Les Peden, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetLes Peden
American baseball player
Date of Birth: 17-Sep-1923
Place of Birth: Azle, Texas, United States
Date of Death: 11-Feb-2002
Profession: baseball player
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Virgo 
About Les Peden
- Leslie Earl Peden (September 17, 1923 – February 11, 2002) nicknamed "Gooch", was an American professional baseball player and manager.
- A catcher, he appeared in nine Major League games for the 1953 Washington Senators.
- He threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 212 pounds (96 kg). The native of Azle, Texas, attended Texas A&M University and served in the United States Army in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.
- His minor league playing career lasted all or parts of 18 seasons, largely in the organizations of the Chicago Cubs and Kansas City Athletics.
- He was selected by Washington in the 1952 Rule 5 draft after he batted .279 with 18 home runs in 153 games for the Open-Classification Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League. For the first month of the 1953 MLB season, Peden was a member of the Senators' 28-man roster.
- Of his nine games, eight were as Washington's starting catcher.
- On April 29, he hit his only Major League home run, a solo shot off Saul Rogovin of the Chicago White Sox, in a 3–0 Washington victory at Comiskey Park.
- Peden caught Bob Porterfield's complete game, five-hit shutout that day.
- He collected his second extra-base hit, a double, off the Detroit Tigers' Hal Erickson on May 5, as he caught another complete game win for Porterfield.
- The double was the last of Peden's seven MLB hits and raised his batting average to .292. After going hitless on May 6 against Detroit's Ned Garver, Peden was returned to the Cubs' organization and the PCL Angels when rosters were reduced to 25 men at the May 15 cutdown.
- Peden then continued his lengthy minor league career, spending ten seasons as a playing manager in the Cubs and Athletics' farm systems.
- In 1965, he was listed as a member of the Cubs' College of Coaches, although he worked as manager of the Short-season Class A Wenatchee Chiefs of the Northwest League that season.
- He managed in Triple-A for three seasons, with the Portland Beavers (1962–63) and Tacoma Cubs (1966).
- After 1966, he served the Cubs as a scout.
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