Judge Sylvia Pressler, Who Opened Little League to Girls, Dies at 75

Judge Sylvia Pressler

By BRUCE WEBER

The New York Times; February 16, 2010

Sylvia B. Pressler, whose 1973 ruling as a hearings officer with the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights opened the door for girls to play Little League baseball, and who later rose to be the presiding administrative judge of the state’s Appellate Division, died Monday at a family cottage in Sparta, N.J. She was 75, and her primary residence was in Englewood, N.J.

Her husband, David, confirmed her death. The specific cause was uncertain, but his wife had lymphoma, he said.

Judge Pressler was an especially prolific jurist, the author of hundreds of opinions in 31 years on the bench.

In 1995, she extended the legal rights of gay couples in a ruling that allowed a woman to adopt her partner’s 3-year-old twins.

“They function together as a family,” Judge Pressler wrote of the two women, who had lived together for 14 years. “The twins are, by reason of upbringing, daily lives and ties of mutual affection, the children of both Mary and Hannah, and no court order granting or denying the adoption will change that.”

In 2004, three years before the New Jersey Legislature abolished capital punishment, she ruled that the state’s procedures for carrying out the death penalty were insufficient to guarantee the rights of the condemned and that they had to be re-examined before the state could perform another execution by lethal injection.

“It is one thing for proponents and opponents to talk about capital punishment as an abstract proposition,” Judge Pressler wrote. “It is quite another to see it carried out.”

But she was best known for her decision in the Little League case, which she made before she was elevated to the bench. This was in 1973, when discrimination cases in New Jersey were heard by the Division of Civil Rights before government-appointed examiners, of which Sylvia Pressler, then a lawyer, was one.

The previous year, a 12-year-old girl, Maria Pepe, had played three games for a Hoboken Little League team before national Little League officials learned of her participation and threatened to revoke the local league’s charter if she continued to play. The National Organization for Women brought suit on behalf of the girl and all others in New Jersey. Ms. Pressler’s ruling in favor of them was upheld by the New Jersey Appellate Court, and in 1974 Little League Baseball agreed to allow girls to play on its teams and to start a softball division especially for girls.

“The institution of Little League is as American as the hot dog and apple pie,” she wrote in her ruling. “There is no reason why that part of Americana should be withheld from girls.”

Sylvia Diane Brodsky was born in New York City — either in Upper Manhattan or the Bronx, her husband said — on April 10, 1934, and grew up in the Bronx. (Professionally, she used the initial of her maiden name as a middle initial.) Her parents were Jewish immigrants, her mother from what is now Belarus and her father, who came to New York via Argentina, from what is now Poland. For a time he was an owner of a parking garage; he died when his daughter was a young girl.

Judge Pressler graduated from Hunter College High School in Manhattan and then attended Queens College before transferring to Boston University, where her future husband was in school, and where she received a bachelor’s degree. Her law degree was from Rutgers School of Law — Newark. Before becoming a hearings examiner, she worked in private practice and was the Englewood city attorney.

She was named to the bench in Bergen County Court in 1973 by Gov. William T. Cahill; Gov. Brendan T. Byrne appointed her to the state’s Superior Court in 1976, and she was assigned to the Appellate Division the following year. In 1997 she was named presiding judge for the administration of the Appellate Division. She retired in 2004.

Judge Pressler was at the center of a controversy in 1983, when a state senator, Gerald Cardinale, invoked the privilege known as senatorial courtesy to block her reappointment to the Superior Court. Mr. Cardinale claimed that she lacked a judicial temperament, but the Senate overwhelmingly approved her reappointment anyway, after it was disclosed that Mr. Cardinale had appeared before Judge Pressler as an unsuccessful litigant.

In addition to her husband, whom she met in 1953 when both were working as waiters at a Jersey Shore hotel, she is survived by a daughter, Jessica Pressler of Tenafly, N.J.; a son, Noah, of Englewood; and three grandchildren.

“She was not a good waitress,” her husband said in an interview on Tuesday. “She was very good at other things — almost everything else.”

