| Rich Gedman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Catcher | |
| Born: (1959-09-26)September 26, 1959 (age 66) Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S. | |
Batted: Left Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 7, 1980, for the Boston Red Sox | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 4, 1992, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .252 |
| Home runs | 88 |
| Runs batted in | 382 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Richard Leo Gedman (born September 26, 1959) is an American professionalbaseball hitting adviser with theBoston Red Sox, and a formercoach and player. He played inMajor League Baseball (MLB) as acatcher for the Red Sox (1980–1990),Houston Astros (1990–1991), andSt. Louis Cardinals (1991–1992). Listed at 6 feet 0 inches (1.83 m) and 210 pounds (95 kg), he batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
A native ofWorcester, Massachusetts, Gedman playedfirst base andpitched atSaint Peter-Marian High School and for theGrafton Hill (Worcester)American Legion Baseball program. He went undrafted in the1977 Major League Baseball Draft, and was signed as afree agent by the Red Sox. He was sent to the Instructional League to learn to play catcher, and progressed steadily up through the Red Soxminor leagues system. Highlights of his minor league career included catching the first nine innings of thelongest game in the history of professional baseball, a 33 inning affair between Gedman'sPawtucket Red Sox and theRochester Red Wings.
Gedman made his debut for the Sox at the age of 20 in September 1980,pinch-hitting forCarl Yastrzemski.[1] In 1981, regular Sox catcherCarlton Fisk was granted free-agency and signed with theChicago White Sox, leaving the catcher position open. Gedman shared catching duties withGary Allenson, and played well enough to be namedTheSporting News Rookie of the Year.
Following a poor 1982, Gedman's hitting improved the next two seasons under the instruction of Red Soxhitting coachWalt Hriniak. He hit a career high 24home runs in 1984 and followed with career highs inbatting average (.295) andRBI (80) in 1985 while throwing out nearly half of potentialbase stealers. In that season, he became the 16th Red Sox player[2] and only the sixth catcher since 1900 tohit for the cycle.
In 1986, Gedman experienced three of the highlights of his career. Gedman was thebattery-mate for Red Sox pitcherRoger Clemens on April 29 when Clemens struck out 20 batters in a game against theSeattle Mariners to set themajor league single-game strikeout record in a nine-inning game.[3] Gedman's 20putouts during the game set theAmerican League record for putouts by a catcher. On April 30, he had 16 putouts for a total of 36 in two days, which is the most for a catcher in two consecutive games. Gedman was also selected to theAll-Star Game that year, to go with his appearance in the 1985 game. But the peak of his career coincided with one of its lows in the1986 World Series. In the bottom of the tenth inning of Game 6, with the Sox leading by one run with two outs,Kevin Mitchell onthird andMookie Wilsonat bat,relieverBob Stanley threw a pitch that Gedman failed to handle. It was scored as awild pitch, but many considered it a Gedmanpassed ball. Mitchell came in to score, tying the game.[4] Then, Wilson hit a ball that went throughfirst basemanBill Buckner's legs to win the game for the Mets. The Sox went on to lose the deciding game, and the series.
On January 8, 1987, ten free agents (Gedman,Tim Raines,Lance Parrish,Bob Horner,Andre Dawson,Ron Guidry,Bob Boone,Doyle Alexander,Toby Harrah andGary Roenicke) failed to meet a midnight deadline and thus were not allowed to re-sign with their former clubs until May 1 if they were not offered contracts by new teams. The general lack of interest in the players became the focus of aPlayers Associationanti-collusion lawsuit against the owners.[5]
On November 3, 1986, while practicing for a seven-game series between Major League and Japanese All-Stars, Gedman was struck by a warmup pitch fromDetroit Tigers pitcherWillie Hernández, resulting in a fractured cheekbone.[6] This was the beginning of a litany of injuries, holdouts, and inconsistency which contributed to the waning of Gedman's skills, both offensive and defensive. In 1989,Rick Cerone replaced him as the regular Boston catcher. In 1990, he served as back-up catcher toTony Peña, who was acquired by the Red Sox during the offseason. On June 7, Gedman was traded to Houston for a player to be named later.
