Position: Relief pitcher
Birthplace: Bynum
First, Middle Names: Talmadge Lafayette Nicknames: Ted, Tal
Date of Birth: Oct. 30, 1921 Date and Place of Death: Nov. 16, 2001, Charlotte
Burial: Olney Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Gastonia, NC
High School: Mebane High School, Mebane, NC
College: Elon University, Elon, NC
Bats: R Throws: L Height and Weight: 6-2, 210
Debut Year: 1942 Final Year: 1944 Years Played: 3
Team and Years: Philadelphia Athletics, 1942-44
Career Summary
G W L Sv ERA IP SO WAR
7 0 3 0 11.07 20.1 13 -1.2
Connie Mack was in a bind. The manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, Mack lost nine players to the armed services in 1942. To shore up his depleted pitching staff, he signed a 20-year-old lefthander with a stellar college career.
Talmadge Abernathy, who went variously by the names Ted or Tal, was born to a large family in Bynum, a cotton mill town on the banks of the Haw River in Chatham County. He did most of his growing up, though, in Mebane, North Carolina, in neighboring Alamance County where his father, John, worked in a hosiery mill.