Charlie Gassaway

Who was Charlie Gassaway?

Charles Cason Gassaway nicknamed "Sheriff", was an American professional baseball player, a left-handed pitcher whose 16-season playing career included all or parts of three seasons in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Athletics, and Cleveland Indians. Born in Gassaway, Tennessee, he stood 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 210 pounds.

Gassaway won 153 games in minor league baseball, with a career high of 17 victories in 1944 for the Milwaukee Brewers of the top-level American Association. He was called up to the Cubs and made two late-season starts but was ineffective. The 1945 season — the last year of the World War II player shortage — was Gassaway's only complete year in the Majors. Pitching for the last-place Philadelphia Athletics, he worked in 24 games pitched and 118 innings, and posted a 4–7 record with an earned run average of 3.74 and four complete games. He split 1946 between the MLB Indians and the Triple-A Oakland Oaks, working in 13 games for Cleveland from July through the end of the season. He then returned to the minors for the remainder of his active career, and spent nine years as a minor league manager, working mostly for the Philadelphia Phillies' organization.