Ted Wade Abernathy (March 6, 1933 – December 16, 2004) 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 ...

and

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 ...

. He appeared in 681

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

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), ...

, 647 as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

, for seven different clubs over all or parts of 14 seasons between and , amassed 148 saves, and twice (, ) led 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 ...

in that category. He batted and threw right-handed, stood tall, and weighed . Abernathy was a member of the Washington Senators (1955–57, 1960),

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 ...

(1963–64),

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

(1965–66, 1969–70),

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

(1966),

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 ...

(1967–68),

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

(1970) and

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

(1970–72). He compiled a 63–69 record with 765

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s and a 3.46

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 ...

in 1,147

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 1,010

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

and permitted 592

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 ...

. A native of Stanley, North Carolina, Abernathy was born on March 6, 1933, to Wade and Genora (McGinnis) Abernathy. He graduated from Stanley High School and signed with the Senators in 1952. In 1953 he married Margie Clemmer. The couple had two sons, Ted Jr. and Todd.

Pitching career

Abernathy changed his pitching motion from an overhead delivery to a three-quarter delivery after tearing two muscles in his shoulder making a throw from the outfield during his freshman year of high school. After shoulder surgery in 1959 left his career in doubt, he switched from the three-quarter delivery and become an effective sidearmer who developed a

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

pitch. Abernathy spent two years in the minor leagues before being called up by the Senators in April 1955. Throughout most of the 1950s, he split time between the Senators' major league squad and their farm system. During the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, Abernathy was drafted into the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

, serving with medics, driving an ambulance and repairing vehicles. He served at

Fort McPherson Fort McPherson was a U.S. Army military base located in Atlanta, Georgia, bordering the northern edge of the city of East Point, Georgia. It was the headquarters for the U.S. Army Installation Management Command, Southeast Region; the U.S. Ar ...

, Georgia. Abernathy was discharged as a corporal in time to join the Senators for 1955 spring training. He made his Major League debut for the Senators at age 22 on April 13, 1955, in 19–1 loss to 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 ...

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...

. In the fourth inning, Abernathy relieved

Mickey McDermott Maurice Joseph "Mickey" McDermott Jr. (April 29, 1929 – August 7, 2003) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. Pre-professional career Mickey McDermott was the third son of Maurice McDermott Sr., a police officer and fo ...

and struck out

Andy Carey Andrew Arthur Carey (born Andrew Arthur Hexem, October 18, 1931 – December 15, 2011) was an American professional baseball third baseman. He played in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees (1952–1960), Kansas City Athletics (1960–1 ...

before giving up a home run to

Mickey Mantle Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Commerce Comet" and "the Mick", was an American professional baseball player. Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...

followed by a groundout by

Yogi Berra Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of Manager (baseball), manager and Coach (baseball), coach. He played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball ...

. Every one of his 34 MLB

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 ...

assignments came with the 1955–57 Senators, a struggling, second-division team in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

. Abernathy threw seven

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

s and two

shutouts In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

as a starter, but won only eight of 30 decisions during that three-year period. Apart from two games with Washington in , Abernathy spent five years (1958–62) toiling in minor league baseball before returning to the majors as a

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if t ...

ace for the 1963 Indians. Sold to the Cubs in April 1965, Abernathy recorded a league-leading 31 saves (again for a second-division team), along with 104 strikeouts and a 2.57 ERA. He had 28 saves, 88 strikeouts, and a 1.27 ERA two seasons later with Cincinnati. In both 1965 and 1967, he led the league in saves, and won the ''TSN'' Reliever of the Year Award. In , Abernathy won 10 games with 13 saves, and had 10 wins and 14 saves in . He led the National League in

games pitched In baseball statistics, games pitched (denoted by Games G in tables of only pitching statistics) is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher; a player who is announced as the pitcher must face at least one batter, although except ...

three times: 1965 (with 84, a major-league record at the time), 1967 and 1968.

After baseball

After retiring from the game, Abernathy worked at Summey Building Systems in

Dallas, North Carolina Dallas is a town in Gaston County, North Carolina, United States, and a suburb of Charlotte, located north of Gastonia. The population was 4,488 at the 2010 census. It was named for George M. Dallas, Vice President of the United States under Ja ...

, and later worked with his son at his landscaping business, Todd Abernathy Landscaping, and was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Dallas. He enjoyed playing softball and tinkering with old cars and was active in several organizations including the

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

, the

Shriners Shriners International, formally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (AAONMS), is an American Masonic society established in 1870 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Shriners International describes itself ...

and Major League Baseball's alumni society. During his later years, Abernathy suffered from

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

disease and lived at the Belaire Health Care Center in

Gastonia, North Carolina Gastonia is the largest city in and county seat of Gaston County, North Carolina, United States. It is the second-largest satellite city of the Charlotte area, behind Concord. The population was 80,411 at the 2020 census, up from 71,741 in 2010 ...

. Ted Abernathy died at age 71 on December 16, 2004, in Gastonia. He is interred at the Garden of Four Seasons in Gaston Memorial Park,

.Resting Places: The Burial Places of 14,000 Famous Persons, by Scott Wilson

References

External links

The Deadball Era Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abernathy, Ted 1933 births 2004 deaths Atlanta Braves players Austin Senators players Baseball players from Illinois Baseball players from North Carolina Charlotte Hornets (baseball) players Chattanooga Lookouts players Chicago Cubs players Cincinnati Reds players Cleveland Indians players Jacksonville Suns players Kansas City Royals players Leones del Caracas players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers Miami Marlins (IL) players People from Dallas, North Carolina People from Gaston County, North Carolina Roanoke Rapids Jays players St. Louis Cardinals players Salt Lake City Bees players Vancouver Mounties players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Wilson Pennants players

Pitching career

After baseball

See also

References

External links