James Edward Gentile (born June 3, 1934), also nicknamed "Diamond Jim", is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He played in

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 (AL), ...

(MLB) for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers,

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 sea ...

, Houston Astros, and

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

between 1957 and 1966.

Early career

Born in

San Francisco, California 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 17th ...

, Gentile was a powerful, left-handed slugger listed at 6' 4", 215 lb. He was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as a high school pitcher in 1952. He played his first minor league season as a pitcher, earning a 2-6

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of matc ...

. The next year he was converted into a first baseman. He languished for eight years in the minors for a Dodgers team that already had All-Star

Gil Hodges Gilbert Ray Hodges (''né'' Hodge; April 4, 1924 – April 2, 1972) was an American first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played most of his 18-year career for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers. He was widely regarded as t ...

at first base and Norm Larker. He dominated the minors, leading two separate leagues in home runs. On September 24, 1957, Gentile started at first base for the Dodgers at Brooklyn's famed

Ebbets Field Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball stadium in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York. It is mainly known for having been the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team of the National League (1913–1957). It was also home to five pro ...

in the final game played there. He was replaced by

Pee Wee Reese Harold Peter Henry "Pee Wee" Reese (July 23, 1918 – August 14, 1999) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers from 1940 to 1958. A ten-time All-Star ...

in the top of the fifth inning with Reese going to third base and Gil Hodges moving from third to first. The game's final batter, Pittsburgh's Dee Fondy, hit a ground ball to

Don Zimmer Donald William Zimmer (January 17, 1931 – June 4, 2014) was an American infielder, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB). Zimmer was involved in professional baseball from 1949 until his death, a span of 65 years, across 8 de ...

at shortstop and Zimmer threw to Hodges at first base for the game's final out.

Baltimore

Gentile was traded to Baltimore in 1960, where he was named to the 1960 All-Star Game his first full season. He enjoyed his best season in

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

, hitting career highs of .302

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, 46

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, 141

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

(see below), 96 runs, 147 hits, 25 doubles, 96 walks, .423 on-base percentage, .646

slugging average In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

and 1.069 OPS. He finished third in the

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

ballot (behind

Mickey Mantle Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Commerce Comet" and "the Mick", was an American professional baseball player. Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...

and Roger Maris). In addition, Gentile hit five grand slams — (including two straight in one game) — setting an American League record that stood until

Don Mattingly Donald Arthur Mattingly (born April 20, 1961) is an American former professional baseball first baseman, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He is the bench coach for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed ...

belted six in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

. In a nine-season career, Gentile batted .260 (759-for-2922) with 179 home runs, 549 RBI, 434 runs, 113 doubles, six triples, and three stolen bases in 936 games. Following his major league career, he played one season in Japan for the

Kintetsu Buffaloes The were a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team based in Osaka, Japan, which was in the Pacific League. In 2005 the team was merged with the Orix BlueWave to become the team now known as the Orix Buffaloes. The team played in Fujiidera Stadiu ...

in . Gentile managed the

Fort Worth Cats The Fort Worth Cats was a professional baseball team based in Fort Worth, Texas, in the United States. The Cats were a member of the South Division of the now disbanded United League Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Basebal ...

when they returned to baseball in and . Jim also managed the 2005

Mid-Missouri Mavericks {{Infobox Minor League Baseball , name = Mid-Missouri Mavericks , firstseason = 1994 , lastseason = 2005 , allyears = , city = , misc = Columbia, Missouri (2003-2005)Canton, Ohio (2002)London, Ontario (1999-2001)Kalamazoo, Michigan (1996-199 ...

of the

Frontier League The Frontier League is a professional independent baseball league with teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Formed in 1993, it is the oldest currently running independent league in the United States. The le ...

1961 RBI record keeping error

Gentile's 141 RBI in 1961 was second only to Roger Maris' 142 RBI, however, analysis by Retrosheet determined Maris was incorrectly credited with an RBI in a game on July 5, 1961. Maris reached base on an error by numerous accounts. Therefore, Gentile and Maris both had 141 RBI in 1961. Gentile's contract with the Orioles in 1961 called for a $5,000 bonus if he led the league in RBI. The Orioles made good on that deal 50 years later and presented Gentile with a check for $5,000 at a game in 2010. Gentile now lives in

Edmond, Oklahoma Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in the central part of the state. The population was 94,428 according to the 2020 United States Census, making it the fifth largest ci ...

.JIM GENTILE – 1961 Most Valuable Oriole , Urban Shocker's Weblog
Retrieved 2012-10-24.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gentile, Jim 1934 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Japan Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from San Francisco Brooklyn Dodgers players Cleveland Indians players Fort Worth Cats players Houston Astros players Kansas City Athletics players Kintetsu Buffaloes players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball first basemen Mobile Bears players Montreal Royals players Minor league baseball managers Oklahoma City 89ers players Pueblo Dodgers players St. Paul Saints (AA) players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Santa Barbara Dodgers players Spokane Indians players Sportspeople from Edmond, Oklahoma American expatriate baseball players in Colombia

Early career

Baltimore

1961 RBI record keeping error

See also

References

External links