For the generation that followed the Atlanta Braves on Ted Turner’s superstation TBS, Cory Gearrin is a flashback.
Gearrin, the Rangers’ bearded side-arming reliever with a devastating changeup, resembles Gene Garber, the Braves’ bearded side-arming reliever with a devastating changeup.
It is not a coincidence. Gearrin learned the pitch and the approach from Garber while with the Braves.
“He was very influential to me,’’ Gearrin said. “He helped me in so many ways.”
The relationship began in spring training 2010.
Garber annually leaves his farm in Pennsylvania Dutch country and goes to spring training with the Braves as a special instructor-guru.