Randy Gumpert, 90, Passed Away November 25

(Zell's Pinstripe Blog)

from the Pottstown Mercury:

"Randall Pennington Gumpert, 90, husband of Ann Louise (Boyer) Gumpert, of Monocacy, Berks County, died peacefully Tuesday, Nov. 25, with his extended family at his side at the Highlands of Wyomissing where he resided for 10 months.

Born in Monocacy, he was a son of the late Abram and Emma (Nolte) Gumpert.

Mr. Gumpert had been a Major League baseball player and scout. He had pitched for the Philadelphia Athletics, the New York Yankees, the Chicago White Sox, the Boston Red Sox and the Washington Senators.

He began his career in 1936 pitching his first game two weeks after graduation from high school on June 13, 1936. His final game was on Sept. 23, 1952. He managed the Bradford Yankees in 1956, the 1956-1958 Kearney Yankees and the 1960 St. Petersburg Saints.

He gave up Mickey Mantle’s first home run in 1951. He last worked for the Major League Scouting Bureau of Newport Beach, Calif., for 19 years before retiring in 1993. He was an American League All Star in 1951.

He was a member of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, the Berks County Sports Hall of Fame, the Reading Phillies Hall of Fame, the Daniel Boone Wall of Fame and the Major League Scouting Hall of Fame."

I often write letters to some former baseball players (mostly Yankees) and obtain autographs. Luckily, about a year ago, I wrote Randy Gumpert a letter.

He signed two baseball cards for me. I had him sign the back of the card so it would show that he gave up Mantle’s first HR of his career. I thought it was pretty cool.