Russell Lewis Miller (March 25, 1900 – April 30, 1962), was a professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) during 1927 and 1928 for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

. Listed at and , he threw and batted right-handed.

Baseball career

Miller's

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

baseball career spanned 1925 to 1932, as he compiled a 49–43

win–loss record Win–loss may refer to: * Win–loss analytics, analysis of the reasons why a visitor to a website was or wasn't persuaded to engage in a desired action * Win–loss record, also winning percentage * Win–loss record (pitching), the number of ...

pitching a total of 162 games for seven different teams. He spent time with

farm team In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a Team sport, team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any s ...

s of the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

in 1927 and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

in 1929. Miller's major league career consisted of 35 appearances for the

; two in 1927 (both starts) and 33 in 1928 (12 starts). His two appearances in 1927 came in late September; after losing his first start on September 24 to the

, he won his second start on September 29 against the

Boston Braves The Boston Braves were a Major League Baseball club that originated in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved to History of the Atlanta Braves#Milwaukee, Milwaukee (and became the Milwaukee Braves). ...

, pitching a complete game while allowing just one run. In 1928, Miller accrued an 0–12 record, taking losses both as a starting pitcher and as a reliever; he did earn two saves. Overall with the Phillies, Miller had a 1–13 record with 5.40

ERA An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...

and 23 strikeouts in

innings pitched In baseball, the statistic innings pitched (IP) is the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of Batter (baseball), batters and baserunners that have been put out while the pitcher is on the Baseball field#Pitcher's mou ...

Personal life

Miller was born in Ohio in 1900. He was a younger brother of fellow major league pitcher J. Walter Miller (1898–1975); both played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

. Miller's senior entry in the Ohio State

yearbook A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of Annual publication, a book published annually. One use is to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. The term also refers to a book of statistics or facts published annually ...

noted that he was a member of

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States–based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapt ...

fraternity and that he had earned three

varsity letter A varsity letter (or monogram) is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its recipient was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met. A person who ...

s in baseball. In February 1942, he was working in

agricultural extension Agricultural extension is the application of scientific research and new knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education. The field of 'extension' now encompasses a wider range of communication and learning activities organized for r ...

for Ohio State, and he was later the agricultural agent for

Crawford County, Ohio Crawford County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,025. Its county seat and largest city is Bucyrus. The county was created in 1820 and later organized in 1 ...

, a position he held for 28 years, until his death. Miller died in 1962 in

Bucyrus, Ohio Bucyrus ( ) is a city in Crawford County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located in northern Ohio approximately 28 miles (45 km) west of Mansfield, Ohio, Mansfield and southeast of Toledo, Ohio, Toledo. The population was 1 ...

, and was interred in

Reynoldsburg, Ohio Reynoldsburg is a city in Fairfield County, Ohio, Fairfield, Franklin County, Ohio, Franklin, and Licking County, Ohio, Licking counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is a suburban community in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area. The population ...

. He was survived by his wife and two sons.

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Russ 1900 births 1962 deaths People from Lawrence County, Ohio Baseball players from Ohio Major League Baseball pitchers Philadelphia Phillies players Syracuse Stars (minor league baseball) players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Reading Keystones players Columbus Senators players Columbus Red Birds players Indianapolis Indians players Albany Senators players Ohio State Buckeyes baseball players 20th-century American sportsmen