Daniel Webster Litwhiler (August 31, 1916 – September 23, 2011) was an American 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 ...
player and
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Coac ...
. 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 ...
as an
outfielder
An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...
from 1940 to 1951 for 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). ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
, and
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...
. He was the first Major League Baseball player to have an error-free season while playing a full-time position on defense.
That same season, 1942, he also became the first player to stitch together the fingers of his glove. After his playing career, he continued to work in baseball as a coach in college sports.
Early career
Before entering baseball, Litwhiler graduated from college, unlike most major leaguers at the time.
He graduated from
Bloomsburg State Teacher's College in 1938, earning a bachelor's degree in Science and Social Sciences. The baseball facility at Bloomsburg is named Danny Litwhiler Field.
[
]
Major League career
After finishing the 1941 season with a .305 batting average, Litwhiler was selected to the All Star game in 1942, where he hit safely in his only at-bat.
In 1942, he recorded 308 putouts
In baseball statistics, a putout (PO) is awarded to a defensive player who (generally while in secure possession of the ball) records an out (baseball), out by one of the following methods:
* tag play, Tagging a runner with the ball when he is no ...
and 9 assists without making an error for a 1.000 fielding percentage
In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...
. Litwhiler had an errorless streak of 187 games before making an error on May 20, 1943, the only error he made that season as he led all outfielders in fielding percentage for the second straight year with a .996 fielding percentage.
Litwhiler was traded to the Cardinals in 1943 and was a key player for them in the 1944 World Series against the St. Louis Browns. He played left field in five of the six games and had four hits with one RBI and two runs scored.
Coaching career
Litwhiler coached at Florida State University
Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...
from 1955 to 1963, and led them to three College World Series
The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...
appearances.
He then coached at Michigan State University
Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...
from 1964 to 1982, and holds the record for most wins by a coach in the school's history. Among his former players are Steve Garvey
Steven Patrick Garvey (born December 22, 1948) is an American former professional Major League Baseball player who played first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres from 1969 to 1987.
Garvey began his major league career wit ...
, Kirk Gibson
Kirk Harold Gibson (born May 28, 1957) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and manager. Gibson spent most of his career in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Detroit Tigers, but also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kansa ...
and Rick Miller.
During his coaching career, he invented a very effective method of drying baseball fields after rain using calcined clay which was marketed as Diamond Grit, enabling play to resume very quickly and in the process saving organized baseball millions of dollars over the decades. He was also one of the first coaches to make use of radar guns to measure pitching velocity, which effectively revolutionized the assessment of pitchers. It first came on the market in collaboration with the Jugs company, known as the Jugs Gun.
Death
Litwhiler died on September 23, 2011, in Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater is a city and the county seat of Pinellas County, Florida, United States, west of Tampa, Florida, Tampa and north of St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies T ...
, at age 95.[
]
References
External links
Danny Litwhiler at Baseball Almanac
{{DEFAULTSORT:Litwhiler, Danny
1916 births
2011 deaths
Major League Baseball outfielders
Boston Braves players
Cincinnati Reds players
Philadelphia Phillies players
St. Louis Cardinals players
Cincinnati Reds coaches
Florida State Seminoles baseball coaches
Michigan State Spartans baseball coaches
Bloomsburg Huskies baseball players
Baseball players from Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
United States national baseball team managers
Baseball coaches from Pennsylvania
Alexandria Aces players
Charleroi Tigers players
Charleston Senators players
Duluth Dukes players
Fargo-Moorhead Twins players
Jamestown Falcons players
Oakland Oaks (baseball) players
Sacramento Solons players
Wilkes-Barre Barons (baseball) players
20th-century American sportsmen