Edward Francis Bressoud (born May 2, 1932) is a former

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

who played from through for the New York / San Francisco Giants (1956–1961),

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

(1962–1965),

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major lea ...

(1966) and

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

(1967). He batted and threw right-handed, stood tall and weighed .

Early life

Bressoud was born in Los Angeles, the fourth of seven children of Charles Bressoud, a native of

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

who had French ancestry. He graduated from George Washington High School then attended

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) ...

and the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...

. He began his pro career in 1950 and missed two

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in No ...

seasons in military service during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

MLB career

In 1956, Bill Rigney became the manager of the Giants. Bressoud had played shortstop for Rigney at Minneapolis in 1956, and

Alvin Dark Alvin Ralph Dark (January 7, 1922 – November 13, 2014), nicknamed "Blackie" and "The Swamp Fox", was an American professional baseball shortstop and manager. He played fourteen years in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston/Milwaukee Bra ...

, the regular Giants' shortstop, had been injured in August 1955. During spring training, Rigney made plans to move Dark to third base and make Bressoud the starting shortstop. However, Bressoud started slowly and was sent back to Minneapolis at the beginning of the year. Dark was traded to the

on June 14, and Bressoud was immediately recalled to take his place. Bressoud spent two years with the MLB club in New York City, then four years after its 1958 transfer to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. He was the Giants' regular shortstop in both and , hitting .251 and .225. Bressoud was the first selection of the Houston Colt .45s in the 1961 expansion draft, then was traded to the Red Sox in exchange for their regular shortstop,

Don Buddin Donald Thomas Buddin (May 5, 1934 – June 30, 2011) was an American professional baseball shortstop. He played all or part of six seasons in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox (1956, 1958–61), Houston Colt .45s (1962) and Detroit T ...

. Bressoud played four seasons for Boston, hitting 40

doubles Men's doubles, Women's doubles or Mixed doubles are sports having two players per side, including; * Beach volleyball * Doubles badminton * Doubles curling * Footvolley * Doubles pickleball * Doubles squash * Doubles table tennis * Doubles te ...

, nine triples, 14

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, 79 runs and a career-high 68 RBI in 1962, and 59 extra-bases in 1963, including a career-high 20 home runs and four two-HR games. In he posted career-numbers in batting average (.293),

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album s ...

(166), runs (86) and doubles (41), and represented the Red Sox in the

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...

. After that, he played for the New York Mets and ended his major league career with the world champion Cardinals. In the

1967 World Series The 1967 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1967 season. The 64th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Boston Red Sox and the National Leag ...

— against Bressoud's former team, the Red Sox — he appeared in Games 2 and 5 as a late-inning replacement for light-hitting Cardinal shortstop

Dal Maxvill Charles Dallan Maxvill (born February 18, 1939) is a retired shortstop, coach and general manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). During his career, Maxvill played, coached, or was an executive for four World Series winners and seven league champ ...

, but did not record a

plate appearance In baseball statistics, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runn ...

. In a 12-season career, Bressoud was a .252 hitter with 925

, 94 home runs, and 365 RBI in 1,186 games.

Later life

Following his playing retirement he managed in the minor leagues and scouted for the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ...

. He was a faculty member and coach at De Anza College for more than 20 years. As of 2017, he and his wife Carol had been married for 58 years. They had two sons and two daughters.

References

External links

Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bressoud, Eddie 1932 births Living people American League All-Stars Baseball players from Los Angeles Boston Red Sox players California Angels scouts Major League Baseball shortstops Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players New York Giants (NL) players New York Mets players St. Louis Cardinals players San Francisco Giants players Sioux City Soos players Springfield Giants (Ohio) players