Albert Gregory Pearson (September 12, 1934 – February 21, 2023) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a centerfielder for the Washington Senators (1958–59), Baltimore Orioles (1959–60), and Los Angeles/California Angels (1961–66). Pearson stood tall, weighed , and batted and threw left-handed.
Named for star college football player Albie Booth, Pearson grew up desiring to play baseball. Though he initially attended Mt. San Antonio College, he dropped out to sign with the Boston Red Sox after a psychology professor suggested he was more interested in baseball than his lectures. Pearson spent five years playing Minor League Baseball in Boston's organization but had not yet reached the major leagues upon his trade to the Senators in 1958. Pearson made Washington's roster out of spring training that season and batted .275, winning the American League (AL) Rookie of the Year and the Sporting News Rookie of the Year Awards. He struggled to start off the 1959 season, though, and was traded to Baltimore during the year; Pearson went back and forth between the minor leagues and the majors in 1959 and 1960. Hearing that his native California was about to be awarded the expansion Los Angeles Angels, Pearson wrote Fred Haney, the Angels' general manager, asking the Angels to pick him in the expansion draft. Haney did draft Pearson–as the 30th and last pick.
With the Angels, Pearson turned his career around. He batted .288 in his first year with the ballclub and became a starting outfielder again. The Angels named him their starting right fielder in 1962, but he was moved to centerfield on May 4 after Lee Thomas batted only .149 in his first 17 games. Pearson led the AL with 115 runs scored that season. In 1963, he was selected to the All-Star Game, earning the start in the game over Mickey Mantle, who had broken his leg a month earlier. Pearson was one of four AL players to hit over .300 in 1963, a season in which he set career highs in many categories. After Pearson batted .214 in the first two months of 1964, he was replaced in centerfield by Bob Perry, serving as a reserve player the rest of the year and only batting .223 on the season. He earned a platoon role with Lou Clinton in 1965 and batted .278 while playing 122 games. However, a back injury suffered in spring training of 1966 limited Pearson to two games, and he retired after that season.
After retiring, Pearson was involved in Christian ministries. He became an ordained minister in 1972, and in 1997, he and his wife sold their home to found Father's Heart Ranch in Desert Hot Springs, California, an home for abused, neglected and abandoned 6- to 12-year-old boys. Golf was one of Pearson's hobbies, and he also acted in television shows and released a record under the Capitol label.
Early life Pearson was named after star college football player Albie Booth. He inherited his short height from his parents; his father was and his mother was . He was their only child. He was interested in baseball from a young age. When he was six, he borrowed his mother's decorative pillows and used them for a makeshift baseball field, then pretended to hit a home run to beat the New York Yankees in the World Series. He said God told him during that game, "Join my team."
Pearson pitched and played the outfield for the baseball team, played halfback for the football team, and played on the basketball team at El Monte High School, earning 13 letters in those three sports. On the baseball team his senior year, he had a 23–6 record and an 0.83 earned run average (ERA) while batting .506, but he drew little interest from scouts because of his height. Though he was offered football scholarships at California Polytechnic State University and Pacific University, he turned them down to attend Mt. San Antonio College which was nearer his home. Following part of a semester at Mt. San Antonio, he was signed by the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent in 1953. He said that he dropped out of Mt. San Antonio to sign with the Red Sox after a psychology professor suggested he was more interested in baseball than his lectures (which Pearson agreed with).
Baseball career Minor leagues Tom Downey was the scout who signed Pearson to his first contract, which amounted to little else besides two pairs of cleats, a new suitcase, and a promise of making $225 a month if he made the team. "I was afraid they wouldn't give me another chance," Pearson said of his decision to sign. "I realized this was the way it had to be." Pearson was assigned to the San Jose Red Sox of the Class C California League, where he hit .334 in 125 games. Although he was signed as a pitcher, a shortage of outfielders at San Jose forced Pearson to have a spot in the lineup daily. After getting eight hits in his first two games, Pearson did little pitching during his minor league career–none with San Jose though he spent all of 1953 with them.
Promoted to the Albany Senators in the Class A Eastern League in 1954, he hit .269. He earned a two-game promotion to play for the Louisville Colonels of the Class AAA American Association. Pearson spent 1955 back at Class A, this time hitting .305 for the Montgomery Rebels in the South Atlantic League. He split 1956 between the San Francisco Seals in the Open Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Oklahoma City Indians in the Class AA Texas League, hitting well throughout the season and finishing with a combined .358 batting average with seven home runs, 46 runs batted in (RBIs), six triples, and 36 doubles. He had 91 walks and only 41 strikeouts in 153 games, winning the Texas League batting championship. Pearson was back with the Seals in 1957 and continued to hit, batting .297 with five home runs, 50 RBIs, 11 triples, and 22 doubles. Looking at archived Seals photos, Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle observed in October 2012 that Pearson stood apart from the other Seals because of "his joyous grin." His clean living also set him apart, as a contemporary Chronicle article observed: "The little man doesn't drink or smoke or swear." With the Seals in 1957, Pearson helped the team win the PCL title in its final season.
