BOB GEBHARD: I Loved Every Day I was in Baseball – All 55 Years

BY PATRICK “PACKY” MADER

At the second annual Red Rock Central High School (comprised of the southwestern Minnesota communities of Sanborn, Lamberton, Storden, and Jeffers) Hall of Fame induction ceremony in September, former Major League Baseball pitcher and longtime front office leader Bob Gebhard said he was born and raised in Lamberton. Located on US Highway 14, Lamberton is 70 miles west of the regional city of Mankato, Minnesota. There is no hospital in the town of 824 people. “I was born at home [in 1943],” says the son of the local barber, Leo, and head high school cook, Viola.

Indeed, humble beginnings for the respected man who spent 55 years in the sport of baseball and rubbed elbows with Hall of Fame players and titans in management. While neither parent nor his sister Leola were athletic, Bob was successful in football, basketball, track and field, and baseball – earning 16 letters as a high school athlete at Lamberton High School (then an independent school district). “I had an uncle, Ed Albertson, who was captain of the Luther College baseball team and played as an infielder in the Detroit Tigers minor league organization for many years [1934-42 with interruptions] and later taught and coached at Springfield, Minnesota. He played and managed the Springfield Tigers in the old Western Minnie League,” Bob says, explaining his early interest and success in the sport.

Starting as a second baseman as a 7th-grader, then evolving to the role of a pitcher and shortstop, Bob earned six letters in baseball.  At 6 feet, 2 inches and 210 pounds, Bob had formidable size for a high school athlete in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was the starting quarterback on the football team; at first a guard and then a forward on the basketball team; and a long jumper and sprinter on the track team.  A four-year letterwinner in basketball, Bob scored 1,250 points in his high school career, a significant accomplishment at the time before the adoption of the three-point shot. While none of the high school teams qualified for state tournaments, the American Legion baseball team Bob played on twice participated at state tournaments.

~~ 1972 Topps (front & back, above & below) ~~

Recruited heavily, Bob decided to attend the University of Iowa in 1961 where he would play both baseball and basketball. “I thought Iowa was a good place. It wasn’t too far away and if I had attended the University of Minnesota, I would know too many people and I’d never study,” Bob says chuckling softly. Freshmen were not eligible to play varsity sports at the time, but Bob shone on the baseball field as a pitcher and position player (right field and first base) during his varsity years from 1963-65 and served as co-captain of the team his senior year. The team’s center fielder was Paul Krause, the future Viking and Football Hall of Fame safety.  Ever the evaluator, Bob says, “He was in the 80s for range with a 20s arm.” In basketball, Bob played sparingly but did play in some Big Ten games and scored a handful of points. A teammate was Jimmy Rodgers, later an assistant coach for Bill Fitch in the NBA and head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves from 1991-93.

Selected in the 44th round by the Minnesota Twins in the first Major League Baseball amateur draft in 1965, Bob rocketed to an 11-2 record and 1.91 ERA with the St. Cloud Rox under the managerial guidance of Jim Rantz, later the Twins’ farm director from 1986-2012. The impressive professional debut earned Bob a promotion from Class D ball to AA where he “struggled.”  It was in 1969 – after completing military service obligations and toiling in various leagues – when Bob had a stellar year at AA Charlotte with a 13-3 record and 1.23 ERA. By 1971, he was pitching at AAA, one level below the major leagues when he was called up to the Twins in August. 

“My slider was my best pitch,” Bob says of his repertoire. Infrequent appearances did not keep him sharp and his career with the Twins ended in 1972 with one win and 39 innings pitched in 30 games.  His most memorable game was pitching three scoreless innings in a 22-inning marathon vs. the Milwaukee Brewers on May 12, 1972. “I pitched the 18th, 19th, and 20th innings,” Bob recalls. “Then the game was called because of curfew, and we lost the game the next day.”  In his lone plate appearance, Bob drew a walk off Detroit pitcher Woodie Fryman. A single two-inning relief pitching stint with the Montreal Expos in 1974 concluded his MLB professional playing career. 

