Gene Bearden

In the American League’s first-ever season-ending tiebreaker, the Cleveland Indians’ rookie sensation, Gene Bearden, faced the Boston Red Sox on October 4, 1948 at Fenway Park. At stake was who would face the Boston Braves in the World Series. Bearden’s last two starts had been shutout victories, giving him a 19-7 won-lost record for the season. Indians manager Lou Boudreau placed the weight of the entire season upon the shoulders of the tall left-hander with just one day’s rest following his October 2 win over Detroit.

The newspaper stories that followed Bearden’s 8-3 complete-game victory over the Red Sox heralded him as a hero, and featured a picture of him being carried off the field by his teammates.1 “I’ll bet I was the most surprised person in the ball park,” Bearden said, noting that he was unaware of the innings as he pitched or when he had reached the end of the ballgame, “until the fellows…carried me off the field on their shoulders.”2 Even the Red Sox’ hometown newspaper, the Boston Globe, noted Bearden as the game’s hero on its front page.3 Not only was the pitcher’s mound performance cause for celebration, but newspapers across the country emphasized the World War II Navy veteran as a wartime hero who survived the sinking of the cruiser USS Helena – though the tale was wholly untrue.4 Bearden’s story is of a congenial guy, a fearless competitor and negotiator, and a man who did not hesitate to stretch the truth.

Following his winner-take-all victory over the Red Sox, Bearden also nailed down the Indians’ World Series victory – still their last as of 2022 – with clutch relief pitching. However, the 28-year-old rookie never came anywhere close to the same level of success in his five remaining years in the majors. Never a strikeout pitcher, Bearden achieved success by getting hitters to ground out on a unique pitch that dove below the strike zone. His fortunes suffered when big-league hitters learned to lay off that pitch.

Henry Hodge Eugene Bearden’s path to naval drama and baseball heroics began in the town of Lexa, just outside Helena, Arkansas, on September 5, 1920. His father, John Henry Bearden, was an Arkansan by birth and worked as a railroad brakeman. Bearden’s mother, Ella Belle (née Price), hailed from Mississippi and was wedded to John in 1919. Gene’s only sibling, his little sister Leatrice Joy Bearden, was welcomed to the family on January 22, 1924.

By 1936, the Bearden family had relocated from Spring Creek, Arkansas to Memphis, Tennessee. Gene attended Memphis Technical High School, playing football, basketball, and baseball in all three years, as well as running track.5 He graduated in the spring of 1938.6

The tall (6-foot-3) lefty then played semiprofessional baseball in Greenbrier, Arkansas before being signed by Philadelphia Phillies manager Doc Prothro in January 1939.7 Bearden went to spring training in New Braunfels, Texas, to work with the major-league club. Most of his work in camp came in intra-squad games. His only game experience against another major-league club came in a 16-13 loss to the St. Louis Browns. Bearden entered in the third inning and doused a Browns rally. He then pitched a scoreless fourth and fifth inning before yielding three runs in the sixth, ending his day. Nevertheless, young Bearden’s efforts were viewed positively, and he was compared to another tall lefty, Hall of Famer Eppa Rixey, “in action and stature.”8

The 18-year-old did not join the Phillies as they broke camp. “I am just about the luckiest guy in the world,” he said upon assignment to the Moultrie Packers of the Georgia-Florida League (Class D).9 In the offseason, Bearden followed in his father’s occupational footsteps and found work with the Atlantic Coastline Railway in the Macon, Georgia shops.10 The Ford Motor Company in Memphis also employed him as a glass assembler.11

Bearden spent the entire 1939 season with the Packers, posting a 5-11 won-lost record with a 3.48 ERA in 168 innings. Another year in Class D ball followed in 1940, as Bearden pitched for the Miami Beach Flamingos in the Florida East Coast League. There he improved considerably: in 238 innings across 38 games, Bearden was a dominant force with an 18-10 record and a superb 1.63 ERA. He was voted the MVP of the Miami Beach squad.12

Ahead of the 1941 season, Miami Beach sold Bearden to the Atlanta Crackers in the Southern Association (Class A-1).13 However, he was reassigned to the Savannah Indians in the South Atlantic (“SALLY”) League (Class B) for further seasoning after pitching in a handful of spring games.14 Meanwhile, Miami Beach had second thoughts about moving its star pitcher, and reacquired him from Savannah on April 17.15 So, despite his superb 1940 performance, the tall Arkansan found himself in Class D Miami Beach for a second year. Again he triumphed, going 17-7 with a 2.40 ERA in 30 games

Professional baseball’s landscape began to change in the weeks following the United States’ entry into World War II, despite President Roosevelt’s “green light” for baseball to proceed in his letter to Commissioner Landis. However, for Bearden, 1942 started out just like 1941.

