Gatewood spent the full minor league season of 1963 with the Double-A Nashville Vols, where he made 20 starts and posted a 3.95 ERA. His campaign earned him a September call-up to the Angels for his first taste of major league service. In his first-ever MLB game, on September 11, 1963, he started against the Boston Red Sox at Chavez Ravine and earned a complete game, 4–1 victory. Gatewood permitted only four hits and one base on balls, striking out five. Gatewood had a shutout until the ninth inning, when Red Sox slugger Dick Stuart led off with a triple and scored two batters later on Russ Nixon's sacrifice fly.[1] Gatewood would make another dozen starts as a big leaguer, but his MLB debut would witness his only career complete game. He appeared in four total games that September and put up a stellar ERA of 1.50 in 24 innings pitched.
After he spent the first three months of 1964 at Triple-A, Gatewood returned to the Angels in July. He once again posted a strong earned run average (2.24, in 15 total games, including seven starts, and 601⁄3 innings pitched). That performance paved the way for Gatewood's only full year in the majors, 1965. Working in 46 games, among them three starts, he won four of nine decisions and compiled a 3.42 ERA in 92 innings. But 1965 would be Gatewood's last year in an Angel uniform. He was sent to the minor leagues in 1966, then acquired by the Cincinnati Reds, signaling a journeyman phase of his career that would see him pitch for five different MLB organizations through 1971. Only during the midpoint of the 1970 season would Gatewood again experience the major leagues, when he worked in three games in relief for the Atlanta Braves. His first two appearances as a Brave were effective ones; but in his third, on July 8, Gatewood allowed six runs (although only one was earned) in only one-third of an inning in a 13–0 pasting at the hands of the San Francisco Giants.[2]
It was Gatewood's last game in the big leagues. During his 68-game MLB career, he compiled an 8–9 won–lost record and a 2.78 career earned run average; in 1781⁄3 innings pitched, he permitted 166 hits and 67 bases on balls, striking out 75. Gatewood's last pro season was 1971. He died in North Little Rock on June 5, 2019.[3]
