Gary Wagner, whose six-year career in Major League Baseball took him to the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox, died on March 11. He was 85.
Wagner went 15-19 with a 3.70 ERA in 162 games — all but four in relief — for Philadelphia (1965-69) and Boston (1969-70). He split the 1971 season between the Red Sox and Montreal Expos organizations, but never again appeared in a big league game.
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A native of Bridgeport, Illinois, Wagner was just the sixth player ever from Eastern Illinois University to play professional baseball. He would ultimately become the first to reach the majors.
Wagner did not begin his collegiate career as a pitcher, but rather a shortstop. He continued to hit until his coach, short on arms, accepted Wagner’s offer to fill in on the mound. Wagner threw threw a no-hitter in his first start, his first at any level. He wound up pitching five other games, winning three.
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The rest is history. Wagner signed a minor league contract with the Phillies in September 1961, and needed only three seasons in the minor leagues (1962-64) before his big league debut.
Wagner split the 1964 season between Double-A and Triple-A pitching out of the bullpen, and he reprised the relief role in 1965 in Philadelphia. He finished his rookie season with a 7-7 record, 3.00 ERA and seven saves. In an era before one-inning closers, Wagner pitched 105 innings across 59 games.
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Wagner spent most of the 1966 and 1967 seasons with the San Diego Padres, then the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate. But he returned to the majors in 1968 to record a career-high eight saves and a 3.00 ERA in 44 games out of the Phillies’ bullpen.
The Phillies traded Wagner to the Red Sox in September 1969 for then-minor leaguer Mike Jackson. In 1970, Wagner’s final big league season, he recorded seven saves and a 3.35 ERA for Boston in 38 relief appearances.
Wagner is survived by his wife, Freddie, his brother, three sons, and seven grandchildren.
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