Gene Desautels Marquee

b. June 13, 1907 · Detroit Tigers 1930–1933, Boston Red Sox 1937–1940, Cleveland Indians 1941–1943, 1945, Philadelphia Athletics 1946

Gene Desautels caught 712 games across twelve seasons and hit .233, which was accepted because the job in the 1930s was defined by what a catcher did with pitchers rather than with a bat. Boston used him as its regular receiver for four years.

He caught for Detroit as a young man, for the Red Sox in the Jimmie Foxx and Ted Williams years, and for the Cleveland clubs of the early 1940s, before finishing with Philadelphia in 1946.

Born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1907 to French-Canadian parents, Desautels drew 232 walks and scouted for decades afterwards. He was eighty-seven when he died, in November 1994.

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1930	DET	42	126	13	24	4	2	0	9	7	9	2	.190
1931	DET	3	11	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	.091
1932	DET	28	72	8	17	2	0	0	2	13	11	0	.236
1933	DET	30	42	5	6	1	0	0	4	4	6	0	.143
1937	BOS	96	305	33	74	10	3	0	27	36	26	1	.243
1938	BOS	108	333	47	97	16	2	2	48	57	31	1	.291
1939	BOS	76	226	26	55	14	0	0	21	33	13	3	.243
1940	BOS	71	222	19	50	7	1	0	17	32	13	0	.225
1941	CLE	66	189	20	38	5	1	1	17	14	12	1	.201
1942	CLE	62	162	14	40	5	0	0	9	12	13	1	.247
1943	CLE	68	185	14	38	6	1	0	19	11	16	2	.205
1945	CLE	10	9	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	.111
1946	PHA	52	130	10	28	3	1	0	13	12	16	1	.215
Career	—	712	2012	211	469	73	11	3	187	232	168	12	.233

On this day & linked events

1907

Born June 13, 1907

Worcester, MA, USA

1994

Died November 5, 1994

1930

Major-league debut: Gene Desautels

Gene Desautels made a major-league debut on June 22, 1930.

1946

Final major-league game: Gene Desautels

Gene Desautels played a final major-league game on September 22, 1946.

Image: Play Ball cards, published by Bowman Gum, public domain