Ed Head

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Ed Head

|image=Ed Head.jpg

|position=Pitcher

|bats=Right

|throws=Right

|birth_date={{Birth date|1918|1|25}}

|birth_place=Grant Parish, Louisiana, U.S.

|death_date={{death date and age|1980|1|31|1918|1|25}}

|death_place=Bastrop, Louisiana, U.S.

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=July 27

|debutyear=1940

|debutteam=Brooklyn Dodgers

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=August 25

|finalyear=1946

|finalteam=Brooklyn Dodgers

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Win–loss record

|stat1value=27–23

|stat2label=Earned run average

|stat2value=3.48

|stat3label=Strikeouts

|stat3value=208

|teams=

Brooklyn Dodgers ({{Baseball year|1940}}, {{Baseball year|1942}}–{{Baseball year|1944}}, {{Baseball year|1946}})

|awards=

Pitched a no-hitter on April 23, 1946

}}

Edward Marvin Head (January 25, 1918 – January 31, 1980) was an American professional baseball player who pitched in the Major Leagues from 1940 to 1946.David Finoli (2002) For the Good of the Country: World War II Baseball in the Major and Minor Leagues. Jefferson, N.C.: MacFarland & Company Publishers, p. 266.

Head was notable for a number of reasons, one of them was the physical challenges he overcame to become a major league baseball player. A natural left-handed pitcher, at the age of 15, Head was involved in a vehicle accident that killed his girlfriend and almost resulted in the amputation of his left arm. After hours of surgery, Head's arm was saved but he could no longer use it to pitch, so he switched and became a right handed pitcher.Weintraub, Robert (2013) The Victory Season: The End of World War II and the Birth of Baseball's Golden Age. New York: Little Brown and Company, pp. 112-113.{{cite web |url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ed-head/ |title=Ed Head |first1=Lyle |last1=Spatz |website=sabr.org |publisher=Society for American Baseball Research |access-date=January 30, 2019}}

Head joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1940 and after compiling a record of 1–2, was sent back to the minor leagues for additional development.McNeil, William F. (2003) The Dodgers Encyclopedia. Champaign, Illinois: Sports Publishing LLC, pp. 327-328. He returned in 1942 and was promoted to the team's starting rotation where he went 10–6 for the season. In 1943, he was not as effective, his record was 9–10, but he recovered in 1944 starting the season 4–3 with a career low ERA of 2.70 before he entered the Army to fulfill his service obligation.

File:Baseball. Head - Lou Riggs BAnQ P48S1P12825.jpg (right) in Montreal, 1946]]

After serving in the Army and not pitching in the majors for most of 1944 and all of 1945,{{cite web |title=Baseball in Wartime – Ed Head |url=http://baseballinwartime.com/player_biographies/head_ed.htm |website=BaseballinWartime.com |access-date=January 30, 2019}} Head no-hit the Boston Braves 5–0 at Ebbets Field on April 23, 1946, in his first start of the season.Hand, Jack (April 4, 1946) "Ed Head Throws No-Hitter in First Start Since July, 1944" Moberly Monitor-Index, p. 6. Several weeks later, Head injured his right arm and did not pitch for the remainder of the season. He failed to make the major league club in spring training of 1947, and never pitched in the majors again, his no-hitter being one of the last games he ever pitched."Ed (No-Hit) Head Released by Flock" (April 15, 1947) The Stars and Stripes.

Head managed the Asheville Tourists minor league baseball club in 1949.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K83OaiYbHM4C&pg=PA57 |title=A History of Professional Baseball in Asheville |first=Bill |last=Ballew |publisher=The History Press |year=2007 |isbn=9781596291768 |via=Google Books }}

Head died on January 31, 1980, at age 62.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19800201&id=Xk80AAAAIBAJ&pg=1534,304552|title=Ex-Dodger pitcher, Ed Head, dies at 62|newspaper=Sarasota Herald-Tribune|location=Sarasota, Florida|agency=Associated Press (AP)|date=February 1, 1980|page=4-E|access-date=December 25, 2017}}