Gordon Ray Windhorn (December 19, 1933 – May 21, 2022) 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 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 is ...

who appeared in 95

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

over parts of three seasons (, and ) 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 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 ...

for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

, Kansas City Athletics, and Los Angeles Angels. He also played six seasons in Japan for the

Hankyu Braves The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefectur ...

from 1964–1969. Born in

Watseka, Illinois Watseka is a city in and the county seat of Iroquois County, Illinois, United States. It is located approximately west of the Illinois-Indiana state line on U.S. Route 24. The population of Watseka was 5,255 according to the 2010 census, which ...

, he threw and batted right-handed, and was listed as tall and . He attended

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. Windhorn's professional career extended from 1952 through 1963. He signed originally with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

, but made his MLB debut with the Yankees in September 1959 when he went hitless in 11 at bats. Traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the beginning of the campaign, he played for their Triple-A affiliates the

Montreal Royals The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team in Montreal, Quebec, during 1897–1917 and 1928–1960. A member of the International League, the Royals were the top farm club (Class AAA) of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939; pi ...

(1960) and Omaha Dodgers (early 1961), before his recall to Los Angeles for his most successful MLB stint. Playing in 34 games for the 1961 Dodgers, he had eight hits in 33 at bats, and slugged his only two big-league

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s: they came in back-to-back games against the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

September 11-12.

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

1961 LA N Regular Season Batting Log
/ref> He rounded out his MLB tenure in 1962 by getting into 54 games combined for the Athletics and Angels, then spent 1963 at Triple-A before decamping for Japan. As a major leaguer, Windhorn collected 19 hits, 11 of them for extra bases; he batted .176 with eight

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 bat ...

. In

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

, he got into 641 games, with 501 hits, including 86 homers, and posted a .255 batting mark.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Windhorn, Gordie 1933 births 2022 deaths American expatriate baseball players in Japan Baseball players from Illinois California Angels scouts Danville Leafs players Denver Bears players Hankyu Braves players Hawaii Islanders players Kansas City Athletics players Los Angeles Angels players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball outfielders Montreal Royals players New York Yankees players Oklahoma City Indians players Omaha Dodgers players Oshkosh Giants players People from Watseka, Illinois Phoenix Senators players Portland Beavers players Richmond Virginians (minor league) players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Sioux City Soos players Sunbury Giants players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic American expatriate baseball players in Canada