Carden Gillenwater

Who was Carden Gillenwater?

Carden Edison Gillenwater was a Major League Baseball center fielder. A native of Riceville, Tennessee, he played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Dodgers, Boston Braves, and Washington Senators.

Gillenwater made his major league debut on September 22, 1940 with the St. Louis Cardinals. He played seven games that season, hitting .160 for the Cardinals. After two years in the minor leagues, he playing in eight games for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1943.

Gillenwater's best season was 1945, when he was a regular center fielder for the Braves, appearing in 144 games. He hit .288 with 7 home runs, 72 runs batted in, and 74 runs scored, and led National League outfielders with 451 putouts and 24 assists. He also ranked in the league's top ten for bases on balls, on-base percentage, and stolen bases. Gillenwater tied a major league outfield record with 12 putouts in a game in 1946.

He was a part-time player in 1946 and 1948, appearing in a total of 176 games and batting .236. On September 27, 1948 he was traded by the Washington Senators to the Cincinnati Reds for outfielder Clyde Vollmer, and never again played in a major league game.