Originally the property of the Class A-1 Atlanta Crackers, Bearden was ticketed for a third season in the Class D Florida East Coast League. This time, Miami Beach had to fight off the Miami team to obtain Bearden’s services.16 Rather than feeling stuck, it turned out that Bearden enjoyed pitching in the Miami area.17 However, Bearden started the 1942 season with shoulder troubles and pitched sparingly that spring. 18 He was reduced to mop-up duty in the Flamingo’s 20-7 loss to Miami.19 Following their May 17 game against the Miami Seminoles at Miami Stadium, the Flamingos began to disperse their roster as the Florida East Coast League voted to disband until after the war. Bearden and two others were sent to Savannah.20

Injury-plagued for much of the 1942 season, Bearden pitched seldom and poorly for Savannah. However, he appeared to recover in late July when he was sent to the Detroit Tigers’ affiliate in Augusta, Georgia (also in the SALLY League). There, Bearden turned in some stellar performances, including a 3-hit shutout of the Macon Peaches on August 4.21 Overall, Bearden was limited to 60 innings in 13 games. His 4-4 record with a 7.47 ERA does not truly represent a season that started with disappointment in Class D and ended with encouraging signs in Class B.

More than two weeks after making his last mound appearance, on September 22, Bearden applied to enter the United States Navy at the Poplar Bluff, Missouri recruiting station. His great-grandfather had been a veteran of the Seminole War and his father was a World War I veteran.22 Gene Bearden may have been inspired to enlist by a family legacy of service, though he listed his reason to join as patriotic.23

On October 13, 1942, in St. Louis, Missouri, Bearden was sworn into active duty in the U.S. Naval Reserve V6 program (general service and specialists) for four years.24 He went to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station north of Chicago for boot camp. Upon graduation, Fireman Second Class (F2/c) Bearden was transferred on December 1 to the Naval Training School in Memphis for his first phase of training as an aviation machinist’s mate in the Navy’s Lighter-than-Air program.25 After welcoming the new year, on January 6, 1943, Bearden married Constance Juanita Collier (née Davis), who went by her middle name, Juanita.26 With his initial training complete, F2/c Bearden was transferred on March 20, 1943, to the Lighter-than-Air School at Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, New Jersey, for the remainder of training.27

Bearden’s progress through his training and naval career to this point was normal considering the highly specialized naval aviation program for which he was selected. However, a subsequent incident dramatically affected the remainder of his time in uniform. Though the details are unknown, in late April 1943, in the Lakehurst barracks, the duty master-at-arms (station police) charged F2/c Bearden with three separate counts: creating a disturbance in the barracks after Taps; insolence to the duty master-at-arms; and using profane language. He appeared for a captain’s mast hearing before his commanding officer on May 1. It resulted in Bearden’s dismissal from the naval air program. He was restricted to the Lakehurst base pending transfer.28

On May 10 Bearden was transferred to Receiving Station, Boston to await orders. While assigned there, he completed a course of instruction at the Anti-Aircraft Training Center in Newport, Rhode Island.29 On May 29 Bearden detached from the receiving station and reported aboard the newly built C-497-Class submarine chaser, USS SC-1330, in Dorchester, Massachusetts.30

As the USS SC-1330 was sailing from Massachusetts to her new home in Mayport, Florida, the Brooklyn-class light cruiser USS Helena was supporting operations in the South Pacific. On June 29, while escorting the SS Jean Brilliant from Miami to Nassau, British West Indies, the USS SC-1330 collided with another escort vessel, the Coast Guard cutter CG-83421. The collision resulted in no loss of life or serious injuries, but the cutter eventually sank.31

As Bearden and his sub-chaser shipmates contended with the aftermath of their ship’s collision in Florida waters, on the opposite side of the world, the men of the USS Helena were about to engage enemy forces in the fight of their lives. In the early hours of July 6, 1943, Japanese destroyers launched eight torpedoes at American warships during the Battle of Kula Gulf. Three of the eight weapons struck the port side of the Helena below the waterline, causing massive damage: a broken keel and overwhelming flooding. Within minutes of the second torpedo’s detonation, the captain issued the order to abandon ship. As the crew began their egress, the third torpedo hit the sinking vessel and exploded. Shortly after, the cruiser began to break apart as she sank. Out of her crew of nearly 1,200, 168 were lost.

Back in Florida, with his ship in drydock undergoing emergency repairs following the collision, F2/c Bearden requested on-base housing and subsistence allowance on July 9.32 In summary, Bearden was not aboard the USS Helena during the Battle of Kula Gulf.

While stationed at Mayport, Bearden was a pivotal member of the Naval Section Base Bluejackets baseball team that included several former minor-leaguers and semipro ballplayers. The Bluejackets competed in the “Victory League,” which consisted of a combination of service and defense industry teams.33

With his sea tour completed, F2/c Bearden was transferred from the SC-1330 in early October 1943 to the Mayport-Jacksonville Naval Section Base.34 He was then assigned to the base’s Garage Division,35 enabling consistent play on the base team in the coming season. Weeks after his transfer, Bearden took leave to travel back to Arkansas to be with his wife in anticipation of her giving birth. With the expiration of his extended leave, Bearden reported back to Mayport. In early December struggling with a lingering injury. Bearden was transferred to the Naval Hospital at Jacksonville, Florida, where he underwent surgery on his right leg to address pain and recurring knee-locking. The December 10 procedure resulted in a resected medial meniscus of the right knee.36 Days after his surgical procedure, Bearden’s wife gave birth to their son, Gary Eugene Bearden,37 on December 19, 1943.38 Bearden remained attached to the Naval Hospital until he was released to return to duty on February 11, ahead of the Bluejackets’ spring training.

