Time for the first of our player features for the new season, this time highlighting
Floyd "Jelly" Gardner.
Born in Russellville AR at the twilight of the 19th century, there are almost as many (and perhaps even more) references to Jelly Gardner's fiery disposition, tempestuous nature and pugilistic abilities as there are about his baseball skills. Which is OK, I prefer that to nothing at all or nearabouts, as is often the case.
After a few seasons playing among the Western Independent clubs, Jelly appears on the NeL radar in 1920 as part of the American Giants under Rube Foster. As Jim Riley points out, his personal performance over his first six seasons was inverse to that of the team: he was poor the first three but the club won the Pennant each year, then he was fantastic between 1923 and 1925 and yet the club won nothing. Finally, in 1926, with Dave Malarcher at the helm, it all came together as Gardner led the team with a .376 average and hit .300 in the playoffs as the AGs won it all, defeating the Eastern Colored League champion Bacharach Giants in the World Series.
Sticking with Riley for a bit, as he offers up a very detail entry for Jelly, Jim praises his speed ("blazing"), defence ("outstanding [...] with good arm and great range"), bunting proficiency and patience at the plate. Seamheads logs his career line at 280 / 373 / 328 with 146 steals, while EC allots him a healthy 28 bWAR.
Moving across to his EL avatar now, Jelly was taken 4th overall by the Bacharach Giants - first stop for so many good players in this league - in the 1976 Draft and reached as high as #4 on the PP. He split time between the bigs and littles in '77, impressing at both, and is now firmly a fixture at the parent club. He looks to have a long and fruitful career ahead of him, and as always we'll be following along with interest.