Ed Bressoud: One Of Two Players Who Played for the NY Giants (1956-1957) & NY Mets (1966-1967)

- May 01, 2024

Edward Francis Bressoud was born May 2nd, 1932, in Los Angeles California. His father Charles was born in Lima Peru to French parents. He came to America in 1908. His mother Josephine was a native of New Jersey. The Bressoud family had seven children, with Eddie being the fourth child born.

Bressoud attended UCLA earning a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education. If baseball didn't make him money, he wanted to be ready to be a teacher.

The six-foot right hand hitting infielder was originally signed by the New York Giants in 1950.

Military Service: Bressoud spent 1953-1955 serving in the Marine Corps. during the Korean War conflict.

In 1955 he returned to AAA Minneapolis, where he hit a minor league career best 19 HRs while batting .251 with 74 RBIs.

MLB Career: In 1956 he arrived in the big leagues with the New York Giants, appearing in 49 games batting .227 with nine RBIs.

He spent the 1957 season with the Giants, the teams last year in New York as back up to Daryl Spencer at short stop. Eddie batted .268 hitting 5 HRs with ten RBIs for the sixth place Giants. In the Giants last game at the Polo Grounds, he came in the 9th inning as a defensive replacement in the Giants 1-0 loss to the Pirates.

Move To San Francisco: Eddie moved with the team to San Francisco playing four more years there as a Giant.

In 1958 he kept his role as the back up short stop behind Daryl Spencer. In 1959 he took over as the team's main short stop in posting a .974 fielding % (4th best in the league) while batting .251 with 9 HRs 17 doubles & 26 RBIs.

By 1960 he became back up to Jose Pagan & appeared mostly as a pinch hitter, batting just .211. Later that year he was picked up by the Houston Colt 45s in the expansion draft but never got to play in Houston as he was soon traded to the Boston Red Sox for Don Buddin.

Red Sox Career: He played in Boston for four seasons (196-1965) becoming the Red Sox main shortstop. As a good pull hitter, he found success in Fenway Park, hitting off the Green Monster in left field.

In his first season in Boston, he hit 40 doubles (4th most in the league) thanks to the Green
Monster. He also had career highs with 68 RBIs & nine triples (5th most in the league) batting .277. At short he led the league in errors (28) & his 118 strike outs were second most in the AL.

In 1963 he hit a career high 20 HRs, batting .260 with 23 doubles & 60 RBIS for the seventh place Sox.

1964 All Star: In 1964 he had career highs in batting (.293) hits (166) doubles (41- second most in the AL) runs scored (86) walks (72) on base % (.372) & OPS (.828). He hit 15 HRs with 55 RBIs.

That year he made the AL All Star team backing up Jim Fregosi, but he did not play in the NL's Mid-Summer Classic 7-4 win at Shea Stadium.

The next season, his average fell 67 points to .226 & with the arrival of Rico Petrocelli, his Red Sox career was soon over. In his four years in Boston the team never finished better than seventh place.

In November of 1965 he was traded to the New York Mets for Joe Christopher.

NL New York Baseball Trivia: Ed Bressoud & Willie Mays are the only two players to have played with both the NY Giants & NY Mets.

Mets Career: Bressoud was the Mets main short stop in 1966 playing 94 games there posting a .960 fielding percentage. He took over for Roy McMillan who would retire after that season & was the last to play steady short stop for the Mets before Bud Harrelson would take over the position for the next decade. Bressoud also played 32 games at third base, nine at first base & six at second base that season.

Eddie debuted as a Met on Opening Day coming in a s a 9th inning defensive replacement. On April 24th he got his first start playing the complete game going 0-4 in a 5-2 loss in Atlanta.

On May 4th he hit his first Mets HR & drove in his first Met runs, collecting three hits in an 8-0 Jack Hamilton Mets shut out of the Cardinals.

Multi HR Game: On June 10th, Bressoud hit HRs off the Reds Jim Maloney & Jack Baldschun while driving in four of the Mets five runs in a 5-0 Dick Rusteck shut out win over Cincinnati at Shea Stadium. It was Rusteck's only career win in eight games pitched.

On June 15th he hit a three run HR off the Braves Denny LeMaster in Atlanta helping the Mets in a 5-4 win.

Two days later he hit another three run HR against the Cincinnati Reds, this one-off Joe Nuxhall helping the Mets to a 6-5 win in the first game of a double header. In the second game of that twin bill, his two-run single led the Mets to a 2-1 win over the Reds in the sweep.

On June 25th, Bressoud hit a three run HR off future Hall of Famer, Ferguson Jenkins at Wrigley Field in a 9-3 Mets win over the Cubs.

Grand Slam HR: On July 3rd in the second game of a double header at Shea Stadium, with the Pirates, he hit a grand slam HR off Bob Veale in an 8-7 loss.

That week he drove in runs in four straight games.

On September 1st, his two-run single off the Giants Gaylord Perry was enough for Dennis Ribant to beat Perry & San Fran 2-1.

He led the team in walks (47) & triples (5). His ten HRs were third best on the club & would be the most by a Mets shortstop until Kevin Elster came along in 1989.

Overall, on the season Bressoud batted .225 with 10 HRs 15 doubles 5 triples 49 RBIs & a .304 on base %. He led the team in strike outs, fanning 107 times (10th in the league).

At the end of Spring Training 1967 he was traded along with Danny Napoleon to the St. Louis Cardinals for Jerry Buchek, Art Mahaffey and Tony Martinez.

Post Mets Career: In 1967 he spent his last season on the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals, going from worst to first playing in 52 games batting .134. He played mostly behind primary short stop Dal Maxvill.

1967 Post Season: Eddie made two brief appearances in the World Series win over the Detroit Tigers as a late inning defensive replacement.

Career Stats: In his twelve-year career Bressoud played in 1186 games, he was a lifetime .252 hitter with 925 hits 94 HRs 184 doubles 40 triples & 365 RBIs. He struck out 723 times & walked 359 times with a .319 on base % & .719 OPS.

Retirement: After baseball he graduated from UCLA becoming a physical education teacher & baseball coach at De Anza College in Cupertino, California. He also worked as a baseball scout & minor league coach.

Family: Eddie married his wife Elanor (Griesser) in 1953 five months into his military obligation. Sadly, she passed away in 1958 from a brain tumor.

In 1959 he met an airline stewardess named Carol Mathews, they soon married. Eddie had four children, two daughters & two sons.

Eddie took his family to Florida in the Spring & they traveled with the team during the season. In the winters they lived in California as Eddie wanted to be involved in raising his children. In 2019 the & Carol celebrated their 60th anniversary together.

Honors: In 2008 he was on hand in San Francisco, as the Giants honored players from their past, on the team’s 50th Anniversary of moving West. Eddie, Willie Mays, Jim Davenport & Felipe Alou were all present from the 1958 squad.

Passing: In July 2022, Bressoud passed away at age 91, due to cerebellar ataxia, an inability to coordinate muscle movement from the cerebellum.