1947
Born November 13, 1947
Lancaster, PA, USA
Gene Garber Marquee
b. November 13, 1947 · Pittsburgh Pirates 1969–1970, 1972, Kansas City Royals 1973–1974, 1987–1988, Philadelphia Phillies 1974–1978, Atlanta Braves 1978–1987
On August 1, 1978, with Rose's hitting streak at 44 and two out in the ninth, he struck him out with a changeup. Rose said afterward that Garber had pitched to him as though it were the seventh game of the World Series. Garber's reply was that it was the ninth inning of a game his club was winning, which is the whole argument in two sentences.
He pitched in 931 games across nineteen seasons and saved 218 with a 3.34 earned run average, throwing sidearm with his back turned almost fully to the plate before releasing. Ten of the seasons were in Atlanta, where he saved 30 in 1982 for a club that won the division.
Philadelphia traded him to the Braves in the middle of the 1978 season, which is why he was pitching for Atlanta on the night the streak ended. No Hall of Fame ballot has ever listed him and he was never chosen for an All-Star team.
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | PIT | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| 1970 | PIT | 14 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .667 |
| 1972 | PIT | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| 1973 | KCR | 49 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1974 | KCR/PHI | 51 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| 1975 | PHI | 71 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .167 |
| 1976 | PHI | 59 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .286 |
| 1977 | PHI | 64 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | .000 |
| 1978 | ATL/PHI | 66 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | .071 |
| 1979 | ATL | 68 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | .300 |
| 1980 | ATL | 68 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .500 |
| 1981 | ATL | 35 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| 1982 | ATL | 69 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | .133 |
| 1983 | ATL | 43 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .000 |
| 1984 | ATL | 62 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | .143 |
| 1985 | ATL | 59 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .200 |
| 1986 | ATL | 61 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .167 |
| 1987 | ATL/KCR | 62 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .000 |
| 1988 | KCR | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Career | — | 933 | 115 | 7 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 41 | 0 | .148 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | PIT | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5.0 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5.40 |
| 1970 | PIT | 0 | 3 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 22.1 | 22 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 5.24 |
| 1972 | PIT | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6.1 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 7.11 |
| 1973 | KCR | 9 | 9 | 48 | 8 | 11 | 152.2 | 164 | 72 | 49 | 60 | 4.24 |
| 1974 | KCR/PHI | 5 | 2 | 51 | 0 | 5 | 76.0 | 74 | 26 | 44 | 41 | 3.08 |
| 1975 | PHI | 10 | 12 | 71 | 0 | 14 | 110.0 | 104 | 44 | 27 | 69 | 3.60 |
| 1976 | PHI | 9 | 3 | 59 | 0 | 11 | 92.2 | 78 | 29 | 30 | 92 | 2.82 |
| 1977 | PHI | 8 | 6 | 64 | 0 | 19 | 103.1 | 82 | 27 | 23 | 78 | 2.35 |
| 1978 | ATL/PHI | 6 | 5 | 65 | 0 | 25 | 117.0 | 84 | 28 | 24 | 85 | 2.15 |
| 1979 | ATL | 6 | 16 | 68 | 0 | 25 | 106.0 | 121 | 51 | 24 | 56 | 4.33 |
| 1980 | ATL | 5 | 5 | 68 | 0 | 7 | 82.1 | 95 | 35 | 24 | 51 | 3.83 |
| 1981 | ATL | 4 | 6 | 35 | 0 | 2 | 58.2 | 49 | 17 | 20 | 34 | 2.61 |
| 1982 | ATL | 8 | 10 | 69 | 0 | 30 | 119.1 | 100 | 31 | 32 | 68 | 2.34 |
| 1983 | ATL | 4 | 5 | 43 | 0 | 9 | 60.2 | 72 | 31 | 23 | 45 | 4.60 |
| 1984 | ATL | 3 | 6 | 62 | 0 | 11 | 106.0 | 103 | 36 | 24 | 55 | 3.06 |
| 1985 | ATL | 6 | 6 | 59 | 0 | 1 | 97.1 | 98 | 39 | 25 | 66 | 3.61 |
| 1986 | ATL | 5 | 5 | 61 | 0 | 24 | 78.0 | 76 | 22 | 20 | 56 | 2.54 |
| 1987 | ATL/KCR | 8 | 10 | 62 | 0 | 18 | 83.2 | 100 | 38 | 29 | 51 | 4.09 |
| 1988 | KCR | 0 | 4 | 26 | 0 | 6 | 32.2 | 29 | 13 | 13 | 20 | 3.58 |
| Career | — | 96 | 113 | 931 | 9 | 218 | 1510.0 | 1464 | 560 | 445 | 940 | 3.34 |
On this day & linked events
1969
Major-league debut: Gene Garber
Gene Garber made a major-league debut on June 17, 1969.
1988
Final major-league game: Gene Garber
Gene Garber played a final major-league game on July 1, 1988.