Baseball players from Cincinnati

Ralph William Beard (February 11, 1929 – February 10, 2003) was an American professional baseball player, a right-handed pitcher whose ten-season (1947–56) pro career included 13 games pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball. Beard, a native of Cincinnati, attended the University of Cincinnati. He stood 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) tall and weighed 200 pounds (91 kg).
Beard's 13 big-league appearances included ten starting pitcher assignments, as he took a regular turn in the Cardinals' rotation during late July and August of the 1954 season. Although he lost all four decisions, he made a memorable start on July 22, 1954, against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium. He went 12 innings and allowed only one earned run and eight hits (including a home run by Preston Ward for the Pirates' earned run), but left the game for a pinch hitter with the score tied 2–2. He was relieved by Gerry Staley, who hurled two perfect frames and St. Louis won, 3–2, in 14 innings.As a starter, Beard gave up 29 runs in ten efforts and 492⁄3 innings pitched, but only 21 were earned (for a 3.81 earned run average in starting assignments). All told as a Major Leaguer, he surrendered 62 hits and 28 bases on balls in 58 innings pitched, with 17 strikeouts.
Beard died in West Palm Beach, Florida, on the day before his 74th birthday.

Richard Paul LeMay (August 28, 1938 – March 19, 2018) was an American professional baseball player. A left-handed pitcher, LeMay appeared in parts of three Major League Baseball seasons (1961–63), but had a long career in minor league baseball. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated from Withrow High School.
LeMay attended the University of Michigan, stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed 190 pounds (86 kg). He signed with the San Francisco Giants in 1958 and was recalled from the minor leagues during the 1961 season, appearing in 27 games for the Giants that season, starting five. He dropped six of nine decisions and recorded an earned run average of 3.56 and one complete game in 83+1⁄3 innings pitched. He had nine-game trials with the 1962 Giants and the 1963 Chicago Cubs, and was winless in two decisions. All told he won three games, lost eight and had a career ERA of 4.17 in 45 Major League games. In 108 innings pitched, he surrendered 100 hits and 49 bases on balls. He struck out 69, and was credited with four saves. In his lone MLB complete game, on June 24, 1961, at Busch Stadium, he defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 6–1, allowing six hits; future Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Gibson took the loss.After he returned to minor league baseball in 1963, LeMay had a successful career as a starting pitcher at the Triple-A level through 1970, reaching the double digits in wins for six consecutive seasons, including 17- and 16-victory seasons in 1965 and 1968. All told, he won 139 games and lost 124 as a minor league pitcher. LeMay also managed at the Class A level in the Cubs' farm system in 1971–72 and was a scout for the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1970s and the Montréal Expos during the 1980s.
LeMay died on March 19, 2018.

Stephen Patrick Larkin (December 9, 1910 – May 2, 1969) was a Major League Baseball pitcher.
Larkin joined the Detroit Tigers organization in 1931, signing a contract with Evansville. During the 1931 season, he played in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Wheeling, West Virginia. During the 1932 season, he played for the Tigers' farm clubs in Decatur, Illinois, Moline, Illinois, Huntington, and Beaumont. In 1933, he compiled a 22–7 record for the Shreveport Sports in the Dixie League, pitching 280 innings with 142 strikeouts and 96 walks. He led the Dixie League in wins and winning percentage during the 1933 season.After his strong performance in Shreveport, Larkin was invited to the Tigers' spring camp at Lakeland, Florida, in 1934. He played in two games for the 1934 Detroit Tigers. He pitched 6 innings and gave up only one earned run for an earned run average of 1.50.With the Tigers' having a strong pitching staff, Larkin was sent to Beaumont in June 1934. In November 1934, The Sporting News profiled Larkin as one of the "Minors Coming UP to Majors in '35." The Sporting News said of Larkin: "If size, weight and general physical appointments mean anything, somebody will have to move over on the Detroit bench and make room for Steve Larkin next spring. The 200-pounder, towering an inch above six feet ... appears to be one of the most promising of the pitching prospects scheduled to receive big league inspection."Larkin did not make the Tigers' roster in 1935. After two more years in Detroit's farm system, playing in Beaumont and Milwaukee, Larkin was released by the Tigers' organization in December 1936. Larkin concluded his baseball career in 1938 pitching for Portland and Fort Worth.