After Bearden’s dismissal from the Lighter-than-Air program, his performance marks were good. He passed his advancement exam on March 20, 1944, and was promoted to motor-machinist’s mate third-class (MoMM3/c) on April 1.39

The 1944 Bluejackets, with Bearden leading the pitching, captured the Victory League crown.40 In their final game of the season against the Army Air Base, Bearden pitched a six-hit, 4-0 shutout and accounted for two of his team’s six hits.41

Plagued by knee pain during “deep flexion” throughout the season, Bearden found himself back at the Jacksonville Naval Hospital with “slight enlargement of the right knee joint.” Bearden disclosed to the Navy doctors that he’d injured his knee while playing football in 1939.42 Bearden had not disclosed the injury to the Navy during his application to enlist two years earlier.43 Further examination and x-rays revealed a “loose body in the region of the lateral intercondylar imminence” and “changes to the medial lips of the knee joint.” In December a Naval Medical Board determined that the pitcher was no longer physically qualified for retention in the Navy.44 On January 4, 1945, MoMM3/c Bearden was honorably discharged from the U.S. Naval Reserve, having served just over two years of his four-year enlistment.45

Free from military service, Bearden (by then 24) resumed his baseball career under contract with the New York Yankees organization. He was added to the Class-A Binghamton Triplets roster in March 1945. Bearden was a dominant pitcher in the league, posting a 15-5 record with a 2.41 ERA. He walked 72 batters while striking out 60 as he worked to regain control of his pitches. On September 4, Binghamton sold Bearden to Newark of the Class AA International League.46 He made one losing appearance against the Baltimore Orioles.

Upon Bearden’s arrival in Newark, William Klein of the Newark Star-Ledger interviewed the new pitcher. Klein’s article focused on Bearden’s MVP-caliber season in Class A and his World War II exploits. On September 6, four days after the Japanese surrendered aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, the newspaper published an incredible story of survival that followed Bearden for the rest of his life. Klein wrote, “Bearden was in frequent action while serving as a machinist’s mate. He was aboard the cruiser Helena which was torpedoed and sunk in the Kula Gulf with heavy loss of life.”47

In an age when verification was difficult and good stories made good copy, Bearden’s tale was accepted at face value. According to the Klein article, Bearden’s harrowing experience did not end with the Helena. “After a year’s hospitalization, he was assigned to the Elliott and again was fished out of the Pacific when an aerial torpedo sent the destroyer to the bottom.” The injuries Bearden reportedly sustained were substantial. “Bearden was hardly scratched,” Klein reported, “except for both legs broken, his right arm shattered in several spots and a severe back injury.” By this account, after yet another extended period of hospitalization and recovery, Bearden was discharged.48

With the end of the war, troops were returning home from overseas en masse for the next several months. The 1945 World Series between Detroit and Chicago dominated the headlines of the sports pages. Thus, Bearden’s story did not reach beyond the Star-Ledger and its audience. On November 18 Bearden (by then divorced from Juanita) married the former Lois Jane Shea.49

Ahead of the 1946 season, Newark optioned the pitcher to the Triple-A Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League.50 Under manager Casey Stengel, Bearden’s .789 winning percentage (15-4) was the best among Oakland’s starting pitchers. With two other hurlers posting 15-win seasons, the Oaks finished four games behind the PCL champions, the San Francisco Seals. On December 6 the Yankees traded Bearden to Cleveland along with Allen Gettel and Hal Peck in exchange for Ray Mack and Sherman Lollar.51

Bearden joined the Indians in Tucson, Arizona for spring training 1947 and emerged as the front-runner to capture the 11th spot on Lou Boudreau’s pitching staff. He made the major-league team, but appeared just once, 15 games into the season. Pitching in relief against the St. Louis Browns on May 10, he retired one hitter, surrendered two hits and an intentional walk, and was charged with all three runs. He was then optioned to the Triple-A Baltimore Orioles in the International League.52 Bearden, who at the time made his home in Los Angeles and had a wife and baby, was bitterly disappointed at this turn of events. By June 4, he had left the Orioles, who suspended him and fined him $500. From his home in Long Beach, Bearden appealed to Indians owner Bill Veeck to send him back to Oakland where he could pitch nearer to home.53 On June 20, the suspension was lifted and Baltimore transferred Bearden to Oakland, where he pitched for the remainder of the 1947 season.54

In 1947 Bearden developed a new pitch, a quasi-knuckleball, to add to his fastball and slider. He used a unique three-finger grip with a quick delivery, causing the ball to break sharply downward, often out of the strike zone. Lacking the typical fluttering movement of a traditional knuckleball, Bearden’s pitch was more similar to a spitball.55 Based on its described dropping motion, the pitch’s action could also be compared to that of Bruce Sutter’s split-fingered fastball in the late 1970s and 1980s. In 26 games for the Oaks, Bearden amassed a 16-7 record and a 2.86 ERA, completing 17 of his starts with a near 1:1 strikeout to walk ratio. He was the Oaks’ top starter as the team finished in fourth place.

