{{Short description|American baseball player (1917–2011)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2018}} {{Infobox baseball biography | name = Len Gilmore | image = Len Gilmore.jpeg | image_size = | position = Pitcher | birth_date = {{birth date|1917|11|3}} | birth_place = Fairview Park, Indiana, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2011|2|18|1917|11|3}} | death_place = Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. | bats = Right | throws = Right | debutleague = MLB | debutdate = October 1 | debutyear = 1944 | debutteam = Pittsburgh Pirates | finaldate = October 1 | finalyear = 1944 | finalteam = Pittsburgh Pirates | statleague = MLB | stat1label = Win–loss record | stat1value = 0–1 | stat2label = Earned run average | stat2value = 7.88 | stat3label = Strikeouts | stat3value = 0 | teams = *Pittsburgh Pirates ({{mlby|1944}}) }} '''Leonard Preston Gilmore''' [''Meow''] (November 3, 1917 – February 18, 2011) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball who appeared in one game for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1944 season. Listed at {{height|ft=6|in=3}}, {{convert|175|lb|abbr=on}}, Gilmore batted and threw right-handed.
He was born in Fairview Park, Indiana<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gilmole01.shtml |title=Len Gilmore Stats |website=baseball-reference.com |publisher=sports–reference.com |access-date=August 27, 2018}}</ref> and graduated from Clinton High School, also in Indiana.<ref name="cava">{{cite book |last1=Cava |first1=Pete |title=Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players: A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2014 |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-9901-4 |page=74 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bU2nCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 |access-date=3 August 2021 |language=en}}</ref> His father worked in the mines and his mother was a native of Austria.<ref name="aaron">{{cite book |chapter=Leonard Gilmore |last1=Finoli |editor=Mark Z. Aaaron |first1=David |title=Who's on First: Replacement Players in World War II |date=2015 |publisher=SABR, Inc. |isbn=978-1-933599-90-8 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fAryBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA167 |access-date=3 August 2021 |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|167}}
After high school, Gilmore played freshman baseball at Indiana State University<ref name="cava" /><ref name="gazette">{{cite news |last1=Fulton |first1=Bob |title=IUP's Diamonds: Five baseball players made it to majors |url=https://www.indianagazette.com/sports/iups-diamonds-five-baseball-players-made-it-to-majors/article_11cab284-76df-11ea-aae4-4f76c43d3715.html |access-date=3 August 2021 |work=The Indiana Gazette |date=April 6, 2020 |language=en}}</ref> before embarking on an intermittent minor league baseball career. Gilmore expected to be drafted during World War II but was found to be physically unfit for service.<ref name="aaron" />{{rp|167}} In 1943, he tried out for the Pirates during spring training at their camp in Muncie, Indiana and was signed to a contract. He spent the 1943 and 1944 seasons in the minors with the Albany Senators. He was called up to the majors for the first time after the 1944 Eastern League season ended.<ref name="cava" />
On the last day of the 1944 season, he got the opportunity to start the second game of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies at Shibe Park. Gilmore was credited with the loss, as he allowed seven earned runs on 13 hits, without walks or strikeouts in eight innings of work.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1944/B10012PHI1944.htm |title=Philadelphia Phillies 7, Pittsburgh Pirates 1 (2) |website=retrosheet.org |date=October 1, 1944 |access-date=August 27, 2018}}</ref> Following the season, he was traded to the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League for Ken Gables.<ref name="gazette" /> In Oakland, he was managed by Casey Stengel who he would later describe as the only man he ever hated.<ref name="cava" />
Gilmore also pitched eleven minor league seasons, playing between 1938 and 1952 for nine teams in nine different leagues. He posted a combined 128–94 record and a 3.66 earned run average in 332 pitching appearances.<ref name="minors" />
Gilmore several of the final seasons of his professional career in Oklahoma<ref name="minors">{{cite web |title=Len Gilmore Minor Leagues Statistics & History |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=gilmor001leo |website=Baseball-Reference.com |publisher=Sports Reference |access-date=3 August 2021 |language=en}}</ref> and eventually made his home in Jones, Oklahoma.<ref name="cava" /> Following his baseball career, Gilmore worked for the Oklahoma City Fire Department, retiring as a captain in 1970.<ref>{{Sabrbio|cd850beb|Len Gilmore|David Finoli|August 27, 2018}}</ref>
Gilmore married his wife, Virginia, in 1950 and had two daughters with her.<ref name="aaron" />{{rp|169}} Gilmore died in Oklahoma City on February 18, 2011, at the age of 93.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://legacy.newsok.com/obituaries/oklahoman/obituary.aspx?n=leonard-gilmore&pid=148811536 |title=Obituary |website=legacy.com |date=February 23, 2011 |access-date=August 27, 2018}}</ref> At the time of his death, he was one of the oldest living major leaguers.
==See also== * 1944 Pittsburgh Pirates season
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Baseballstats|mlb=114821|espn=|br=g/gilmole01|fangraphs=|brm=gilmor001leo|retro=Pgilml101}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilmore, Len}} Category:Major League Baseball pitchers Category:Pittsburgh Pirates players Category:Albany Senators players Category:Bisbee Bees players Category:IUP Crimson Hawks baseball players Category:Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Category:Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Category:Oklahoma City Indians players Category:Refugio Oilers players Category:Seminole Ironmen players Category:Shawnee Hawks players Category:Tucson Cowboys players Category:Baseball players from Indiana Category:Baseball players from Oklahoma City Category:1917 births Category:2011 deaths Category:20th-century American firefighters Category:American people of Austrian descent Category:20th-century American sportsmen
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