Baseball Remembers April 23,1952

OLD HEAD · 04-23-07, 04:09 PM

A fête you see not too often. First major league at bat,home run. Something you would never expect of a pitcher. But today in 1952 Hoyt Wilhelm started his major league baseball career by doing just that.
Wilhelm went on that season to record a then high 71 relief appearances in the NL. He was the league best with a 2.43 ERA,an .883 winning percentage
(15-3),and 15 relief wins. A fitting start for a future Hall of Famer.
Hoyt Wilhelm was known for his knuckle ball. He constantly gave catchers fits and had the the Orioles catchers set a modern day record with 28 passed balls by Gus Triandos and 21 by Joe Ginsberg. The following year manager Paul Richards introduced the over sized catchers mitt which became standard
equipment for catching the knuckler.
At the age of 45 in 1968, Wilhelm appeared in a career high 72 games.
His totals for his career are 2254.1 innings pitched 143-122 win-loss record
and a 2.52 ERA.
Hoyt Wilhelm was voted into the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA in 1985.
He was also the first relief pitcher elected to the Hall of Fame and the first pitcher inducted with less than 150 career wins.

04-23-07, 04:09 PM	#1 (permalink)
OLD HEAD SCI Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: JOISY !! Posts: 1,778	Baseball Remembers April 23,1952 A fête you see not too often. First major league at bat,home run. Something you would never expect of a pitcher. But today in 1952 Hoyt Wilhelm started his major league baseball career by doing just that. Wilhelm went on that season to record a then high 71 relief appearances in the NL. He was the league best with a 2.43 ERA,an .883 winning percentage (15-3),and 15 relief wins. A fitting start for a future Hall of Famer. Hoyt Wilhelm was known for his knuckle ball. He constantly gave catchers fits and had the the Orioles catchers set a modern day record with 28 passed balls by Gus Triandos and 21 by Joe Ginsberg. The following year manager Paul Richards introduced the over sized catchers mitt which became standard equipment for catching the knuckler. At the age of 45 in 1968, Wilhelm appeared in a career high 72 games. His totals for his career are 2254.1 innings pitched 143-122 win-loss record and a 2.52 ERA. Hoyt Wilhelm was voted into the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA in 1985. He was also the first relief pitcher elected to the Hall of Fame and the first pitcher inducted with less than 150 career wins. __________________ SHOW NO EMOTION Last edited by OLD HEAD : 04-23-07 at 04:14 PM.
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