Another Bronx tale

Pitcher Rob Gardner is raised in Binghamton, N.Y, about a three-hour drive from the Bronx and Yankee Stadium.

He eventually gets to play there – twice, in fact – during an eight-year major league career that lasts until 1973.

The Yankees like Gardner, too.

Actually, they like trading him.

Do it twice, in fact.

To the same team, no less.

For a pair of brothers, coincidentally. Namely, two of the three Alou brothers.

The first trade comes early in the 1971 season as the Yankees send Gardner to the Oakland Athletics for outfielder-first baseman Felipe Alou.

Six weeks later and after using him in just four appearances, the A’s return Gardner to the Yankees for outfielder Curt Blefary.

Gardner’s second stay with the Yankees lasts for another 18 months, ending 51 years ago today as they once again ship the left-hander to Oakland – this time for outfielder Matty Alou, Felipe’s younger brother.

Turns out that Gardner in 1973 comes within two months of being teammates with outfielder Jesus Alou, the youngest of the three baseball-playing Alou brothers.

Alas, before that happens, Gardner is sold by Oakland to Milwaukee exactly two months before the A’s purchase Jesus Alou from the Houston Astros.

Teams either trade or sell Gardner eight times between 1967 and 1973, when he finishes his career in the majors with a 14-18 record in 109 appearances and a 4.35 earned-run average.

“I’m always the 11th man on a 10-man pitching staff,” Gardner tells The Sporting News in 1972.

“In this game, you either have to have a lot of ability, be in the right place at the right time, or have a friend in high places to give you a break.”

Alas for Gardner, his friends in “high places” keep trading him.

The Alou brothers, from left, in 1973 — Felipe, Jesus and Matty