Jerry Mallett

Gerald Gordon Mallett

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 5", Weight 208 lb.
• School Baylor University
• High School South Park High School (Beaumont)
• Debut September 19, 1959
• Final Game September 27, 1959
• Born September 18, 1935 in Bonne Terre, MO USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Jerry Mallett a 6' 5" outfielder out of Baylor University was signed as an amateur free agent by the Boston Red Sox on May 27, 1957. He spent his first season in pro ball with the Oklahoma City Indians of the AA Texas League, hitting .245 in 72 games. 1958 found him in a split-season affair with the Allentown Red Sox of the class A Eastern League and the Memphis Chickasaws of the AA Southern Association where he hit .230 and had 9 home runs in 136 games.

Jerry was with the Allentown club again in 1959, where he was a teammate of Bob Tillman. Mallett hit .278 with 19 homers while Tillman, who would go on to spend nine seasons in the majors, hit .272 with 25 homers. Jerry received a late-season call-up to the Red Sox and made his major league debut on September 19, 1959. He appeared in four games that season, all in centerfield, while Ted Williams, 17 years his senior, was playing in left. Mallett hit .267 (4-for-17), with his first big league hit coming off Whitey Ford at Yankee Stadium. This was to be his only time in the majors.

Mallett spent three more seasons in pro baseball, (1960-1962), all in the minors with six different teams in four different leagues, finishing up with the Winston-Salem Red Sox of the class B Carolina League, giving him a six-year minor league career hitting record of .244 with 45 home runs in 507 games.

Mallett finished up his education at Baylor University and became a high school principal and later superintendent of schools in Beaumont, TX, before retiring in 1995. He is also a retired colonel in the Army reserves.

Sources

• Baseball Players of the 1950s
  
• Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball
  

Related Sites

• Jerry Mallett at the SABR Bio Project
• BR Minors page