Frank Etchberger

Franklin D. Etchberger

• Bats unknown, Throws Right

• Born c. 1933

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Frank Etchberger pitched two seasons in the minor leagues, both with the Bradford Phillies of the PONY League, in 1952 and 1955. The gap between the two seasons resulted from service in the U.S. military at the time of the Korean War.

In his first season, he went 13-13, 3.11 in 34 games, including 27 starts, and pitched a total of 214 innings. The highlight of his season came on August 20th when he was involved in the first double no-hitter in league history. Both he and his opponent on the mound, Jim Mitchell pitched nine hitless innings that day, but it was Etchberger who ended up a 1-0 winner when his team scored a run off Mitchell without the benefit of a hit. The next such game in the minor leagues would only take place on August 23, 1992 - fourty years later - with Andy Carter and Scott Bakkum the two pitchers involved. After his two-year hiatus, he appeared in 7 games for Bradford with an 0-3 record and was let go.

In the 1940 census, he is listed under the name "Franklyn" Etchberger as seven years old and living with his family consisting of his father, mother, grandfather, an aunt and an uncle (both still teenagers) and one older sister, in Bern Township, PA, although that particular spelling does not appear anywhere else. As of 2018, he was living in Hershey, PA.