Gene Stephens

From BR Bullpen

Glen Eugene Stephens

Bats Left, Throws Right
Weight 175 lb.

Debut April 16, 1952
Final Game September 23, 1964
Born January 20, 1933 in Gravette, AR USA

[edit] Biographical Information

Outfielder Gene Stephens was signed as an amateur free agent by the Boston Red Sox before the 1951 season. The 6' 3" 18 year old was assigned to the High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms of the North Carolina State League for his initial season. The young man would have as good a first year as he could have, playing in 122 games, hitting 22 homers and carried a .337 batting average. These numbers earned him an outfield spot on the league All-Star team.

Gene would get his first look at major league pitching in 1952 when the Red Sox would give the left-hand hitting outfielder a look and he would appear in 21 games hitting at a .226 clip. He would also be with the Louisville Colonels and the Albany Senators appearing in 95 games and hitting a combined .244 average. Just about the same action would take place in 1953 with the exception that on the night of June 18, 1953, in a game with the Detroit Tigers he was in the starting lineup and became the only American League player to record three hits in a single inning when the Red Sox scored 17 runs against Detroit in the 7th inning. He had two singles and a double.

Gene, who was a longtime backup player for the Red Sox, was often used as a defensive player for Ted Williams and came to be known as Williams's caddy. Stephens hit .293 in 109 games in 1955 and moved into the starting lineup after Jimmy Piersall was traded, but was set back by a fractured wrist he suffered early in the 1959 season, diving for a ball at Comiskey Park in Chicago. He was traded to Baltimore during the 1960 season and to Kansas City in 1961 before closing his major league career with the White Sox in 1964 with a lifetime .240 mark.

Stephens, who attended the University of Arkansas, was employed for 21 years as a district manager for the Oklahoma City based Kerr- Mcgee Refining Company, the largest offshore drilling company in the United States, before retiring in Grandbury, Texas.