Gale Wade
From BR Bullpen
Galeard Lee Wade
- Bats Left, Throws Right
- Height 6' 1½", Weight 185 lb.
- Debut April 11, 1955
- Final Game May 8, 1956
- Born January 20, 1929 in Hollister, MO USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Gale Wade was signed as an amateur free agent by the Brooklyn Dodgers before the 1947 season. In his first season out with the Ponca City Dodgers of the class D Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri League, the 18-year-old Gale had a split season record, pitching 181 innings in 28 games and building a 10-9 record with a 5.32 ERA. He also appeared in 59 games as an outfielder, hitting at a .318 average. The Brooklyn Dodgers organization felt that Gale, with his swift speed, would be more valuable to them as an outfielder and that is where he spent the rest of his pro baseball career. Wade would go on to lead four different leagues in stolen bases during his minor league career.
Gale was with the Dodgers organization through the 1953 season, hitting .314 in 113 games. The Cleveland Indians purchased him from the Dodgers on October 1, 1953. Wade spent the 1954 season with the Indianapolis Indians of the American Association, hitting .273 in 116 games and on November 30, 1954 Gale was sent by the Cleveland Indians to the Chicago Cubs to complete an earlier transaction.
Wade made his major league debut with the Cubs on April 11, 1955 and appeared in nine games in the majors that year, hitting .182; he spent the rest of the year with the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League and the Toledo Mud Hens of the American Association, having a combined .301 hitting average and eight home runs. Gale would get a second chance with the Cubs in 1956, appearing in just ten games with 12 at-bats and no hits. This would end his big league career with a .133 hitting average in 19 games.
Gale spent the next six seasons (1956-61) in the Pacific Coast League and American Association with his best year coming in 1956, when he hit .292 with 20 home runs for the Los Angeles Angels in 101 games. Gale finished up his 15-year minor league career with the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers in 1961 with a minor league career hitting average of .279 with 100 home runs in 5,446 at-bats.
After baseball Wade lived and worked in Nebo, North Carolina, where he is a retired electrician and district manager for a rural electricity co-op.