Casey Stengel desired to retain the hurler in Oakland for 1948.56 However, Bearden’s consistent performance over his three post-military seasons dashed Stengel’s hopes. After signing his contract in late February, Bearden reported to the Indians’ spring training camp in Tucson. Cleveland Plain Dealer staff correspondent Harry Jones watched Bearden in camp and reported that his effectiveness with the knuckleball was certain to land him on the club’s opening day roster.57

In an interview with Jones, Bearden revisited his September 1945 story about the USS Helena and described the Kula Gulf battle. “We were chasing a couple of Jap tin cans [submarines]. Somehow, we got right between ’em and they let us have it, but good. The ship went down in 16 minutes.” Bearden continued, “I was in the engine room and had started up the ladder when we got hit. The next thing I remember I was in the water.” Three years after he first told it, Bearden’s story of survival now included more details. “They told me afterwards that a chief pulled me out of the engine room and got me on a raft just before the ship went under. We were in the water for the next three days and I was conscious just about half the time.”58

His performance in camp and spring games earned the lefthander a roster spot as the club headed home for the season opener against St. Louis. However, Bearden did not see action for Cleveland until he started the 12th game of the season on May 8, in Washington. In 8 2/3 innings, he was impressive, allowing one run on three hits, walking four and striking out five in the 6-1 victory – his first major-league win. Bearden helped his cause offensively, singling off Washington’s Sid Hudson in the eighth, driving in a run, and scoring on Larry Doby’s inside-the-park homer.

Following his first major-league win, Bearden’s USS Helena story was revisited once again – gaining momentum as it appeared in more newspapers. With the new attention, Bearden continued to embellish the story. “Given instructions to abandon ship, Gene began to climb a metal ladder leading out of the engine room when a second torpedo struck,” said the Plain Dealer on May 9. “The ladder crumbled, and he was hurled to the floor below. His knee was twisted and crushed, his head was split open by flying fragments and he lay unconscious in the pit of the sinking ship.” 59

The story took on a life of its own, “I don’t know how many doctors told me that,” Bearden mentioned with regard to losing the ability to return to the game following the sinking. He reportedly had an aluminum plate and screw in his knee and another aluminum plate in the back of his head. “I didn’t know what to do,” he told the Plain Dealer, “I ran across a doctor who said he might be able to patch me up well enough. I think his name was Wyland.”60

Aside from the surgeries to repair his damaged skull and knee, Bearden told of spending a month in bed, two months in cast, and a total of seven months before he was able to walk without crutches. He said he left the hospital in 1945 following physical therapy. Bearden also had an explanation regarding his 1946 trade to Cleveland. “The Yankees must have found out about my leg and traded me because of that,” Bearden surmised. “We had to take physical examinations for the club and the doctors discovered that I had a plate and screw in my knee.”61

Bearden’s story snowballed and got carried in newspapers nationwide. For his second start, billed as a match-up of Purple Heart veterans, Bearden faced the Philadelphia Athletics at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium on May 18. He squared off against Lou Brissie, an Army veteran who was severely wounded in a German artillery barrage on December 7, 1944 in northern Italy’s Apennine Mountains.62 Bearden went the distance for the Tribe in the 6-1 win as he allowed six hits, walked four, and fanned three. At the plate, Bearden was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Meanwhile, Brissie was knocked out in the second inning. The Purple Heart theme continued, however, when Bob Savage, a 3rd Army vet who was peppered with shrapnel during a German mortar attack, took over for Brissie.63

On September 15, Cleveland was 84-55, in third place, 3½ games behind first-place Boston with 15 games left. Bearden was 14-7 with a 2.68 ERA. In the final 15 games, Boudreau gave Bearden the ball five times, and Gene won all five with a 1.90 ERA. The Monday, October 4 tiebreaker should have been 20-game winner Bob Lemon’s start, but he had lost his last two outings. Still, it was a major surprise for Boudreau to go with the rookie Bearden on one day’s rest.64 But Bearden came through, hurling a complete game while yielding only five hits and one earned run. Boudreau’s two home runs provided more than enough cushion in Cleveland’s 8-3 win. Indians batboy Billy Sheridan related a typical Bearden story. Sheridan stated that he had breakfast with Bearden after the all-night celebration following the Indians victory. “I had scrambled eggs,” Sheridan recalled, years later, “and he had Scotch and soda.”65

For the 1948 season, Bearden started 29 games, winning 20 and losing seven. He led the AL with a 2.43 ERA in 229 2/3 innings, featuring six shutouts among 15 complete games. Nevertheless, Bearden struggled with control: he walked 106, ninth most in the AL, while striking out just 80. He finished a distant second to Alvin Dark of the Boston Braves in Rookie of the Year voting (1948 was the second and last season when only one Rookie of the Year was selected, versus one per league). Bearden also finished 8th in the AL MVP vote.

