Gerald Blackburn/pagetext

From SABR Encyclopedia

Contents 1 Profile 1.1 Personal 1.2 Pre-professional career 1.3 Outside of baseball 1.4 Contract signing 1.5 Relatives 2 Sources

[edit] Profile

[edit] Personal

• Resided in Kannapolis, North Carolina in 1955.
• Self-identified as being of American Indian (Cherokee) ancestry.
• Listed hobby as reading old and new newspapers and magazines.
• Single in 1955.

[edit] Pre-professional career

• Graduated from J. W. Cannon High School in 1949.
• Played football and baseball in high school.
• Retired the first batter on a grounder and then struck out the remaining 26 opposing batters in a game in his senior year in high school.

[edit] Outside of baseball

• Handled concrete products during the off-season in 1955.
• Served two years in the U.S. Army.

[edit] Contract signing

• Was signed to his first contract by Neal "Tex" Millard of the Cincinnati Reds.

[edit] Relatives

• Brother of Ron Blackburn, a pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

[edit] Sources

• 1955 Pioneer League Index (Fourth Edition).
• Social Security Death Index (SSN: 241-38-1390).