Larry Gardner

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Larry Gardner baseball card

William Lawrence "Larry" Gardner (May 13, 1886 - March 11, 1976) was a third baseman in Major League Baseball. From 1908 through 1924, Gardner played for the Boston Red Sox (1908-17), Philadelphia Athletics, and Cleveland Indians (1919-1924). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.

[edit] Career

In his 17-season career, Larry Gardner posted a .289 batting average with 27 home runs and 929 RBI in 1922 games.

An Enosburg, Vermont native and the first player out of the University of Vermont to play in the American League, Gardner played most of his prime in the dead ball era, as the third baseman on several successful Red Sox teams. While he was with the Red Sox, he played in the 1912, 1915, and 1916 World Series. He played in another world series for the Indians in 1920.

In the famous tenth inning of the final game of 1912 World Series, the same inning that included Fred Snodgrass and Chief Meyers making critical fielding mistakes and giving the Red Sox two extra outs to work with, it was Gardner who drove in Steve Yerkes with the winning run of the series.

After his retirement, he returned to the University of Vermont as a baseball coach and athletic director. Larry Gardner was inducted to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2000.