Gordon Goldsberry

Who was Gordon Goldsberry?

Gordon Frederick Goldsberry was an American professional baseball player, scout and front-office executive. As a player, he was a first baseman who appeared in 217 Major League Baseball games for the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Browns between 1949 and 1952. He threw and batted left-handed, stood 6 feet tall and weighed 170 pounds.

Born in Sacramento, California, Goldsberry attended the University of California at Los Angeles. His professional playing career lasted 13 seasons, and included all or part of seven years spent in the top-level Pacific Coast League for the Hollywood Stars, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Oaks and Seattle Rainiers. He spent all of the 1950 and 1952 campaigns in the Major Leagues as a backup first baseman, and in his MLB career he collected 123 hits, including six home runs, 20 doubles and seven triples.

After retiring from the field, Goldsberry became a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, and Philadelphia Phillies. When Phillies' manager and former farm system director Dallas Green became general manager of the Cubs following the 1981 season, he brought Goldsberry with him as the Cubs' director of player development and scouting. In 1989, Goldsberry joined the Baltimore Orioles as special assistant to the general manager, Roland Hemond. He served in that role until his February 1996 death from an apparent heart attack in Laguna Hills, California, at the age of 68.