Gedman was not re-signed by the Astros, and in 1991 he signed with the Cardinals to back upTom Pagnozzi. After spendingspring training of 1993 with theOakland Athletics, Gedman signed a minor-league contract with theYankees, playing the season with theirTriple-A club, theColumbus Clippers. When he failed to make a major league roster in 1994, he retired at age 34.
During his career, Gedmanbatted .252 with 88 home runs, 382 RBI, 331runs, 176doubles, 12triples, and three stolen bases in 1033 games. As a catcher, he compiled a .984fielding percentage with 5274 putouts, 431assists and 92errors in 980 games.
Gedman made theAmerican League All-Star Team twice as a catcher in the 1980s, joining such players asLance Parrish,Carlton Fisk,Ted Simmons, andTerry Steinbach as the only players to accomplish this.
In 2002, Gedman became acoach with theNorth Shore Spirit, a team in the independentNortheast League. He was also the Spirit's bench coach. He then managed theWorcester Tornadoes, in theCan-Am League, from 2005 through 2010. The Tornadoes won the Can-Am League title in their first year of existence. In his six years in Worcester, Gedman led the team to a 283–290 record, 10–6 in the postseason.[7]
On January 10, 2011, Gedman returned toorganized baseball when he was named hitting coach for theLowell Spinners, the Red Sox'Class A Short Season affiliate in theNew York–Penn League, returning to the Boston organization after a two-decade absence.[8] In 2012, Gedman was promoted toClass ASalem,[9] and switched toDouble-APortland Sea Dogs in 2013.[10] In 2015, he was named hitting coach of the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox, and moved with the team when they left Pawtucket for Worcester in 2021.[11] He remained with theWorcester Red Sox as their hitting coach through the 2024 season.
In January 2025, the Red Sox named Gedman as a player development hitting adviser.[12]
Rich Gedman met his future-wife Sherry Aselton in 1977, when both attended St. Peter-Marian High School in Worcester.[18] Sherry went on to play softball and basketball at theUniversity of Connecticut where she threw twono-hitters and as of 2011 still holds the second-lowest career ERA in program history (0.57).[19] The couple married in 1982.[18]
The Gedmans have two sons, Michael and Matthew, and a daughter, Marissa. Michael was a freshman pitcher for theLe Moyne College Dolphins in 2007, but when his younger brother Matthew was accepted as a freshman atUMass in both theirbaseball andhockey programs (as an infielder and a goalie), sophomore Michael transferred to UMass also. Mike played a mix offirst baseman andpitcher, and hit .312 in three seasons for the Minutemen, including .345 as a junior in 2009.[20] Matt playedshortstop andthird baseman at UMass, and finished his career with a .334 batting average over his four years, and a team-leading .402 average during his senior year in 2011.[21][22] Matt was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 45th round of the2011 MLB Draft;[23] he played inMinor League Baseball for several Red Soxfarm teams from 2011 through 2014.[24]
Marissa Gedman attendedNoble and Greenough School where she participated in field hockey, ice hockey, and softball. In her 2008 season, she achieved All-League ISL, a NE Championship, and 16-U National Championship in Ice Hockey. She went on to attendHarvard University starting in 2010, and played for thewomen's ice hockey team,[25] accumulating 75 points with theHarvard Crimson women's ice hockey program.[26] For the 2015–16 season, she was a member of theBoston Pride of theNWHL and participated in the2016 Outdoor Women's Classic, the first outdoor professional women’s hockey game.[27]
In his spare time during the baseball off-season, Gedman holds catching clinics in central Massachusetts including at The Strike Zone in Worcester,Shrewsbury High School, and Triple Play Batting Cages inClinton, Massachusetts.[28]
· Baseball Almanac, orRetrosheet, orEncyclopedia of Baseball Catchers| Achievements | ||
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| Preceded by | Hitting for the cycle September 18, 1985 | Succeeded by |