Gid Gardner

Franklin Washington "Gid" Gardner (May 6, 1859 – August 1, 1914) was an American Major League Baseball player during the 19th century. Between 1879 and 1888, Gardner played all or part of seven seasons for eight different teams in three different major leagues. He appeared in 199 games, mostly as an outfielder, but also spent some time as a second baseman and pitcher. He had a career batting average of .233 and a pitching record of 2–12.

Career Gardner was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1859. In 1879, he started his professional baseball career with the National Association's Worcester Grays, batting .188 in nine games. He then joined the National League's Troy Trojans and made his major league debut on August 23. He pitched in two games for Troy that year and lost both. The following season, Gardner played for the Cleveland Blues; he made nine starts, going 1–8 with a 2.57 earned run average. He started 1883 with the Camden Merritts of the Interstate Association, but the team disbanded in July, and he was acquired by the American Association's Baltimore Orioles. Gardner was mostly an outfielder for Baltimore. Over the rest of the season, he played in 42 games and batted .273. Gardner had a .175 batting average in his 18 games. Gardner returned to Washington and played his final major league game on May 29. and by August was with a team based in Norwich, Connecticut. Gardner then ended his professional baseball career the following season with Worcester of the New England League. He was working as a traveling salesman when, in 1914, he was confined to the Cambridge Hospital for several weeks before dying of an aneurysm of the aorta. According to Gardner's obituary in Sporting Life, from 1878 until about 1890 he "was one of the best ball players in the country." Gardner was buried in Cambridge City Cemetery.