My slider was my best pitch,” Bob says of his repertoire. Infrequent appearances did not keep him sharp and his career with the Twins ended in 1972 with one win and 39 innings pitched in 30 games.  His most memorable game was pitching three scoreless innings in a 22-inning marathon vs the Milwaukee Brewers on May 12, 1972. “I pitched the 18th, 19th, and 20th innings,” Bob recalls. “Then the game was called because of curfew, and we lost the game the next day.”  In his lone plate appearance, Bob drew a walk off Detroit pitcher Woodie Fryman. A single two-inning relief pitching stint with the Montreal Expos in 1974 concluded his MLB professional playing career. 

The recreation major had also obtained a teaching degree in math and phy ed at Mankato State University, but he had his sights set on a career in professional baseball. “Along the way, I had different goals; first I wanted to be a minor league and then major league coach, then a minor league field director and farm system director. The highest level I could reach was general manager.” To Bob’s credit, he achieved every goal. An exciting time was when Bob served as Vice President and Assistant General Manager for the Twins from 1986-1991, a period when the team won two World Series.

Two days after the 1991 World Series Championship parade in downtown Minneapolis, Bob was installed as the General Manager of the National League expansion Colorado Rockies team which would begin play in 1993. “We had no players, no budget, no stadium. There were two paper clips on the desk I was assigned.”  The Rockies would be wildly successful, drawing 4,483,350 fans their inaugural season at Mile High Stadium – still a Major League Baseball record. Bob cites signing 2020 Hall of Fame inductee Larry Walker as the best decision he made in his role. “We had him rated in the 80s on all tools,” Bob says of the Canadian whose high school did not have a baseball team.  

Serving as the Rockies’ General Manager until 1999, Bob then migrated to the St. Louis Cardinals for five years as Vice President under Walt Jocketty (a Minneapolis Marshall-University High School and University of Minnesota graduate) followed by 12 years as the Vice President of the Arizona Diamondbacks and a final tenure back with the Cardinals from 2016-2020.

Bob’s own favorite player is Harmon Killebrew, the Minnesota Twins slugger.  “He’s the nicest man I’ve ever been around. Harmon shook hands with all the new players, pulled up a stool and told us how and where things were. I’ll never forget he showed us where and how to sign a baseball.”  Bob was with the Twins when Killebrew hit his 500th home run on August 10, 1971, off Orioles’ southpaw Mike Cuellar.  On his next at bat, Killebrew hit #501, again off Cuellar. Bob later grabbed the bat, assuming it was the same one Killebrew had stroked his previous home run.  Years later he showed the Hall of Famer the bat and Killebrew laughed quietly, took a marker and wrote #501 on the barrel.  He explained to Bob that the bat used to hit the milestone home run was “already on its way to Cooperstown” by his next plate appearance. 

While attending the University of Iowa, Bob met and later married Nancy Brown from Chicago, and the couple had three children: Angie, Casey, and Jenny. Nancy had a professional career as an interior decorator. They live in Littleton, Colorado, and all three children and their eight grandchildren live nearby. 

“I was from a small school, a small town. I had to work hard to get where I went,” Bob, a 2020 inductee of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame says, summing up his career. “I loved every day I was in baseball – all  55 years.”

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• Originally Published in Oct. 2024 on “MNAthletes.com” •

THIS ARTICLE FROM “MNAthletes.com” WEBSITE IS REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. IT HAS BEEN RETYPED, BUT NO CONTENT HAS BEEN CHANGED, EXCEPT GRAPHICS.

Patrick “Packy” Mader has written several books, including two large volumes on Minnesotans who were in the Olympic Games or competed in world competitions. To view hundreds of articles on Minnesota athletes, be sure to visit Packy’s website: MNAthletes.com. You can click on the link below:

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