the best ball players in the country." Gardner was buried in Cambridge City Cemetery.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Gid 1859 births 1914 deaths Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball pitchers Troy Trojans players Cleveland Blues (NL) players Baltimore Orioles (AA) players Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies players Baltimore Monumentals players Indianapolis Hoosiers (NL) players Washington Nationals (1886–1889) players Philadelphia Quakers players Worcester Grays players Philadelphia Athletics (minor league) players Washington Nationals (minor league) players Albany (minor league baseball) players Camden Merritts players Brockton (minor league baseball) players Rochester Maroons players Charleston Seagulls players Boston Blues players Haverhill (minor league baseball) players Evansville Hoosiers players Worcester (minor league baseball) players 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from Boston