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Herb Gorman

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American baseball player (1924-1953)

Baseball player
Herb Gorman
Gorman, circa 1951
Pinch hitter
Born: (1924-12-19)December 19, 1924
San Francisco, California
Died: April 5, 1953(1953-04-05) (aged 28)
San Diego, California
Batted: LeftThrew: Left
MLB debut
April 19, 1952, for the St. Louis Cardinals
Last MLB appearance
April 19, 1952, for the St. Louis Cardinals
MLB statistics
Games played1
Hits0
At bats1
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams

Herbert Allen Gorman (December 19, 1924 – April 5, 1953) was an American professional baseball player. He had only one Major League at bat in a single game played for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1952; then, the following season, he died at age 28 after he was stricken with a fatal heart attack while he was playing a minor league game.

Career

Gorman was Jewish. Born in San Francisco, he threw and batted left-handed, stood 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall, and weighed 180 pounds (82 kg). His minor league career spanned eleven seasons, from 1943 until 1953, with 1944–45 missed during Gorman's military service in the United States Coast Guard during World War II.

Originally signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers, he began his career as a first baseman and moved to the outfield in 1949. In Gorman's one MLB at bat, on April 19, 1952, at Wrigley Field, he pinch hit for Cardinals' pitcher Willard Schmidt and grounded out to second base against Cubs' starter Turk Lown. He spent the remainder of 1952 with the San Diego Padres of the top-level Pacific Coast League, batting .261 in 108 games.

After returning to the Padres in 1953, he was playing left field on April 5 in a home game against the Hollywood Stars, his former PCL team. According to accounts of the game, he had hit two doubles but left the contest when he complained of chest pain during the sixth inning. He died en route to a local hospital from a massive heart attack.

Lefty O'Doul, his manager in San Diego, commented that Gorman "never complained, never caused trouble – he just wanted to play. I wanted to see how some rookies would do, so that's why he was making his first start. But I quickly saw that Gorman should play. A quiet fellow who just minded his own business. It's a terrible loss for his family and our team."

He was interred at Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose.

In 2002, he was inducted into the San Francisco Hall of Fame.

References

  1. "Big League Jews". Jewish Sports Review. 12 (137): 18. January–February 2020.
  2. Bedingfield, Gary, "Those Who Served," Baseball in Wartime
  3. 1952-4-19 box score from Retrosheet
  4. Newspaper article, The Associated Press, April 6, 1953
  5. "Herb Gorman Suffers Heart Attack During a Pacific Coast League Game". thisdayinbaseball.com. April 5, 1953. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  6. Gorman, Robert M (2009). Death at the Ballpark. United States: McFarland. p. 65. ISBN 9780786434350.
  7. Cohen, Irwin (June 19, 2013). "The tragedy of Herb Gorman". The Jewish Press. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  8. "Herb Gorman", Retrosheet
  9. Chapin, Dwight (April 5, 2002). "S.F. Hall of Fame to induct 7 athletes and 2 coaches". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 3, 2024.

External links


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