Gordon Vincent Sundin (October 10, 1937 – May 2, 2016) was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player. He was a

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

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 professional career lasted for six seasons (1955–1959; 1961), but who made only one

appearance Appearance may refer to: * Visual appearance, the way in which objects reflect and transmit light * Human physical appearance, what someone looks like * ''Appearances'' (film), a 1921 film directed by Donald Crisp * Appearance (philosophy), or p ...

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), ...

— failing to record an out — for the

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) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

. Sundin batted

, stood tall, and weighed . Sundin's lone MLB appearance came on Wednesday, September 19, 1956, at

Briggs Stadium Tiger Stadium, previously known as Navin Field and Briggs Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium located in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit. The stadium was nicknamed "The Corner" for its location at the intersection of Michigan and Trumbul ...

against the Detroit Tigers. Baltimore was already behind, 8–1, when Sundin, three weeks shy of his 19th birthday, came into the game in the bottom half of the eighth inning. He faced two batters — Tiger pitcher Frank Lary and

Harvey Kuenn Harvey Edward Kuenn (; December 4, 1930 – February 28, 1988) was an American professional baseball player, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). As a shortstop and outfielder, he played with the Detroit Tigers (1952–1959), Clev ...

— and issued two bases on balls before he was relieved by

Billy O'Dell William Oliver O'Dell (February 10, 1933 – September 12, 2018), known as Billy O'Dell and also as Digger O'Dell, was an American professional baseball player who pitched in the Major Leagues in thirteen seasons: 1954 and from 1956 to 1967. ...

. Lary would later score an

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

charged against Sundin (giving the Baltimore pitcher 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 infinity per baseball's statistics). Sundin's catcher for that game was Tom Gastall, who entered the game with Sundin in the middle of the eighth. The next day, Gastall was killed in a plane crash. Sundin compiled a 14–23 win-loss record and a 5.86 ERA in 5 seasons of minor league baseball, retiring in 1961 at the age of 23.Minor league statistics
from

Baseball Reference Baseball-Reference is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is often used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advan ...

References

External links

1937 births 2016 deaths Amarillo Gold Sox players Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Minneapolis Knoxville Smokies players Major League Baseball pitchers Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball players Phoenix Stars players Sportspeople from Naples, Florida Tri-City Atoms players Vancouver Mounties players York White Roses players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1930s-stub