Donald Wesley Wheeler (September 29, 1922 – December 10, 2003) 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, a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

who appeared in 67 games 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 ...

for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

. The native of

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed during his baseball career. Wheeler, nicknamed "Scotty" due to his part-

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

ancestry, graduated from South High School and signed with his hometown club, the

Minneapolis Millers The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League. The team played first in ...

of the American Association, then an independently operated

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 ...

team, in 1941. After his first two professional seasons, in 1943 he joined the

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for

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

service; he saw combat in the

European Theatre The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II, taking place from September 1939 to May 1945. The Allied powers (including the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union and Franc ...

and was awarded the

Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious a ...

. Wheeler returned to baseball in as a member of the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

' organization after the

MLB 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 ...

club purchased the Millers franchise. The White Sox selected him in the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

, and in he was part of Chicago's three-man catching platoon, along with

Joe Tipton Joe Hicks Tipton (February 18, 1922 – March 1, 1994) was an American professional baseball player. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1948 through 1954 with the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Athleti ...

and

Eddie Malone Edward Joseph Malone, (born 6 April 1985) is a Scottish association football player, who plays for East Stirlingshire. Malone has also been on the books of many other Scottish clubs, as well as playing trial league matches with Greenock Morto ...

. Wheeler led the trio with 54 starts behind the plate and 473 innings caught, just ahead of Tipton (49 starts, 441 innings) and Malone (48 starts, 418 innings). Highlights included a four-

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

, five- RBI day on July 30 against the eventual

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

, and his only big-league

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

, struck June 12 off

Ellis Kinder Ellis Raymond "Old Folks" Kinder (July 26, 1914 – October 16, 1968) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher with the St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago White Sox between 1946 and 1957. Kinder batted and ...

of the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

."Boston Red Sox 7, Chicago White Sox 5"

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box score (June 12, 1949, second game) Wheeler returned to the minors in 1950 and effectively retired after the 1952 season, although he appeared in one game for the Millers at age 37 in 1960; he was serving as the club's part-time batting practice pitcher at the time. In his lone MLB season, Wheeler collected 46 total hits, with nine doubles and two

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

accompanying his home run. He was credited with 22 runs batted in. He died at age 81 in

Bloomington, Minnesota Bloomington is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It is located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis and just south of the Interstate 494/Inter ...

, on December 10, 2003.

References

External links

* 1922 births 2003 deaths Baseball players from Minneapolis Charleston Senators players Chicago White Sox players Colorado Springs Sky Sox (WL) players Eau Claire Bears players Major League Baseball catchers Memphis Chickasaws players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players St. Cloud Rox players Sioux City Soos players South High School (Minnesota) alumni Toledo Mud Hens players Burials at Fort Snelling National Cemetery United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-catcher-1920s-stub