Following his hero’s exit from the field at Fenway after defeating Boston in the single-game playoff, Bearden’s wartime story, including his purported wounds and Purple Heart, once again dominated newspapers from coast to coast.66

Having pitched two complete games in three days, the rookie southpaw did not appear in the World Series against the Braves until the third game on Friday, October 8. With the Series tied 1-1, Bearden pitched a five-hit complete-game, 2-0 shutout. He struck out four and walked none, needing just 85 pitches. In addition to dominating Braves batters, Bearden helped himself at the plate, accounting for two of his team’s five hits. In the top of the third with one out, he doubled off Braves starter Vern Bickford for the Indians’ first hit of the game. Two batters later, the pitcher scored the game’s first run on an errant throw to first by shortstop Dark. Bearden also singled off Bickford in the fourth after Cleveland scored its other run on Jim Hegan’s one-out RBI single.

Leading the Series, 3-2, Bob Lemon started the sixth game for Cleveland. Heading into the eighth with a 4-1 lead, Lemon faltered. Tommy Holmes led off with a single, but after Dark lined out, Earl Torgeson doubled and Lemon walked Bob Elliott to load the bases. Boudreau was set to have Bearden start Game Seven should the Braves pull even – but decided to gamble and use Bearden to preserve the three-run lead. Pinch-hitter Clint Conaster drove Bearden’s 1-2 pitch deep to center, allowing Holmes to tag and score easily on the long fly out. Phil Masi followed with a double, scoring Torgeson to pull the Braves within a run. Facing Mike McCormick with two outs and a 1-0 count, Bearden coaxed the Braves outfielder to ground softly back to the mound. He fielded the ball and threw McCormick out at first, ending the eighth. In the top of the ninth, Boston’s Warren Spahn retired the Indians in order, striking out the side.

Bearden returned to the mound to close out the Series. After Eddie Stanky walked on seven pitches, Sibby Sisti, pinch-hitting for Spahn, tried to sacrifice but popped out to catcher Hegan, who threw to first, nailing pinch-runner Connie Ryan for a double play. Holmes then flied to deep left field for the final out. Bearden got the save in Game Six to go with his win in Game Three.67

Bearden parlayed the success of his rookie season into two Hollywood feature motion pictures released in 1949. Bearden appeared as himself in The Stratton Story, featuring James Stewart as Monty Stratton, the White Sox pitcher who lost his leg in a hunting accident. He once again played himself in a lesser-known film, The Kid from Cleveland.

In 1949 Bearden appeared to pick up right where he left off. He won his first three starts, giving him 11 victories in a row, and his ERA was 2.33. But ironically, he was upended by physical injuries. He had suffered a leg injury during spring training that put him out for two weeks.68 Then pitching against Washington on May 8, he pulled a leg muscle, an injury that was expected to sideline him for ten days. “They tell me it’s a sciatic pull and that I have to give it a lot of rest,” Bearden said.69 He attempted a start against the Yankees on May 17, but plainly favoring the injured leg, he was raked for 16 hits in seven innings.70 The leg continued to be a problem in an up and down season that ended with Bearden going 8-8 with a 5.10 ERA.

By 1950 it was clear that the magic was gone. Bearden pitched mostly out of the bullpen for the Indians, and was unreliable. As they fought the Tigers and Yankees for the pennant, the Indians used Bearden very sparingly in June and July. His ERA was 5.96 when Washington picked him up off waivers on August 2. Bearden pitched more, and better, for the fifth place Senators, starting nine games and registering a 4.21 ERA. After one start in 1951, however, the Senators waived him and the Tigers picked him up. Pitching almost exclusively in relief for Detroit, he recorded a 4.33 ERA to go with a 3-4 mark and a mediocre 1.604 WHIP.

Traded to the St. Louis Browns in 1952, Bearden’s 150 2/3 innings in 34 games was his most extensive action since his rookie year. He started 16 games, completing three for the seventh-place Browns. Waived again in early 1953, Bearden spent his last big-league season with the White Sox. He regained some of his old form, bringing his ERA down to 2.93 while going 3-3 in 25 appearances. For Chicago, the 32-year-old was predominantly a reliever; he started only three games.

Despite his success in 1953, Bearden’s penchant for drinking and misadventures may have worn out his welcome. He made news in September 1953 when he was sued for beating up a Chicago cab driver in a fight over a fare.71

Walks remained a problem for Bearden during this period. From 1949-53, he walked nearly twice the number of batters that he struck out, and yielded 5.3 free passes per nine innings.

What happened to 1948’s Man of the Year? In his 2011 memoir, Indians first baseman Eddie Robinson wrote of a late-1948 game against the Philadelphia Athletics during which Eddie Joost drew a walk from Bearden and struck up a conversation at the bag. “You know, we’re stupid to be swinging at that knuckle curve Bearden throws because it’s always a ball,” Joost remarked. Robinson wrote that Bearden’s knuckleball consistently arrived at the plate at the batter’s knees and broke to the ground, down and out of the strike zone. “Word got around, and hitters stopped swinging at that pitch after the ’48 season.”72

Former Yankees pitching coach Jim Turner explained that Bearden was great in 1948 because his control of the breaking ball was extraordinary. “He had it under perfect control…it came in at the bottom of the strike zone and dipped below it,” Turner explained. “Now a little later he lost that perfect control and when he had to [throw it for a strike] he brought it up a couple of inches, and…they could hit it.”73

