Gene Stephens spent 12 years in the majors, beginning his career with 8 season in Boston. While he appeared in a lot of games are Fenway, Gene mostly made appearances late in games as a replacement for Ted Williams. While he has a career total of 964 games played, he only has 1,913 plate appearances. In 1956, he appeared in 104 games, but only had 75 at bats. Near the end of the 1960 season, Stephens was traded to the Orioles. Hampered with an injured wrist, his play was limited with Baltimore, and it saw Gene traded to the KC Athletics mid season in 1961. However, a knee injury limited his play again in 1961 and had him on the bench for most of the '62 season.
Traded to the White Sox at the start of the 1963 season, he spent most of it in the minors while his knee healed, only appearing in six games for the South Siders. However, a promising start in 1963 earned a call up from Al Lopez and Gene finished his career in Chicago with the Sox barely missing out on the post season by a single game.
Gene didn't return to baseball in 1965, instead entering the business world and retiring from Kerr-McGee after 22 years in marketing.
Claim to fame: While playing behind Williams limited hit playing time, Stephens made the most of it on June 18, 1953. In a blow out against the Tigers, Gene became the first modern player (since 1900) to collect three hits in a single inning. In a 17 run 7th inning, Stephens smacked a double and two singles.
Comic answer: The old Philadelphia Athletics
Card condition: Miscentered with dinged corners at the top of the card. No scratches on the face. The back is also off centered with dirt and some fading.
No comments:
Post a Comment