Edward Burlton Heusser (May 7, 1909 – March 1, 1956) 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 ...

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, ...

whose 20-season (1929–1948) pro career included 266 games pitched 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) over nine seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals (1935–1936),

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 ...

(1938 and 1948),

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...

(1940) 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 ...

(1943–1946). In , he led the National League in

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

with a sparkling 2.38 mark in 192

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 ...

. He earned the colorful nickname of "The Wild Elk of Wasatch". Heusser was born in

Salt Lake County, Utah Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the List of capitals in th ...

. He threw and batted right-handed, and was listed as tall and . Of his 266 career appearances, 104 were starts. He posted 50

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

s and ten shutouts, with 19 saves recorded as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

. He compiled a 56–67 won–lost record with a 3.69

. In 1,087 career innings pitched, he permitted 1,167 hits and 300 bases on balls. He struck out 299. He also was an above-average hitting pitcher during his nine-year MLB career, with a .206

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(69-for-335) with 32

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...

, three

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 ...

and 24 RBIs. During his 12 years in the minors, he won 20 games once and 19 games twice, all in higher-level classifications. Ed Heusser died from cancer in

Aurora, Colorado Aurora (, ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, Arapahoe, Adams County, Colorado, Adams, and Douglas County, Colorado, Douglas List of counties in Colorado, counti ...

, at the age of 46.

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* 1909 births 1956 deaths Atlanta Crackers players Baseball players from Salt Lake City Birmingham Barons players Cincinnati Reds players Columbus Red Birds players Danville Veterans players Deaths from cancer in Colorado Elmira Red Wings players Fort Wayne Chiefs players Houston Buffaloes players Knoxville Smokies players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers Memphis Chickasaws players Montreal Royals players National League ERA champions Philadelphia Athletics players Philadelphia Phillies players Rochester Red Wings players St. Louis Cardinals players 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-pitcher-1900s-stub

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