Donald Joseph Gutteridge (June 19, 1912 – September 7, 2008) was an American

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

, manager and scout in Major League Baseball. Primarily a second baseman and third baseman, he was a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox and

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

over 12 seasons between 1936 and 1948, and later managed the Chicago White Sox in 1969–1970. He was the regular second baseman of the 1944 Browns, the only St. Louis entry to win an American League pennant. Born in

Pittsburg, Kansas Pittsburg is a city in Crawford County, Kansas, United States, located in southeast Kansas near the Missouri state border. It is the most populous city in Crawford County and southeast Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the ci ...

, Gutteridge was a first cousin of MLB catcher Ray Mueller. He threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed . After entering pro ball in 1932, Gutteridge played his first game for the Cardinals at age 24, and in only his fifth career major league game hit two

home runs 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 ...

in the first game of a doubleheader on September 11, 1936, including an inside-the-park home run and one steal of home plate. Over the course of his career, he was an average hitter with excellent speed and fielding ability; he turned five

double play In baseball and softball, a double play (denoted as DP in baseball statistics) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous play. Double plays can occur any time there is at least one baserunner and fewer than two outs. In Major Leag ...

s in a game in during the Browns' long pennant-winning season. Gutteridge was sold to the Red Sox in , where he played in his only other World Series. His MLB playing career ended after only two games with the Pirates in . In 1,151 games over 12 seasons, Gutteridge compiled a .256 batting average (1,075-for-4,202) with 586 runs, 200 doubles, 64

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

, 39

, 95

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

, 309

base on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

, 444 strikeouts, .308

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

and .362

slugging percentage 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, ...

. Defensively, he recorded a .956

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

. In the 1944 and 1946 World Series, covering nine games, he batted .192. (five-for-26). Before his contract obtained by the Red Sox on July 9, 1946, Gutteridge had been the player-manager of the Browns' top farm club, the Toledo Mud Hens of the Triple-A American Association. He resumed his managerial career in 1951, then coached for the White Sox for over a decade (1955–1966 and 1968–1969), including the pennant-winning team. In

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, he succeeded Al López as manager on May 3. He led Chicago to a fifth-place finish in the AL West that season. With the White Sox record a major league-worst 49–87, Gutteridge requested and was granted a release from his contract on September 2, 1970 after being informed by general manager

Stu Holcomb Stuart K. Holcomb (September 11, 1910 – January 11, 1977) was an American football and basketball coach best known for serving as head football coach for Miami University (1942–1943) and Purdue University (1947–1955). Before coaching, Holcomb ...

that he would not be retained for 1971. He was succeeded on an interim basis by Bill Adair. Gutteridge's record over those two partial seasons was 109–172 (.388). He later was a long-time scout for the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. Don Gutteridge died on September 7, 2008, in his hometown of Pittsburg after contracting pneumonia. At the time of his death, Gutteridge was the oldest living former manager or coach in Major League Baseball. He was also the last living member of the St. Louis Browns who played in the

1944 World Series World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

—the franchise's only Fall Classic.

Managerial record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gutteridge, Don 1912 births 2008 deaths Baseball coaches from Kansas Baseball players from Kansas Boston Red Sox players Chicago White Sox coaches Chicago White Sox managers Colorado Springs Sky Sox managers Columbus Red Birds players Houston Buffaloes players Indianapolis Indians managers Indianapolis Indians players Kansas City Royals scouts Lincoln Links players Los Angeles Dodgers scouts Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball first base coaches New York Yankees scouts People from Pittsburg, Kansas Pittsburgh Pirates players Pittsburg State Gorillas baseball players Sacramento Solons players St. Louis Browns players St. Louis Cardinals players Toledo Mud Hens managers Toledo Mud Hens players