Willard Raymond Schmidt (May 29, 1928 – March 22, 2007) 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

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, ...

who 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 ...

between 1952 and 1959. Listed at , , Schmidt batted and threw right-handed. He was born in

Hays, Kansas Hays is a city in and the county seat of Ellis County, Kansas, United States. The largest city in northwestern Kansas, it is the economic and cultural center of the region. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 21,116. Hays ...

. His four grandparents were

Volga Germans The Volga Germans (, ; ) are ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov and close to Ukraine nearer to the south. Recruited as immigrants to Russia in the ...

. He reached the majors in 1952 with 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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

, spending part of six years with them (1952–53, 1955–57) before moving to the

Cincinnati Redlegs Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

(1958–59) in the same transaction that brought

Curt Flood Curtis Charles Flood Sr. (January 18, 1938 – January 20, 1997) was an American professional baseball center fielder and activist. He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Redlegs, St. Louis Cardinals, and Washin ...

to St. Louis. His most productive season came in 1957 with the Cardinals, when he set a 10–3 mark and led the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

pitchers with a .769 W-L %. He was inducted into the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. In a seven-season career, Schmidt posted a 31–29 record with 323 strikeouts and a 3.93 ERA in 194 appearances, including 55 starts, 11

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, one

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

, two saves, and 586

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 ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Willard 1928 births 2007 deaths Allentown Cardinals players American people of German-Russian descent Atlanta Crackers players Baseball players from Kansas Charleston Marlins players Cincinnati Redlegs players Cincinnati Reds players Columbus Red Birds players Dallas Rangers players 20th-century American sportsmen Hamilton Cardinals players Houston Buffaloes players Major League Baseball pitchers Omaha Cardinals players Sportspeople from Hays, Kansas Rochester Red Wings players St. Louis Cardinals players San Juan Marlins players Seattle Rainiers players

See also

References

External links