Pittsburg ? Pittsburg native Don Gutteridge, once named the fastest man in the National League, recently celebrated his 93rd birthday.

According to a list from “Who’s Alive and Who’s Dead,” Gutteridge ranks No. 24 among the oldest living Major League Baseball players.

“That’s a good list to be on,” Gutteridge said, laughing. His birthday was June 19.

Gutteridge, the last survivor from the St. Louis Cardinals’ Gas House Gang from the 1930s, played with the Cardinals, St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates and compiled a .256 batting average during his 12-year career. He was on the 1944 Browns team and the 1946 Red Sox team that lost to the Cardinals in the World Series. As the Browns’ leadoff hitter, Gutteridge was the first batter in the 1944 World Series.

After his playing career, Gutteridge served as a minor league manager and a major league coach with the Chicago White Sox. He also managed the White Sox for parts of the 1969 and 1970 seasons. He then served as a baseball scout until retiring in 1992.

Two players older than Gutteridge are his good friends, Ray Berres (who turns 98 on Aug. 31) and Al Lopez (who turns 97 on Aug. 20).

“I’m the young one in that group,” Gutteridge said. “We talk once in a while, probably once a month or every other month. I talk to Ray more than any of them because he was my roommate. When we get together, we start talking, start telling stories, and we don’t know when to quit.”

When Lopez was the manager of the White Sox from 1957-65 and 1968-69, Gutteridge served as first base coach and Berres was the pitching coach.

“I was with them for 17 years,” Gutteridge said. “We were buddy-buddies; we went everywhere together. Ray’s wife and my wife (Helen) were friends, too. They would get together when we were on road trips.”

On May 5, 1969, in Kansas City – the second month of the Royals’ existence – Gutteridge reluctantly became White Sox manager after Lopez resigned for health reasons.

“He called Tony Cuccinello (third base coach) and Ray Berres and John Cooney (bench coach) and me … he said come up and have breakfast with me. I have something to tell you,” Gutteridge said. “He said ‘I can’t take it any longer. I have to quit. One of you guys has to become manager.’

“I said ‘I don’t want it.’ Berres said ‘I wouldn’t have it.’ Cuccinello said ‘Don’t look at me.’

“We argued. They said ‘Gutteridge, you’re the youngest. If you’ll take it, we’ll stay with you.’ So after about an hour of arguing, I took it. I never did want to manage. That wasn’t one of my ambitions. I always wanted to be a coach.”

Gutteridge, of course, is familiar with many of the oldest major leaguers.

Southeast Kansas baseball legend Don Gutteridge, right, receives his old bat bag from local sports historian Bob Mishmash, center, during a surprise pre-birthday celebration June 14 at the Mall Deli in Pittsburg. Gutteridge, the only surviving player from the St. Louis Cardinals' Gas House Gang, is the 24th-oldest living big-leaguer.

“Bill Werber (who turned 97 on June 20) wrote a book,” Gutteridge said. “We were talking about his book when I was writing my book (in 2002). What he did, what I did … we helped each other.

“Eddie Mayo, he played second base for Detroit when I was playing with the Browns. Lonny Frey, he was a second baseman with Cincinnati.”

Is there something about playing second base that leads to a long life?

“I don’t know … clean living, I guess,” Gutteridge answered.

The oldest major leaguer on the list, Ray Cunningham, turned 100 on Jan. 17. He played a total of 14 games for the St. Louis Cardinals at the end of the 1931 and 1932 seasons. Cunningham, a third baseman, had four hits in 26 at-bats, a .154 average.

Of the 27 players born before 1913 who are still alive, 16 had at least 200 at-bats or pitched at least 50 innings.

By contrast, pitcher Mike Balas (age 95) allowed three hits in 1 1/3 innings in his only appearance for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1938, and catcher Bill “Dutch” Ferhring (93, or 19 days older than Gutteridge) struck out in his only at-bat for the White Sox in 1934.

The oldest living professional baseball player is Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, who turns 103 on July 7. He played with more than 20 teams in 36 seasons in the Negro Leagues before retiring as a player at the age of 52. He was nicknamed “Double Duty” by a sportswriter who saw him catch the first game of a doubleheader and pitch the second game.