Gene Brabender
Hard-throwing righty who topped the Pilots' win column in their only year.
Last updated
via Wikipedia: Gene Brabender · see source
Gene Brabender, a 6-foot, 225-pound right-handed pitcher, broke into the majors with the Baltimore Orioles in 1966 and was part of their World Series championship team that year, though he didn't appear in a Series game. He later became a key arm for the Seattle Pilots during their lone season in the Pacific Northwest, leading the club with 13 wins in 1969. After his playing days ended in 1970 with the Milwaukee Brewers, Brabender returned to his family's dairy farm in Wisconsin. He passed away from a brain aneurysm on December 27, 1996, at age 55.
Background
Teammate and author Jim Bouton revealed that when Brabender was about to join the Seattle Pilots, his new teammates tried to come up with a fitting nickname for the huge newcomer. One pitcher mentioned that Brabender could take the metal spikes that anchor the bases and bend them with his bare hands, so they decided, 'We better call him Sir.' Bouton also wrote that Brabender was the clubhouse prankster who once nailed Bouton's shoes to the floor and would scare guys by shooting a dart into the wall above their heads with a homemade blowgun. In the mid-1970s, Bouton auditioned Brabender—whom he called 'Bender'—for the role of an intimidating teammate on the Ball Four TV sitcom, but former pro athlete Ben Davidson got the part instead.
Did You Know?
- Brabender was nicknamed 'Lurch' and also called 'Sir' by Pilots teammates after they learned he could bend metal base spikes with his bare hands.
- He served in the US Army from 1963 to 1964.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Gene Brabender (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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