Though never as successful after that, he remained in the major leagues through the 1961 season, relying more heavily on adjusting pitch velocity and the angle at which he threw the ball to fool hitters.

[2] Ned grew up rooting for the Detroit Tigers, the closest Major League Baseball (MLB) team to Ney.

As a senior in 1943, Garver helped the high school baseball team reach the state championship, where he suffered the loss in a 3–2 defeat.

[6] Garver began his professional career at age 18 in 1944 with the Newark Moundsmen, St. Louis' affiliate in the Ohio State League (OSL).

[1] In the playoffs, he defeated the Middletown Red Sox three times, ultimately helping the Moundsmen to the first OSL championship since the league was put on hiatus due to World War II.

[8] The following season, Garver pitched briefly for the Browns' Single-A affiliate, the Elmira Pioneers of the Eastern League, before being promoted to the Double-A Toledo Mud Hens of the American Association.

[1][9] In 1946, Garver was sent to the San Antonio Missions, another Double-A team in the St. Louis Browns organization, and he would stay there until the end of the 1947 season.

Garver allowed one hit against a lineup composed mostly of major league regulars and was named to St. Louis's roster to begin the season.

[13] On September 4, he pitched 10 innings, driving in the winning run with a walk-off RBI single against Ed Klieman in a 2–1 victory over the Cleveland Indians.

[1] Years later, Garver remembered the victory as "special" because the Indians had just won the World Series, and "to beat [Feller] was a miracle!

Realizing this was not a good strategy, catcher Sherm Lollar called time and headed out to the mound to talk to Garver, then started walking around behind home plate when he returned to his position, to delay the game.

Garver got Pete Suder to hit into a double play to end the inning, and he pitched a complete game as the Browns won 5–3.

[30][31] Facing the White Sox in the season's final game on September 30, Garver needed a victory to attain the 20-win milestone.

With the score tied at four in the fourth inning, Garver hit his only home run of the season, against Randy Gumpert, to put his team ahead.

[36] Over the 1951-52 offseason, the United States House of Representatives held hearings on the legality of MLB's exemption from antitrust laws.

Garver was unable to appear because he was on a barnstorming tour with Satchel Paige, but he did write a letter back to Celler with his views on the subject.

Regarding baseball's reserve clause, Garver felt there was no adequate substitute to prevent one team from stockpiling all of the good players by offering them the most money.

[19] On August 14, Garver became part of what The Sporting News called at the time the "biggest ‘waiver’ deal in baseball history" when he was traded to the Tigers with Jim Delsing, Bud Black, and Dave Madison for slugger Vic Wertz, Don Lenhardt, Dick Littlefield, and Marlin Stuart.

"I was never as good after that," Garver said, yet he was still able to pitch in the major leagues through the 1961 season, relying on changing speeds and altering arm angles to get hitters out.

[50][51] After Garver's second shutout of the year on July 30, in which he held the Red Sox to four hits in a 5–0 win, general manager Muddy Ruel observed that the pitcher seemed more confident this season.

[52] He threw a third shutout on August 10, outpitching Wynn in a 4–0 victory over Cleveland that biographer Gregory H. Wolf called "impressive".

[56] Before his first start of the 1956 season, on April 20, Garver injured his elbow while throwing curveballs in cold weather during batting practice.

[19] On December 5, Garver, Trucks, Wayne Belardi, Gene Host, and $20,000 in cash were traded to the Kansas City Athletics[b] for Eddie Robinson, Bill Harrington, Jim Finigan, and Jack Crimian.

[1][61] He pitched what Wolf called "arguably his best game in his career" in the first outing of an August 11 doubleheader, holding the Indians to two hits in a 7–0 shutout.

[19] As the Opening Day starter for the Athletics in 1958, Garver held the Indians to seven hits and no runs in a 5–0 shutout victory on April 15.

[1] Though Garver started his first appearance of the 1961 season Angels, he was mainly used as a relief pitcher, a fact he attributed partly to a typically unsuccessful spring training campaign.

[19] The White Sox, Reds, and the expansion Houston Colt .45s inquired about Garver's services for the 1962 season, but he decided to retire.

He hoped that hitters would make early contact with his pitches, which would prevent them from figuring out all the different ways he could throw the ball.

[78] After his injury in 1952, Garver continued to pitch by changing speeds on the ball and throwing from different angels: overhand, underhand, and sidearm.

[80] However, he would apply a small amount of baby oil to his cap, touching the hat in that spot to get a better grip on his sinking fastball late in a game.