Harvey Branch

Harvey Alfred Branch (February 8, 1937—January 15, 2021) was an American professional baseball player. He was a left-handed pitcher who had a seven-year career in minor league baseball, but whose Major League tenure consisted of a single game in the uniform of the St. Louis Cardinals on September 18, 1962.

Branch attended Alabama State University where he played college baseball and basketball for the Hornets. He stood tall and weighed . He originally signed with the Chicago Cubs in 1958 and spent five years in their minor league system. In , after Branch enjoyed a second consecutive successful season with the Double-A San Antonio Missions — recording 216 strikeouts in 237 innings pitched — the Cubs traded him to the Cardinals on September 1 for right-handed pitcher Paul Toth.

Seventeen days later, Branch made his MLB appearance as the Cardinals' starting pitcher — against Toth and the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He yielded a solo home run to Ron Santo in the second inning, walked in a run in the third, and gave up a third run on a triple and a ground ball out in the fifth. but was sent to the Triple-A Atlanta Crackers for the full season.