Jesse Lemar Gonder (January 20, 1936 – November 14, 2004) 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 ...

player. A

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

and

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, A ...

, he played in

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 ...

from 1960 to 1967 for 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 ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

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

Milwaukee Braves The Milwaukee Braves were a Major League Baseball club that played in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1953 to 1965, having previously played in Boston, Massachusetts, as the Boston Braves. After relocating to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1966 they were rename ...

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

. Gonder batted left-handed, threw right-handed, and was listed as tall and . He played for

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...

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 ...

Casey Stengel Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel (; July 30, 1890 – September 29, 1975) was an American Major League Baseball right fielder and Manager (baseball), manager, best known as the manager of the championship New York Yankees of the 1950s and later, t ...

with both the Yankees (1960) and Mets (1963–65). He was born in

Monticello, Arkansas Monticello ( ) is a college town in, and the county seat of, Drew County, Arkansas. As of 2023, it had an estimated population of 8,175. Founded in 1849 in the Arkansas Timberlands near the Arkansas Delta region, the city has long been a comm ...

, but attended

McClymonds High School McClymonds High School is a public high school in the West Oakland neighborhood of Oakland, California, Oakland, California, United States. In addition to being the third oldest high school in Oakland, it is the only comprehensive high school ...

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, alma mater of

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

Bill Russell William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played Center (basketball), center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. He was t ...

, as well as two of Gonder's future MLB teammates,

Frank Robinson Frank Robinson (August 31, 1935 – February 7, 2019), nicknamed "the Judge", was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for five teams over 21 seasons: the Cincinnati Reds (1956–196 ...

and

Vada Pinson Vada Edward Pinson Jr. (August 11, 1938 – October 21, 1995) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played as a center fielder in Major League Baseball for 18 years (1958–1975), most notably for the Cincinnati Reds, for wh ...

. Gonder signed with Cincinnati in 1955 and began his 15-year professional career. Acquired by the Yankees' Triple-A Richmond Virginians affiliate in , he made his MLB debut that September and hit a pinch

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...

off

Bill Monbouquette William Charles Monbouquette (August 11, 1936 – January 25, 2015) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox (1958–65), Detroit Tigers (19 ...

for his first big-league

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

on September 30.1960-9-30 box score
from

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores fr ...

He was a member of the Yankees for the first weeks of the season as a pinch hitter before being sent back to Richmond for the rest of the year. The Reds then reacquired Gonder in an off-season trade for

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, ...

Marshall Bridges Marshall Bridges (June 2, 1931 – September 3, 1990) was an American baseball pitcher who played in the Major Leagues from 1959 to 1965 for the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees and Washington Senators. A strong left-hand ...

. Assigned to the Triple-A

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

, Gonder led the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

in batting (.342) and

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) 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 th ...

(116) and was named the PCL's most valuable player. He was recalled by Cincinnati that September, then spent the following four full seasons in 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 ...

. Gonder batted over .300 in (.304) in part-time duty for the Reds and Mets, and was the Mets' regular catcher in , starting behind the plate for 82 games and setting personal bests in home runs (seven) and runs batted in (35). Gonder reverted to part-time status in 1965, and for the remainder of his big-league career played behind regular catchers Chris Cannizzaro,

Joe Torre Joseph Paul Torre Jr. (; born July 18, 1940) is an American professional baseball Senior management, executive and former player, Manager (baseball), manager, and television color commentator. He has served as a special assistant to the Commiss ...

and Jim Pagliaroni. He was sent to Triple-A in June 1967 and wrapped up his pro career in 1969. In the Majors, Gonder collected 220 hits, including 28 doubles, two

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

and 26 home runs. Five of those home runs came as a pinch hitter. Gonder died in Oakland after a brief illness on November 14, 2004 at the age of 68.

References

External links

1936 births 2004 deaths 20th-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen African-American baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Cuba American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Baseball players from Arkansas Baseball players from Oakland, California Cincinnati Reds players Clovis Pioneers players Columbus Jets players Havana Sugar Kings players Major League Baseball catchers Milwaukee Braves players 20th-century American sportsmen New York Mets players Ogden Reds players Pacific Coast League MVP award winners People from Monticello, Arkansas Phoenix Giants players Pittsburgh Pirates players Port Arthur Sea Hawks players Richmond Braves players Richmond Virginians (minor league) players San Antonio Missions players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Seattle Angels players Seattle Rainiers players Sultanes de Monterrey players Temple Redlegs players Wausau Lumberjacks players Wenatchee Chiefs players {{US-baseball-catcher-1930s-stub