Ralph Overton "Razor" Ledbetter (December 8, 1894 – February 1, 1969) 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), ...
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 ...
who pitched one inning for the
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
in April 1915. He also played 11 years in minor league baseball from 1913 to 1926.
Ledbetter was born in
Rutherford College, North Carolina
Rutherford College is a town in Burke County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 1,341. It is part of the Hickory–Lenoir– Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The town was named for the ...
in 1894. He began playing professional baseball in the
North Carolina State League
The North Carolina State League was a "Class D" league in Minor League Baseball. The original version of the league existed from 1913–1917 as the successor to the Carolina Association. The second version of the league was established in 1937 i ...
in 1913. In 1914, he compiled a 26–12 record for the
Charlotte Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...
.
After his 26-win season, Ledbetter joined the
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
at the start of the 1915 season. On April 16, 1915, Ledbetter came in to pitch the top of the 9th
inning
In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...
in a home game against the
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...
at
Navin Field
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 ...
. He pitched a scoreless inning, but the Tigers lost 9–6.
[ He never appeared in another Major League game, although he did play for the Tigers in a May 10, 1915 exhibition game against the ]Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
. His lifetime ERA
An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth.
Comp ...
stands at 0.00.
Ledbetter returned to Charlotte for most of the 1915 season, compiling a record of 17–12. He continued to play in the minor leagues through the 1925 season, including stints with the Charlotte Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...
(1914–1915, 1920), Mobile Sea Gulls
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobile ...
(1916), Little Rock Travelers
The Little Rock Travelers were an American minor league baseball team located in Little Rock, Arkansas, and members (1902–1910, 1915–1958, 1960–1961) of the Southern Association, which as a Class A, A1 or Double-A (baseball), Double-A circuit ...
(1917, 1919), St. Joseph Saints (1923–1924), and Durham Bulls
The Durham Bulls are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Durham, North Carolina, and play their home games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which opened in ...
(1924–1925). He compiled a 19–9 record in 1921. His career record in the minor leagues was 119–112.[
Ledbetter died in ]West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...
.[
]
References
External links
Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ledbetter, Razor
Major League Baseball pitchers
Baseball players from North Carolina
Charlotte Hornets (baseball) players
Detroit Tigers players
Durham Bulls players
Greensboro Patriots players
Greenville Spinners players
Little Rock Travelers players
Mobile Sea Gulls players
Portsmouth Truckers players
Shreveport Gassers players
St. Joseph Saints players
1894 births
1969 deaths
People from Burke County, North Carolina