Benny Joe Edelen (born September 16, 1955) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weat ...

who pitched for 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 (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

and Cincinnati Reds and was touted as one of the all-time great high school athletes in the state of Oklahoma. A recipient of the Jim Thorpe award, Joe excelled in basketball and baseball receiving All-State and All-America honors in both sports. The Cardinals drafted him in the 1st round (12th pick) of the 1973 amateur draft and he debuted for them on April 18, 1981 against his future team, the Reds. During the 1981 season he was traded by the Cardinals with Neil Fiala to the Reds for

Doug Bair Charles Douglas Bair (born August 22, 1949) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played for 15 Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons — from 1976 to 1990 — for seven teams. Career Pittsburgh Pirates Bair was drafted by the ...

. His major league career was brief as he pitched his final game the next year. He now teaches art and coaches golf at Washington Oklahoma.

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Cincinnati Reds players St. Louis Cardinals players Indianapolis Indians players St. Petersburg Cardinals players Major League Baseball pitchers 1955 births Living people Baseball players from Oklahoma Arkansas Travelers players Gulf Coast Cardinals players Springfield Redbirds players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1950s-stub