Robert Thomas Kaiser (born April 29, 1950) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher, a left-handed reliever who appeared in five games for the Cleveland Indians during the 1971 season. Kaiser stood 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and weighed 175 pounds (79 kg).
Selected in the second round in the 1968 Major League Baseball Draft, Kaiser was recalled by Cleveland after spending the 1971 season at three levels of minor league baseball, Class A through Triple-A. In his MLB debut, he surrendered a home run to the first batter he faced, Duane Josephson of the Boston Red Sox. But he finished the inning strongly by striking out a future Hall of Famer, Carl Yastrzemski.All told, he allowed eight hits and three earned runs in six MLB innings pitched, with three bases on balls and four strikeouts. He did not record a save.

Thomas Hubert Hume (born March 29, 1953) is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies, from 1977 to 1987. Hume was drafted by the Reds with the 16th pick in the 1st round of the 1972 amateur draft (secondary phase).
Hume came into his own in 1979 with the Reds when manager John McNamara started using him exclusively out of the bullpen in the latter part of July. Hume responded by recording 15 Saves over the last 10 weeks of the '79 season finishing runner-up to J. R. Richard of the Houston Astros for the National League lead with a 2.76 ERA.
Hume followed up his 1979 breakout season with perhaps the best season of his career in 1980. Hume finished with a 9-10 record, however posted a 2.56 ERA and recorded 25 saves, finishing a National League high 62 games. Hume was rewarded by being named the National League's Fireman of the Year by The Sporting News (sharing the award with Rollie Fingers).
Hume followed up his Fireman of the Year season by having another solid season in the strike shortened campaign of 1981, compiling a 9-4 record with a 3.46 ERA and chalking up 13 saves. Hume was off to a fast start to the 1982 season, heading into the All-Star break 3rd in the National League with 16 saves. Hume was named to the National League All-Star team and recorded the Save for the NL in a 4-1 victory over the American League.
Hume injured his knee and made his final appearance of the 1982 season on July 26, recording a save against the Cubs. 1983 and 1984 were lackluster seasons for Hume as he struggled to regain his form following knee surgery and could not regain his closer's role with the Reds.
Hume rebounded back to form in 1985 with a solid season as a setup man in the Reds bullpen. He was traded along with Gary Redus from the Reds to the Phillies for John Denny and Jeff Gray on December 11, 1985. Hume rewarded the Phillies with a solid 1986 season sporting a 4-1 record and 2.77 ERA in 46 appearances. Hume, however, slumped again in 1987 and was dealt back to the Reds in midseason, finishing out his career where he started.

Thomas Anthony Flanigan (September 6, 1934 – December 8, 2022) was an American professional baseball player: a 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), 175 lb (79 kg) left-handed pitcher who appeared in three Major League Baseball games over the course of a seven-year professional career — two games for the 1954 Chicago White Sox and one for the 1958 St. Louis Cardinals.
Flanigan began his third professional season at age 19 on the White Sox' MLB roster, and appeared in two games, both in relief, allowing no runs and only one hit (a single to Frank Bolling of the Detroit Tigers) in 12⁄3 innings pitched. After spending the rest of 1954, and all of 1955 through 1957, in minor league baseball, he was selected in the winter 1957 Rule 5 draft by the Cardinals and began 1958 on their roster. In his only National League appearance, against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium April 15, Flanigan hurled one inning in relief and allowed two hits and one run, the latter coming on a home run by Cub catcher Cal Neeman. He then was returned to the White Sox' Indianapolis Indians affiliate, from which he had been drafted.
Flanigan allowed three hits and one run in 22⁄3 MLB innings pitched, with two bases on balls and no strikeouts. In 246 minor league games from 1952 to 1958, he won 55 of 100 decisions.Flanigan died in Edgewood, Kentucky, on December 8, 2022, at the age of 88.

