Marshall Bridges (June 2, 1931 – September 3, 1990) was an American

baseball pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws (" pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who played in the Major Leagues from 1959 to 1965 for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

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 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 ...

and Washington Senators. A strong

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply l ...

pitcher with an excellent

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch (baseball), pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. Its distinctive feature is its high speed. "Power pitchers," such as former major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, relied on the ...

, Bridges was listed as tall and . After spending time with the

Negro league The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relativel ...

Memphis Red Sox The Memphis Red Sox were an American Negro league baseball team that was active from 1920 to 1959. Originally named the Barber College Baseball Club, the team was initially owned and operated by Arthur P. Martin, a local Memphis barber. In the l ...

, then bouncing around the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

for six seasons, he broke into the majors with St. Louis in the mid-season of

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

, posting a 6–3 won-lost record and a 4.26

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 ...

striking out ''Striking Out'' is an Television in the Republic of Ireland, Irish television legal drama television series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017, based on ''The Good Wife'' by Robert King (writer), Robert and Michelle King. Prod ...

76 hitters in 76

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). In cricket and rounders, "innings" is ...

. He might have pitched more in his first couple seasons, but sore heels gave him trouble. Used almost exclusively 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 ...

throughout his seven-season career, Bridges' best season came in while a member of the Yankees, anchoring the world champions' relief staff while recording a team-leading 18 saves to go with an 8–4 record and a 3.14 earned run average. However, that same season he also became the first

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

pitcher to give up a World Series

grand slam home run In baseball, a grand slam is a home run hit with all three bases occupied by baserunners ("bases loaded"), thereby scoring four runs—the most possible in one play. According to ''The Dickson Baseball Dictionary'', the term originated in the ...

when

Chuck Hiller Charles Joseph Hiller (October 1, 1934 – October 20, 2004) was an American Major League Baseball second baseman. In the 1962 World Series, he became the first National League player to hit a grand slam in a World Series. Hiller batted left-h ...

of the

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

got hold of one in Game 4. One of the era's most colorful characters, Bridges was nicknamed "Sheriff" and "Fox." He was known as a teller of tall tales and an instigator or victim of elaborate practical jokes. During

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

in a

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...

, bar, a disagreement between Bridges and a female patron resulted in her shooting him in the leg. The resulting negative publicity annoyed the image-conscious Yankee brass and may have been a major factor in them selling his contract to last-place Washington on November 30, 1963. His recovery from the gunshot wound was apparently complete, but Bridges never regained the dominance that he had shown in 1962. The 1965 Senators were Bridges' last stop in his MLB career. His lifetime totals include a won/lost record of 23–15, 25 saves, an ERA of 3.75 and 302 strikeouts in 345 innings pitched. Bridges died of cancer on September 3, 1990, at the age of 59 at the

University of Mississippi Medical Center University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) is the health sciences campus of the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) and is located in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. UMMC, also referred to as the Medical Center, is the state's only ac ...

in Jackson.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridges, Marshall 1931 births 1990 deaths 20th-century African-American sportsmen African-American baseball players Amarillo Gold Sox players American shooting survivors Austin Senators players Baseball players from Mississippi Baseball players from Jackson, Mississippi Beaumont Exporters players Cincinnati Reds players Danville Leafs players Deaths from cancer in Mississippi Hawaii Islanders players Jersey City Jerseys players Major League Baseball pitchers Memphis Red Sox players New York Yankees players Rochester Red Wings players Sacramento Solons players St. Louis Cardinals players Sioux City Soos players Topeka Hawks players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Washington Senators (1961–1971) players 20th-century American sportsmen