Elmer Gedeon

Elmer John Gedeon

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 4", Weight 196 lb.
• School University of Michigan
• Debut September 18, 1939
• Final Game September 24, 1939
• Born April 15, 1917 in Cleveland, OH USA
• Died April 20, 1944 in St. Pol, France

BR page

Biographical Information

With the University of Michigan football team.

Outfielder Elmer Gedeon made his big league debut on September 18, 1939 and played briefly at the tail-end of the season for the Washington Senators, where he became teammates with Buddy Lewis and Dutch Leonard. He appeared in five games with 15 at-bats and 3 base-hits for a .200 average.

He was also in the minors in 67 games for the Orlando Senators of the class D Florida State League in 1939, where he hit .253 with four home runs. Elmer also spent the 1940 season with the Charlotte Hornets of the class B Piedmont League, hitting .271 with eleven home runs.

Gedeon was killed in combat in World War II. A bomber pilot with the 394th BG, USAAF, he was shot down on April 20, 1944. He was piloting a Martin B-26 Marauder that was hit by anti-aircraft fire on a mission from Boreham Airfield, England, to France. Four others died; there was one survivor.

Gedeon was the first of only two major league players to be killed during World War II.

Related Sites

• Elmer Gedeon at the SABR Bio Project
• War Memoriam Elmer Gedeon