Alan Edward Closter is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played on the United States national baseball team during the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

. He pitched parts of four seasons in Major League Baseball between 1966 and 1973, pitching in a total of 21 games.

Career

Closter played college baseball at Iowa State University. He represented the United States in

baseball at the 1964 Summer Olympics Baseball at the 1964 Summer Olympics was a demonstration sport and consisted of a single game. It was the fifth time that a baseball exhibition had been held, and was the last time that only one game was played. Game The U.S. team of college ba ...

as a

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration spor ...

, one of seven pitchers on the team. He was signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent before the start of the 1965 season.

Minor leagues

In 1965, Closter's first year in the minor leagues, he split his time between two teams, the Rookie league

Johnson City Yankees Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

of the

Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wood bats, its season runs from ...

and the single-A Greensboro Yankees of the Carolina League. In the winter, Closter also spent time with the Yankees affiliate of the Florida Instructional League. On November 29, 1965, Closter was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the Rule 5 Draft. A few months later, on April 6, 1966, before ever playing a game in the Indians organization, Closter was purchased by the Washington Senators. Closter played only one game in the Senators organization, pitching 0.1 innings against the Baltimore Orioles in his MLB debut, before being purchased again by the Yankees on May 3, 1966. After returning to the New York Yankees organization, Closter finished the season with the Greensboro Yankees. Closter spent the entirety of the 1967 season with the double-A Binghamton Triplets of the Eastern League. Closter pitched in only 14 games that year, but made an impressive performance by going 40 with an ERA of 1.74 and 45 strikeouts. In 1968, Closter began the season with the single-A Fort Lauderdale Yankees of the

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

. Playing only five games there, he was quickly promoted to the triple-A Syracuse Chiefs of the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

. For the rest of his career with the Yankees, Closter would bounce between Syracuse and the Major Leagues. Between 1968 and 1973, Closter played a total of 249 games for Syracuse, winning a total of 69 games and losing a total of 58.

Major leagues

After making his Major League debut with the Senators in 1966, Closter wouldn't play another game in the MLB until 1971, when he made occasional relief appearances for the Yankees. Closter made one

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in 1971 against the

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on September 4. He pitched 5.0 innings and allowed 5 hits and 5 earned runs, two of which were

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

. Closter was traded to the Atlanta Braves on September 5, 1973, as the player to be named later as part of a trade that sent Wayne Nordhagen and Frank Tepedino to Atlanta in exchange for pitcher Pat Dobson. In his remaining two seasons in the MLB, Closter only made 6 appearances between the Yankees and Braves, pitching 6.2 innings in relief.

Post-retirement

In 2006, Closter was elected to the Syracuse Baseball Wall of Fame.

Notes

External links

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Retrosheet
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Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Winter League)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Closter, Al 1943 births Living people Atlanta Braves players Baseball players from Nebraska Binghamton Triplets players Greensboro Yankees players Florida Instructional League Yankees players Fort Lauderdale Yankees players Iowa State Cyclones baseball players Iowa State University alumni Johnson City Yankees players Major League Baseball pitchers Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela New York Yankees players People from Creighton, Nebraska Richmond Braves players Syracuse Chiefs players Tigres de Aragua players Washington Senators (1961–1971) players