Russ Lyon

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Russ Lyon was a professional baseball catcher who played seven games for the Cleveland Indians in 1944 during World War II. He was born on June 26, 1913, in Ball Ground, Georgia, and died on December 24, 1975, in Calhoun Falls, South Carolina. He batted and threw right-handed, stood 6 feet 1 inch tall, and weighed 230 pounds. Lyon attended Georgia Tech, where he played freshman football and baseball, and he spent several seasons in the minor leagues (1937–1939 and 1944–1945), totaling more than 300 games. He started his pro career as a first baseman with the Leesburg Gondoliers in 1937, later switching to catcher.

He made his major league debut on April 21, 1944, and his last appearance came on May 27, 1944. In those seven games, he went 2-for-11 for a .182 batting average, with two singles—one on April 21 against Detroit and another on April 23 also against Detroit. Defensively, he caught three games (20 innings) and made one error for a .909 fielding percentage. On June 9, 1944, Cleveland traded Lyon (along with cash) to the Indianapolis Indians in exchange for catcher Norm Schlueter.

At the time of his death, Lyon was a master mechanic. He was married with three sons and was buried in Abbeville, South Carolina.