For his part, Bearden agreed that control of his “knuckleball” was key, but blamed the 1949 preseason injury for damaging his sacroiliac, which threw off his stride and affected his control. “I pulled the [sacroiliac] out of line during an exhibition game…in 1949 and never felt the same again,” Bearden claimed.74 It affected his ability to toss “the knuckler and other stuff in the strike zone around the knees the way I used to,” he said.75

From 1954 to 1956 Bearden pitched in the Pacific Coast League with Seattle, San Francisco, and Sacramento. His 1954 season with Seattle was forgettable, as he pitched to an 11-13 record with a 4.05 ERA. Traded to San Francisco, he had a resurgence in 1955. He regained his control of the knuckler, which he credited to an Oakland chiropractor who cured his misaligned sacroiliac.76 By mid-June 1955 he was 10-1 and was the winning pitcher in the PCL All-Star game.77Although 34, Bearden claimed to be 32 as he hoped for another shot at the majors, but he faded in the second half of the season, and the majors did not come calling.78

He still finished 1955 with an 18-12 record and a 3.52 ERA. He pitched in Cuba over the winter, and the Milwaukee Braves gave him a conditional look in the spring of 1956. “The Braves are giving me a chance and it’s up to me now,” Bearden said. He blamed himself for his exit from the big leagues. “I had no sense. I popped off, I said and did things I shouldn’t have,” he admitted. “I drank some and got into arguments,” he added, citing the 1953 incident with the cab driver. Bearden vowed that his foolish days were behind him. He said he had matured and was taking better care of himself.79 However, Bearden was hit hard, and on March 29 the Braves returned the 35-year-old to San Francisco, which assigned him to Sacramento.80 Bearden completed his third straight PCL season with a 15-14 mark for the Solons and a respectable 3.48 ERA.

In 1957 he returned to Sacramento to begin what would be his final season. After making four appearances for the Solons, the 36-year-old was sold to the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association where he concluded his career. “After 19 years, I’ve had it,” Bearden told the Minneapolis Star as he announced his departure from the game.81

Bearden spent the remainder of his life in various jobs, including collections agent,82 radio station sales manager and sports director,83 restaurateur,84 and car salesman.85 Baseball was always a part of his life. Ahead of the 1959 season, he was considered for a coaching position with the Memphis Chicks. Bearden coached the state champion Electronic Supply American Legion ball team from Helena, Arkansas as they advanced through the 1960 regional tournament.86

Bearden’s story of surviving a WWII naval tragedy never left him, though in later years he glossed over the matter in his responses to press queries. He would not discuss his war experiences, merely saying, “I served all over the Solomons and that area.”87 By the 1970s, he would no longer talk to reporters when questioned about the sinking of the Helena. “Unless some customer starts talking baseball, he never brings it up first,” Milton Richman wrote in 1976. “And another thing he never talks about is how an aluminum plate had to be put in his skull.”88 In 2001 he dismissed his injury as something that he just went through, deflecting the subject by noting that everyone goes through rough times in their lives.89 It seems likely that the former pitcher came to terms with the fabrication and sought to put it behind him.

In 2001 Bearden was chosen as one of the Cleveland Indians’ 100 greatest players when the team celebrated its 100th anniversary. Team owner Larry Dolan said, “Indians fans will always remember his contributions to the team’s last World Series title in 1948.”90

Bearden’s first wife, Juanita, married Ed Shamlin of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, in 1945. Ed was an army veteran and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in South Carolina. Gene and Juanita’s son, Gary, took Ed’s surname, becoming Gary Eugene Shamlin. Gary grew up in South Carolina, attended Clemson as a ROTC student, served in Vietnam, and also made a career of the army, serving in Desert Storm and retiring as a brigadier general. As of 2023, he was still living in the Greenville, South Carolina area.91

Henry Hodge Eugene Bearden passed away on March 18, 2004, in Alexander City, Alabama. He is buried at Sunset Memorial Park in Walnut Corner, Arkansas. Lois, his wife of nearly 60 years, died in 2006. Gene and Lois were survived by their daughter, Gene (Bearden) Borowski, and one grandson, Johnathan Urschel.92 Gene and Lois’s son, John Shea Bearden, passed away in 1998.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Nowlin, Rory Costello, and Rick Zucker and fact-checked by Ray Danner.

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and:

US Navy Service Record, “Henry Hodge Eugene Bearden, MoMM2/c, 669 71 81, National Military Personnel Records Center.

Hennessy, Shawn, “A Sinking News Story: World Series Hero Gene Bearden, a Sub-Chaser and the Loss of the USS Helena,” Chevrons and Diamonds, October 2, 2021.

Hennessy, Shawn, “Sea Stories and Tales of Survival: 1948 World Series Hero Gene Bearden’s Knuckling Narrative,” Chevrons and Diamonds, October 9, 2021.

Photo credits: 1942 US Navy photo, courtesy of author’s collection. Baseball card photos courtesy of the Trading Card DB.

Notes

1 “Bearden Didn’t Know What a Hero He Was,” Miami Herald, October 5, 1948: 8.

2 “Bearden Didn’t Know What a Hero He Was.”

3 “2500 Series Ducats on Sale,” Boston Globe, October 5, 1948, 1.

