Augustus Franklin Ketchum (March 21, 1897 – September 6, 1980) was an American professional

baseball 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 ...

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, ...

who played in six games for the 1922 Philadelphia Athletics of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). Listed at and , he threw and batted right-handed.

Biography

Ketchum played in

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

from 1922 to 1930, except for 1928. In 180 minor league pitching appearances, he accrued a 41–56 win–loss record. In August and September 1922, Ketchum pitched in six games for the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...

, the only major league appearances of his career. The Athletics had purchased his contract from the minor league Ardmore Producers for $1750 on July 11. In six relief appearances totaling 16 innings, he compiled an 0–1 record with a 5.62

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 ...

while striking out four batters. His loss came on August 11 in a road game against the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

at the

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 to 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built for the ...

; entering a 2–2 tie game, Ketchum pitched a scoreless eighth inning, then allowed a run in the ninth on two

walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined as an "inverted pendulum" gait in which the body vaults over ...

s, a

sacrifice bunt In baseball, a sacrifice bunt (also called a sacrifice hit) is a batter's act of deliberately bunting the ball, before there are two outs, in a manner that allows a baserunner to advance to another base. The batter is almost always put out, a ...

, and a game-winning single by opposing pitcher Bullet Joe Bush. Born in 1897 in Royse City, Texas, Ketchum died in 1980 in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, and was interred in

Altus, Oklahoma Altus () is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 18,729 at the 2020 census. Altus is home to Altus Air Force Base, the United States Air Force training base for C-17, KC-46 and KC-135 ...

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ketchum, Gus 1897 births 1980 deaths Baseball players from Oklahoma City People from Royse City, Texas Major League Baseball pitchers Philadelphia Athletics players 20th-century American sportsmen Ardmore Producers players Shreveport Gassers players Meridian Metropolitans players Mexia Gushers players St. Paul Saints players Marshall Indians players Toledo Mud Hens players Nashville Vols players Corsicana Oilers players Monroe Drillers players Peoria Tractors players Beaumont Exporters players Tampa Smokers players Shreveport Sports players Baseball players from Rockwall County, Texas Baseball players from Collin County, Texas