Fred Earl Gladding (June 28, 1936 – May 21, 2015) was an American

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

baseball player Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

and

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 * Coac ...

. He was a right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

for all or parts of 13 seasons (1961–1973) with the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

and

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

. He was born in

Flat Rock, Michigan Flat Rock is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, United States, with a small portion of the city extending into Monroe County. At the 2020 census, the population was 10,541. History Flat Rock began as a Wyandot settlement. It was later designat ...

, and attended Flat Rock Community High School. He was listed at tall and . For his career, he compiled a 48–34 record and 109 saves in 450 appearances, all but one as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

, with a 3.13

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

and 394

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s in 601

innings pitched In baseball, the statistic innings pitched (IP) is the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of Batter (baseball), batters and baserunners that have been put out while the pitcher is on the Baseball field#Pitcher's mou ...

. Gladding led the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

in saves with

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

in 1969, the first season the statistic was officially recognized. In seven seasons with the Tigers, Gladding compiled a career record of 26–11 and a 2.70 ERA in 217 games. His .703 winning percentage with the Tigers is the highest in the franchise's history for a pitcher appearing in at least 200 games for the team. He returned to Detroit in 1976 as pitching coach and served three seasons on the staff of

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Ralph Houk Ralph George Houk (; August 9, 1919 – July 21, 2010), nicknamed "the Major", was an American catcher, coach (baseball), coach, manager (baseball), manager, and front office executive in Major League Baseball. He is best known as the successor o ...

. Gladding also has the distinction of having the lowest non-zero lifetime batting average in major league history. For his career he batted .016 (1 for 63). Gladding died on May 21, 2015, in Columbia, South Carolina.

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1936 births 2015 deaths Augusta Tigers players Birmingham Barons players Charleston Senators players Denver Bears players Detroit Tigers coaches Detroit Tigers players Houston Astros players Knoxville Smokies players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball pitching coaches National League (baseball) saves champions People from Flat Rock, Michigan Baseball players from Wayne County, Michigan Syracuse Chiefs players Valdosta Tigers players 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-pitcher-1930s-stub

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