4 See, for example, “Bearden Didn’t Know What a Hero He Was.”

5 Navy Personnel Qualifications Card, Henry Hodge Eugene Bearden Navy Service Record, obtained April 30, 2023.

6 “Gene Bearden Thinks He’s ‘Luckiest Kid,’” Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee), April 6, 1939: 19.

7 “Gene Bearden Signed by Phillies Team,” Mercury (Pottstown, Pennsylvania), March 1, 1939: 7.

8 Stan Baumgartner, “Phils Lose Final to Browns, 16-13,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 3, 1939: 17, 19.

9“Gene Bearden Thinks He’s ‘Luckiest Kid.’

10 “Ball Players Find It Hard to Quit Good Jobs Obtained During Winter,” Macon (Georgia) Telegraph, March 11, 1942: 9.

11 U.S. Navy Enlisted Personnel Qualifications Card, April 17, 1944.

12 “Gene Bearden Coming Back to Flamingos,” Miami News, April 18, 1941: 17.

13 Everett Clay, “Sportlighting: Around Our Town,” Miami Herald, February 14, 1941: 25.

14 “Crackers Send Five Players to Savannah in Second Squad Cut,” Atlanta Constitution, March 23, 1941: 6B.

15 “Gene Bearden Coming Back to Flamingos,” Miami News, April 18, 1941: 17.

16 “Jim Milner’s Single Gives Beach 7-6 Win,” Miami Herald, April 11, 1942: 11.

17 “Pitcher Gene Bearden Sought by Miami Club,” Miami Herald, April 4, 1942: 14.

18 Photo of Gene Bearden with Caption, Miami Herald, May 3, 1942: 14.

19 “Flamingos Take 20-7 Beating from Miami,” Miami Herald, May 11, 1942: 8.

20 “Beach-Miami In Final Appearance,” Miami Herald, May 17, 1942: 22.

21 “Machtloff Hurls Win in Opening Contest; Sprull Loses Final,” Macon Telegraph, July 28, 1942: 6; Jimmy Chapman, “Barely Hold First Place After Losses,” Macon Telegraph, August 5, 1942: 8.

22 “Veterans Administration Master Index,” 1917-1940, Ancestry.com, accessed May 7, 2023.

23 Application for Enlistment/NRB Form No. 24 (Revised), U.S. Navy, September 22, 1942.

24 Enlistment Documents, U.S. Navy, October 16, 1942.

25 U.S. Navy Transfer Order, December 1, 1942.

26 “Juanita Collier Becomes Bride of H.E. Bearden,” Daily American Republic (Poplar Bluff, Missouri), January 11, 1943: 3; Application for Family Allowances, Navy Department Request, January 8, 1943, shows her birth name of Constance Juanita Davis.

27 U.S. Navy Transfer Order, March 20, 1943.

28 U.S. Navy Transfer Order, May 6, 1943.

29 U.S. Navy Transfer Order, May 29, 1943.

30 U.S. Navy Transfer Order, May 29, 1943.

31 “The Coast Guard Cutters Lost At War, Lost Cutters VIII,” Historical Section, Public Information Division, U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, July 1, 1947.

32 Request for pay allowances for quarters and subsistence: July 9, 1943. Approved July 13, 1943.

33 Joe Pickett, “The Mayport Blue Jackets Play Ball,” Florida Times-Union (online): September 27, 2017.

34 U.S. Navy Transfer Order, October 8, 1943.

35 Leave Request, U.S. Naval Section Base, Mayport Florida, November 20, 1943.

36 Report of Medical Survey, U.S. Navy Board of Medical Survey, December 13, 1944.

37 Application for Family Allowances – Navy Department, January 11, 1944.

38 Missouri, U.S., Birth Registers, 1847-2002

39 Report of Examination/Advancement in Rating, March 1, 1944.

40 Joe Pickett, “The Mayport Blue Jackets Play Ball.”

41 “TAC to Play Sarasota Nine,” Orlando Evening Star, September 15, 1944: 5.

42 Report of Medical Survey, U.S. Navy Board of Medical Survey, December 13, 1944.

43 Applicant’s Physical Questionnaire, September 22, 1942.

44 Report of Medical Survey, U.S. Navy Board of Medical Survey, December 13, 1944.

45 Notice of Separation from the U.S. Naval Service, January 4, 1945.

46 “Newark Buys Bearden,” Times-Tribune (Scranton, Pennsylvania), September 5, 1945: 17.

47 William Klein, “Bears Get Bearden, Navy Vet,” Newark Star-Ledger, September 6, 1945: 17.

48 William Klein, “Bears Get Bearden, Navy Vet.”

49 “Gene Bearden,” The Sporting News Baseball Players Contract Cards Collection.

50 Abe Kemp, “One For Rookies: Regulars Bow in Oakland Camp,” San Francisco Examiner, March 2, 1946: 14.

51 “Yankees and Indians Stage Deal Involving Quintet of Players,” Troy Daily News (Troy, Ohio), December 6, 1946: 8.

52 “Tribe Pares Hurler, Fielder From Ranks,” Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun, May 15, 1947: 20.

53 “Lefthander is Unhappy, Skips Team,” Springfield News-Sun, June 15, 1947: 25.