Major leagues Washington Senators and Baltimore Orioles (1958–60) On January 23, 1958, the Red Sox traded Pearson and Norm Zauchin to the Washington Senators for infielder Pete Runnels. He wrote Senators' owner Calvin Griffith a letter that month, asking permission to report to camp early, as he wanted to make a good impression despite his short size. Pearson won a spot as the Senators Opening Day centerfielder and played the position all year for Washington. Hitless in his first three games, his first major league hit came on April 19, a single against Mike Fornieles in a 4–3 victory over the Red Sox. On July 28, he had three hits and hit his first major league home run against eventual Hall of Famer Early Wynn in a 6–5 loss to the Chicago White Sox. On September 2, he hit an inside-the-park home run against Hal Brown, driving in three runs in a 4–3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Three days later, he hit a two-run home run against Bob Turley in a 6–3 victory over the New York Yankees. In 1958, he won both the Major League Baseball (MLB) Rookie of the Year and the Sporting News Rookie of the Year Awards in the American League (AL). Pearson played 146 games for the Senators that year, batting .275 with 63 runs scored, 146 hits, three home runs, and 33 RBIs.
A hernia and a lingering, physically draining cold caused Pearson to miss games in 1959 spring training, but he was healthy enough to play by Opening Day. However, Pearson started the 1959 season hitting only .188 over the first 25 games with no home runs and only two RBIs, after which he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for centerfielder Lenny Green. With the Orioles in 1959, Pearson was used as a reserve outfielder in all three outfield positions. In 80 games for the Orioles, he batted .232 with 22 runs scored, 32 hits, no home runs, and six RBIs. His combined batting average in 105 games between Baltimore and Washington was .216.
Pearson started the 1960 season again as a reserve outfielder for the Orioles, batting .286 in his first 12 games. By June 12, with his average dropping to .231, Pearson was sent to the Miami Marlins, Baltimore's Class AAA team in the International League. After hitting over .300 in Miami, Pearson returned to Baltimore in September. He ended the year playing in only 48 games for the Orioles, batting .244 with 17 runs scored, 24 hits, one home run, and six RBIs.
Los Angeles Angels (1961–66)
Following the 1960 season, the Orioles sent Pearson back to their Class AAA affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings, in 1961. Meanwhile, baseball owners approved the creation of the Los Angeles Angels as an expansion team in October 1960, meaning there would be an expansion draft in which the Angels got to select players from all of the major league teams. Since he was from California, Pearson wrote Fred Haney, the Angels' general manager, asking the Angels to pick him in the 1960 expansion draft. Haney chose Pearson with their 30th and final pick. With the expansion Angels, Pearson turned around his career. In the team's first game, Pearson scored the franchise's first run, in a 7–0 win against his old team, the Orioles. Used mostly as a centerfielder early on, Pearson batted .250 in 30 games through May 21. For the next 30 days, he was used mainly as a pinch-hitter, batting .319 over that period. From June 19 through the end of the year, he made most of the team's starts in right field, batting .296 for the rest of the season. Pearson hit .288 with 7 home runs, 41 RBIs, and 92 runs for the season.
Pearson began the 1962 season as the Angel right fielder, but he was moved to centerfield on May 4 after Lee Thomas batted only .149 in his first 17 games. In the first game of a doubleheader against Boston on May 30, 1962, Pearson had three hits and scored four runs in a 10–5 victory. The Angels played another doubleheader two days later, but Pearson became the first player to go hitless when receiving at least 11 at bats in a doubleheader. He walked three times and had three RBIs on June 28 in a 19–7 victory over the Red Sox. With the Angels trailing the Yankees 7–6 in the bottom of the ninth inning on July 14, Pearson led off the inning with a game-tying home run against Marshall Bridges; however, the Yankees won the game in the tenth. Eleven times during the year, Pearson had three hits in a game. Pearson set a career-high with 160 games played, and he led the AL with 115 runs scored. He batted .261 with 160 hits, five home runs, 42 RBIs, and 15 stolen bases in 21 attempts.