Ex-Braves pitcher enjoys life on the farm

Gene Garber lives on a farm a mile from the one where he grew up in Lancaster County, Pa. As he likes to say, he hasn’t gotten very far in life.

That might be true. Unless you consider that in between those stops, Garber pitched in 931 major-league games, 17th-most in history, saved 141 games for the Braves, second-most in franchise history behind John Smoltz, and snapped a fairly well-known hitting streak at 44 games by a guy named Pete Rose.

Enlarge this image

AJC File

Gene Garber, who saved 141 games for the Braves, pitched in 931 major-league games.

RELATED BRAVES LINKS

• Schedule • Beat blog • Stats

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Garber, who retired from baseball in 1988, is 61. He and his sons Greg, 34, and Mike, 31, own and run 400 acres of farmland.

They have 80,000 chickens and pack about 70,000 eggs a day to sell to a processor for restaurant chains. They grow corn, soybeans, wheat and barley. In recent years, they’ve added emu, selling emu oil for medical and cosmetic purposes. April is planting season for Garber, which means his days start at 4:30 a.m. and can go until 9 p.m. And Garber loves it.

“I’ve been very fortunate in my life,” he said. “I’ve had two jobs. I’ve been a ballplayer, and I’ve been a farmer, and I’ve loved both.”

Until a year ago, Garber was in a Braves baseball blackout. He didn’t get cable and was “too stubborn” to get a satellite dish. When his son gave him a dish, the Braves weren’t available in his local service. But last month, Garber got reacquainted with them face to face.

The Braves invited him to spring training as a guest instructor. He worked with fellow side-armer Peter Moylan and other younger pitchers for a week. He loved the chance to talk pitching. Otherwise, that only comes around every August.

Every year, reporters call around the anniversary of Garber ending Rose’s 44-game hitting streak.

Garber struck out Rose in the ninth inning on Aug. 1, 1978, at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium to thwart Rose’s run at Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. Garber had been pitching since the seventh inning, and with the score 16-4, his rookie manager — Bobby Cox — wanted to take him out.

Here’s their dugout conversation as Garber remembers it:

“Garb, that’s it after the eighth,” Cox said, while the Braves scored five more runs in the bottom of the eighth.

“No it’s not, Bobby,” Garber said. “I want to end the streak.”

Rose was due up third in the ninth.

“I want you to pitch tomorrow,” Cox said.

“Bobby, I’ll start and go nine tomorrow,” Garber said.

There was a long pause, as Cox stared at Garber. Garber started to wonder if he’d overstepped his bounds.

“Garb, go get him,” Cox said finally. “Good luck.”

It was uphill with Rose after Garber fell behind 2-1.

“I knew I’d never live it down if I walked him to end the streak, especially with a 16-4 lead,” Garber said. “My knees were shaking. Other than the first game I ever pitched in the big leagues, I’m not sure that I ever had shaky knees.”

He decided to go with his change-up, his best control pitch. Rose fouled it off. At 2-2, Garber decided to throw it again. The last thing he wanted was to go to 3-2.

“As I released that one, it didn’t feel right, and I said ‘Oh no,” Garber said. “He swung right through it. I said ‘All right!’ “

Rose complained afterward that Garber had pitched the game like it was Game 7 of the World Series, that Garber didn’t challenge him with a fastball.

Garber’s response, even 31 years later, gives an indication how strongly he feels about it and what he was trying to impart to Braves pitchers this spring.

“A pitcher challenges a hitter not by throwing fastballs,” Garber said. “He challenges him by throwing strikes and saying here it is.”

“What ever happened to …” is a weekly feature catching up with people and issues in the news. Are you wondering about the fate or fortune of former newsmakers? Tell us who and e-mail David Gibson. Please put “what ever happened to” in the reference line.