54 Emmons Byrne, “DiMag Hits Homer with Two Aboard,” Oakland Tribune, June 21, 1947: 8.

55 Stan Baumgartner, “70,306 Watch Indians Turn Back Braves, 2-0; Bearden Stars as Tribe Takes 2-1 Series Lead,” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 9, 1948: 18.

56 Emmons Byrne, “The Bull Pen,” Oakland Tribune, December 28, 1947: 18.

57 Harry Jones, “Bearden Perfects Knuckler in Bid for Tribe Mound Job,” Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), April 11, 1948: 59.

58 Harry Jones, “Bearden Perfects Knuckler in Bid for Tribe Mound Job.”

59 “Bearden’s Secret is Out; Torpedo Can’t Stop Him,” Plain Dealer, May 9, 1948: C-1.

60 “Bearden’s Secret is Out; Torpedo Can’t Stop Him.”

61 “Bearden’s Secret is Out; Torpedo Can’t Stop Him.”

62 Gary Bedingfield, “Lou Brissie,” Baseball in Wartime (https://www.baseballinwartime.com/player_biographies/brissie_lou.htm).

63 Gary Bedingfield, “Bob Savage,” Baseball’s Greatest Sacrifice (https://www.baseballsgreatestsacrifice.com/wounded_in_combat/savage-bob.html).

64 Milton Richman, “Remember Indians’ Gene Bearden?,” Tampa Times, May 3, 1976: 3-C.

65 Ronnie Joyner, “Gene Bearden – The Unsinkable Man in Brown,” Pop Flies (St. Louis Browns Historical Society), Fall Newsletter 2004: 36.

66 Halsey Hall, “Confident Indians Feel Same About Series,” Star Tribune (Minneapolis), October 5, 1948: 17.

67 Although the “save” was not an official stat until 1969, earlier games have been reviewed and Bearden has since been credited with saving Game Six.

68 Jim Schlemmer, “Indians Reclaim Reich,” Akron Beacon Journal, May 10, 1949: 34.

69 “Injury-Plagued Tribe Hopes to Slow Down High-Flying Senators, Springfield (Ohio) Daily News, May 10, 1949: 13.

70 Joe Reichler, “NY Clips Bearden for 16 Hits, Triumphs 4-3,” Sandusky Register, May 18, 1949: 14.

71 “Cab Driver Sues Gene Bearden for Alleged Beating,” Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune, September 2, 1953: 13.

72 Eddie Robinson & C. Paul Rogers III, Lucky Me: My Sixty-Five Years in Baseball (Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2011). Retrieved May 25, 2023.

73 Ritter Collett, “Journal of Sports,” Journal Herald (Dayton, Ohio), March 23, 1961: 22.

74 “Pitcher Gene Beardon (sic) Aiming for Another Chance in Majors,” Daily News (Troy, Ohio), May 24, 1955: 10.

75 “Bearden Primed for Shot at Majors,” Akron Beacon Journal, May 24, 1955: 35.

76 “Gene Bearden of Seals Ready For Return to Major League,” Nevada State Journal, May 26, 1955: 11; “Pitcher Gene Beardon (sic) Aiming for Another Chance in Majors.”

77 “Gene Bearden Leads PCL Moundsmen,” Tucson Citizen, June 14, 1955: 16.

78 “Gene Bearden of Seals Ready For Return to Major League;” “Pitcher Gene Beardon (sic) Aiming for Another Chance in Majors.”

79 Joe Reichler, “New World for Gene Bearden,” Columbia (South Carolina) Record, March 16, 1956: 11.

80 “Gene Bearden Fails to Stick with Braves, Sioux City Journal, March 30, 1956: 19.

81 “Bearden Quits After 19 Years,” Minneapolis Star, September 17, 1957: 30.

82 “Whatever Happened To Gene Bearden?” Boston Globe, December 9, 1957: 23.

83 Arthur Richman, “Dan Parker, Broadway Bugle,” Courier-Post (Camden, New Jersey), August 27, 1958: 33.

84 “Bearden Content To Be A Fan,” Commercial Appeal, December 24, 1965: 12.

85 Milton Richman, “Remember Indians’ Gene Bearden?,” Tampa Times, May 3, 1976: 3-C.

86 Charles Cavagnaro, “Electronics Enters Regional Tourney Thursday,” Commercial Appeal, August 14, 1960: 21.

87 “Bearden Content To Be A Fan,” Commercial Appeal, December 24, 1965: 12.

88 Milton Richman, “Remember Indians’ Gene Bearden?”

89 Evelyn Archer, “Helena’s Gene Bearden,” Daily World (Helena, Arkansas) April 27, 2001: 13.

90 “Former Cleveland pitcher dead at 83,” Newark (Ohio) Advocate, March 20, 2004: 4.

91 “Juanita Shamlin,” Daily American Republic (Poplar Bluff, Missouri), December 15, 1983: 20; “Robbins-Shamlin,” Greenville (South Carolina) News, December 11, 1966: 27; Allah D. Wright, “Families won’t soon forget war,” Greenville News, March 10, 1991: 6E.

92 Johnathan Urschel joined the Navy following his high school graduation in 1990 and qualified for the Navy Nuclear Power School. “Service News,” Daily World (Helena, Arkansas), September 9, 1990: 12.