Ralph Harold Brickner (May 2, 1925 – May 9, 1994) was a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Red Sox in the 1952 season. Nicknamed "Brick", he batted and threw right-handed, stood 6 feet, 31⁄2 inches (1.92 m) tall and weighed 215 pounds (98 kg). He was born in Cincinnati, and attended Indiana University.
Brickner was a member of the IU Hoosiers baseball team in 1946–47. Signed originally by the Philadelphia Phillies' organization, he was selected by the Red Sox from the independent Portsmouth Cubs of the Piedmont League in the 1950 minor league draft, and reached the Major Leagues on May 2, 1952. He had a successful rookie season with the Red Sox, appearing in 14 games, 13 in relief, and posting a 3–1 win–loss record with one save and an earned run average of only 2.18 with nine strikeouts and 32 hits allowed and 11 bases on balls in 33 innings pitched. But a shoulder injury diagnosed as bursitis curtailed his pitching career. He played his final MLB game on September 17, 1952, and retired after spending 1953 in minor league baseball.
Ralph Brickner died in Bridgetown, Ohio, at the age of 69.

Leonard James Matuszek (born September 27, 1954), is an American former professional baseball first baseman and outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, and Los Angeles Dodgers from 1981 to 1987. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Matuszek is an alumnus of the University of Toledo, where he played both varsity baseball and basketball, for all four of his college years. He was inducted into the Varsity “T” Athletic Hall-Of-Fame, in 1986.

Gordon Richard Massa (September 2, 1935 – July 16, 2016) was an American professional baseball player who appeared in eight games as a catcher and pinch hitter for the 1957–1958 Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball. A left-handed batter who threw right-handed, he stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed 210 pounds (95 kg).
After graduating from Elder High School in Cincinnati, Massa attended The College of the Holy Cross, where he starred in baseball and football. In 1955 he led the Crusaders in home runs and runs batted in as the team posted a 13–4 record and qualified for the NCAA Division I College baseball tournament. Overall, Holy Cross won 42 of 53 games during Massa's time on the varsity. In football, he played center and linebacker and was selected by the New York Giants in the tenth round of the 1957 National Football League Draft.
But Massa chose professional baseball as his destination and signed with the Cubs on June 24, 1957. Three months later, after prepping with the Des Moines Bruins of the Class A Western League, Massa made his MLB debut, starting at catcher and notching two hits, both singles, in four at bats with one run batted in against Hal Jeffcoat of the Cincinnati Redlegs. All told, Massa collected seven hits in 15 at-bats with three RBI during his first trial with the Cubs. The following year, he was sent to the Class B Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League for further minor league seasoning, and he batted .316 to earn his second late-season call-up to the Cubs. He went hitless in two at-bats.
Massa returned to the minors for good in 1959, and retired in late 1963 after seven seasons in the Cub farm system, pitching in 24 games as well as handling catching chores.He was elected to the Holy Cross Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.Massa died July 16, 2016, aged 80, in Cincinnati.

Albert Wesley Lakeman (December 31, 1918 – May 25, 1976), nicknamed "Moose", was a professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Braves and Detroit Tigers. Lakeman was listed at 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall and 195 pounds (88 kg). He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The light-hitting Lakeman was a fine defensive catcher as he took responsibility for getting the most out of his pitchers. For most of his nine-year career in the Majors, he was an efficient, reliable backup playing behind Ray Mueller (Reds) and Andy Seminick (Phillies). His most productive season came in 1945 with Cincinnati, when he posted career-highs in games played (76, including 72 games as starting backstop as the Reds' most-used catcher), batting average (.256), home runs (eight), RBI (31) and runs (22).
In a nine-season career, Lakeman was a .203 hitter with 131 hits, 15 home runs and 66 RBI in 239 games. After his playing career ended, he managed in the Tigers' farm system (1956–62; 1965–66; 1970) and served two terms as the bullpen coach at the Major League level for the Boston Red Sox (1963–64; 1967–69), and was a member of the 1967 American League champions.
Lakeman died in Spartanburg, South Carolina, at age 57.