Career
He played in eight games for the Los Angeles Dodgers late in the 1963 baseball season. He was used primarily as a pinch runner but he had one official at bat and hit a double. That ring was eventually lost in Vietnam.
In 1967 he was drafted by the military.
After his return from Vietnam, he again played in the Dodgers" farm system, but his war injuries had impaired his baseball skills, and he never made it back to the major leagues. He became a car salesman, married twice, and had two sons.
He also remains the only professional baseball player who after first playing in the Major Leagues was later drafted into the United States Army and sent to the front lines in the Vietnam War. Gleason also appeared in the television series Branded, playing alongside Chuck Connors, and was considered for the lead role in the film Doubles Brigade.