Brant Alyea

Garrabrant Ryerson Alyea

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 215 lb.
• School Hofstra University
• High School Rutherford (NJ) High School
• Debut September 11, 1965
• Final Game July 20, 1972
• Born December 8, 1940 in Passaic, NJ USA
• Died February 4, 2024 in Huntingdon Valley, PA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

On September 12, 1965, playing for the Washington Senators, Brant Alyea hit a home run in his first major league plate appearance. He pinch hit in the bottom of the 6th inning for Don Blasingame, hit a three-run homer (driving in Jim French and Fred Valentine), and was replaced in the top of the 7th by Don Lock. Alyea's official "debut" was actually the day before on September 11th, when he was also brought in to pinch hit in the bottom of the 6th inning (for pitcher Mike McCormick), but was replaced by Jim King following a pitching change before he actually came up to bat. King also homered in that pinch-hit at bat.

Alyea hit 17 home runs for the 1968-1969 Cardenales de Lara, breaking Bill Taylor's 15-year-old Venezuelan League record by one. His mark only stood four years before Bobby Darwin surpassed him.

Alyea was also involved in a bizarre strikeout that ended in a 7-6-7 putout (yes, that's left fielder to shortstop to left fielder!). Here's how it happened, according to the Project Retrosheet (www.retrosheet.org) newsletter of May 1997: "From Dave Smith: How about a strikeout with the batter being retired 767? In the game of April 25, 1970, Tigers pitcher Earl Wilson struck out to end the 7th inning in the Twin Cities. Or so it appeared to everyone except Detroit third base coach Grover Resinger. He saw that Twins catcher Paul Ratliff trapped the pitch in the dirt, did not tag Wilson and rolled the ball to the mound. Resinger told Wilson to start running as most of the Twins entered the dugout. Earl got to first easily and headed for second. Since no one interfered with him, he started for third. By this time, Brant Alyea, who was trotting in from left field, heard Resinger shouting at Wilson. Alyea hustled to the mound but had trouble picking up the ball. Wilson headed for home where Twins Leo Cardenas and Ratliff had returned. Alyea finally picked up the ball and threw to Cardenas. Wilson turned back to third but was tagged out by Alyea for a K767. Rookie catcher Ratliff was charged with an error. After the game, Detroit catcher Bill Freehan said "If Alyea had been hustling, Earl might have made it [home]. Tell him [Alyea] to start coming in and off the field a little quicker." The aftermath of the story is that Wilson pulled a hamstring muscle running the bases and had to leave the game."

His son Brant Alyea, born out of wedlock in Nicaragua where Brant Sr. played winter ball, played in the minor leagues.

Notable Achievements

• Won a World Series with the Oakland Athletics in 1972 (he did not play in the World Series)

Further Reading

• Charlie O'Reilly: "Brant Alyea", in Chip Greene, ed.: Mustaches and Mayhem, Charlie O's Three-Time Champions: The Oakland Athletics 1972-74, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2015, pp. 126-129. ISBN 978-1-943816-07-1

Related Sites

• Brant Alyea at the SABR Bio Project
• Excellent SI article about Brant and his son