By Woodrow Carroll
We all like stories with a twist. Former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher, Milt Gaston, gives us just that.
A native of New Jersey, Gaston played in the big leagues for 11 seasons, 1924-1934. Gaston broke in as a pitcher with the New York Yankees in 1924. During that initial campaign, Gaston ended up as a roommate with Yankees’ great, first-baseman, Lou Gehrig.
There was a uniqueness about Gaston for sure. He joined the Yankees at the age of 28. A legend in the semipro ranks, Gaston never played minor league baseball.
Gaston compiled a 5-3 won-loss record with the Yankees in his rookie year. Gaston’s time with Yankees lasted one season. The pitching-rich Yankees traded Gaston to the St. Louis Browns after the 1924 season. As it turned out, the move to the Browns started him on a long run where he usually toiled for franchises that were struggling.
Over the course of 11 seasons in MLB, Gaston compiled a less-than-spectacular 97-164 overall record. As it stands, his 67 games under .500 is the low in MLB.
Gaston did, however, get to rub shoulders with many of the game greats! Starting with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig as early teammates and moving to the likes of George Sisler with the Browns, among others, Gaston was with 17 teammates and managers elected to the Hall of Fame.
The 1927 Yankees were legendary, a 110-44 regular-season record. The Yankees tacked on a four-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates to win the World Series.
In 1927 every team played a 154-game schedule. Each team faced league foes in 22 games.
With the Yankees holding a 21-0 advantage against the Browns when the season came to a close in 1927, Gaston pitched the Browns to a 6-2 victory in the 22nd and final meeting between the two clubs. Thus, St. Louis avoided the ignominious distinction of being shut out by the Yankees in the season series.
In 1928, Gaston pitched for the Washington Senators, and, in keeping with his penchant for ending up in unusual situations, Gaston shut out the Cleveland Indians, 9-0, in a game in which he gave up 14 hits. Among the 14 hits he surrendered two doubles and a triple. Over all, it was not the greatest of campaigns for Gaston. He closed out with a 6-12 record and an ERA higher than 5.00.
Having already touched upon the Hall of Fame luminaries Gaston shared the dugout with, we bring up the name of Jocko Conlin.
Conlin was a fringe MLB player in 1934 which happened to be Gaston’s final season in MLB. Conlin and Gaston were both with the White Sox that season. When one of the umpires became ill, Conlin, a man with a solid reputation, was asked to fill in. Finding umpiring to his liking, Conlin took to officiating. Conlin ended up earning a spot in the Hall of Fame for his time spent as an umpire.
Gaston was touched by the unusual. Gaston passed away in April 1996 three months past his 100th birthday. At the time, Gaston was viewed as the eighth individual among those who played in MLB to reach the century mark in age. But, it does not end there. Gaston is viewed as the first MLB player with a decade or more in the big leagues to reach that advanced age.
Players have to be pretty good to be that bad! After two years in MLB, Gaston was 20-17 overall. Then things went sour! With the Browns in 1926, Gaston led the American League in losses with 18. With the Boston Red Sox in 1930, Gaston racked up 20 defeats to top the AL in that category.