gene brabender

[tigger 48]

Anybody know what happened to gene when the pilots moved to milwaukee in 1970. his pitching and stats went really downhill. did he have arm problems.

[janduscframe]

I had a friend share a night in the drunk tank with Gene in Madison a number of years ago. That might be a clue.

[VIBaseball]

He had arm problems. Go to paperofrecord.com and check out The Sporting News issues of July 4 and December 12, 1970. He had a sore shoulder and tried to pitch through it.

The Angels, who traded for him after the 1970 season, released him in April 1972 after the arm didn`t improve. He retired a couple of weeks later to spend more time with his family. But he played in a local Wisconsin league, at least in `72!

[Dodgerfan1]

He retired a couple of weeks later to spend more time with his family.

One of my favorite quotes of all time. I love it when professional people (athletes, politicians, etc) say this, many times through their agents and PR people. Some of my faves:

1) 'I am stepping down in order to spend more time with my family.'

2) 'The check is in the mail.'

3) 'Your call is important to us.'

4) 'It's not about the money.'

5) 'Not to offend you, but...'

6) 'My dog ate it.'

7) 'Trust me, this time I've really changed.'

I still love #1 more than any of the others. The most insincere statement ever uttered by man or beast.

[VIBaseball]

Cynical but funny, Dodgerfan1. I swallowed the line from the Wisconsin paper without even thinking abut it.

Back to Brabender: I looked at his 1971 minor-league stats with Salt Lake City, the Angels Triple-A club. They were dreadful (1-4, 8.67 in 27 innings over 13 games). He barely pitched at all after May. He must really have been hurting.

By the way, was his name pronounced BRAY-bender or BRAH-bender?

[Dodgerfan1]

Cynical but funny, Dodgerfan1. I swallowed the line from the Wisconsin paper without even thinking abut it.

Back to Brabender: I looked at his 1971 minor-league stats with Salt Lake City, the Angels Triple-A club. They were dreadful (1-4, 8.67 in 27 innings over 13 games). He barely pitched at all after May. He must really have been hurting.

By the way, was his name pronounced BRAY-bender or BRAH-bender?

It's BRAH-Bender.

[Westlake]

7) 'Trust me, this time I've really changed.'


Hey dude.. watch what you post online. No wonder she didn't take me back. I'll remove the knife from my back now, Bill.

[VIBaseball]

This thread prompted me to work on a full-length profile of Bender. It's coming along really well thanks to many excellent sources. But I have one unanswered question, and maybe you all here can help.

I want to know the name of the Dodgers scout who signed Gene to his first pro contract back in 1960. I have not been able to find that yet, only the Orioles scout who recommended that Baltimore take him off L.A.'s roster in the Rule V draft in 1965.

Stay tuned. :)

[VIBaseball]

This is now live. I hung on for some input from his Orioles teammate Brooks Robinson, and Jim Bouton was also nice and helpful.

All the Bender detail one could want is here...including the scout who signed him first.

http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&bid=2388&pid=1421

[janduscframe]

Wow, great job on the story. I may very well have been his neighbor? I left the little town of Arena in 93 and at that time there couldn't have been more than 400 people. I think it's a lot larger now. When I was there in the 90's, almost all the homes were modest. A church, post office, the Sand Bar tavern and a chicken coop converted into a strip bar...

[LameDuck]

Great job on the Gene Brabender bio. Excellent!