Charles Bernard Lear

Charles Bernard "King" Lear (January 23, 1891 – October 31, 1976) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played two seasons of Major League Baseball. He played for the Cincinnati Reds in 57 games during the 1914 and 1915 seasons.

Biography Lear was born in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, on January 23, 1891. He attended high school at Mercersburg Academy, and he attended college at Princeton University, pitching for the Tigers from 1910 to 1913. During the 1912 collegiate baseball season, Lear pitched every inning of the four Big Three (referring to Princeton, Harvard, and Yale) games, defeating Yale University in both games and defeating Harvard University in one.

After graduating from Princeton, Lear fielded offers from the New York Giants and other teams before signing with the Cincinnati Reds on January 3, 1914. He was noted in his time as one of the early pitchers of the knuckleball. He finished the 1914 season having pitched in 17 games for the Reds, starting four and finishing nine. He won one game, lost two, threw three complete games, one shutout, and had an earned run average (ERA) of 3.07.

Lear died on October 31, 1976, after being hit by a car while walking in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, and is buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Greencastle, the city of his birth.