2010 Election of the Shrine of the Eternals

Baseball Reliquary Announces Candidates for 2010 Election of the Shrine of the Eternals

The Baseball Reliquary, Inc. has announced its list of fifty eligible candidates for the 2010 election of the Shrine of the Eternals, the membership organization’s equivalent to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This year marks the twelfth annual election of the Shrine, a major national component of the Baseball Reliquary, a Southern California-based organization dedicated to fostering an appreciation of American art and culture through the context of baseball history. The thirty-three individuals previously elected to the Shrine of the Eternals are, in alphabetical order: Jim Abbott, Dick Allen, Emmett Ashford, Moe Berg, Yogi Berra, Ila Borders, Jim Bouton, Jim Brosnan, Bill Buckner, Roberto Clemente, Steve Dalkowski, Rod Dedeaux, Jim Eisenreich, Dock Ellis, Mark Fidrych, Curt Flood, Josh Gibson, William “Dummy” Hoy, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Bill James, Bill “Spaceman” Lee, Roger Maris, Marvin Miller, Minnie Minoso, Buck O’Neil, Satchel Paige, Jimmy Piersall, Pam Postema, Jackie Robinson, Lester Rodney, Fernando Valenzuela, Bill Veeck, Jr., and Kenichi Zenimura.

The Shrine of the Eternals is similar in concept to the annual elections held at the Baseball Hall of Fame, but differs philosophically in that statistical accomplishment is not a criterion for election. Rather, the Shrine’s annual ballot is comprised of individuals – from the obscure to the well-known – who have altered the baseball world in ways that supersede statistics.

On a procedural level, the Shrine of the Eternals differs significantly from the Baseball Hall of Fame in the manner by which electees are chosen. While the Baseball Hall of Fame’s electees are chosen in voting conducted by a select group of sportswriters or committees, the Baseball Reliquary chooses its enshrinees by a vote open to the public. A screening committee appointed by the Reliquary’s Board of Directors prepares a ballot consisting of fifty candidates, on which the membership votes annually. The three candidates receiving the highest percentage of votes gain automatic election.

Among the fifty eligible candidates for 2010, nine individuals appear on the Shrine of the Eternals ballot for the first time. A tenth candidate, Roger Angell, returns to the ballot after an absence of eleven years. (Angell appeared on the Shrine ballot one previous time in 1999.) The newcomers and returnee, in alphabetical order, are:

ROGER ANGELL (b. 1920) – self-described baseball “reporter” whose elegant and masterful prose, and remarkable power of observation, on display for years through his books and essays in The New Yorker magazine, established a new standard for baseball journalism.

STEVE BLASS (b. 1942) – one of the National League’s top pitchers in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Blass inexplicably lost his control after winning a career-high 19 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1972; while no definitive explanation has ever been given for his sudden ineffectiveness, Blass was out of baseball by 1975, and to this day pitchers who have had success and then mysteriously could not find the strike zone are referred to as having “Steve Blass disease.”

JAY BUHNER (b. 1964) – one of the most beloved and charismatic ballplayers of his era, Buhner was a right-handed power hitter for the Seattle Mariners from 1988-2001, known as much for his shaved scalp, goatee, free-spirited ways, and occasional fielding miscues (hence his nickname “Bonehead,” or “Bone” for short) as for his dramatic home runs.

JEFFERSON BURDICK (1900-1963) – often referred to as “the father of card collecting,” Burdick amassed a collection of 300,000-plus trading cards, including over 30,000 baseball cards, for which he developed a system of cataloging that remains in use today; he eventually would donate his collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and remains a stellar example of the baseball card collector as researcher and scholar rather than speculator and celebrity hunter.

HECTOR ESPINO (1939-1997) – known as “the Babe Ruth of Mexico,” Espino slugged over 450 home runs between 1962 and 1984 in the Mexican League, while steadfastly refusing to play in the United States because of the racism he encountered while playing in Florida during the Civil Rights era; a true national hero along the lines of Jackie Robinson (his number 21 was retired by all Mexican professional teams), he was admired by fans throughout Mexico as much for his sense of pride and loyalty for his country as for his incomparable baseball skills.

EDDIE GRANT (1883-1918) – the first major league ballplayer killed in action during World War I, the Harvard-educated Grant was a light-hitting infielder for the Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, and New York Giants from 1907 to 1915; his unusual academic pedigree stood out in an era when many fellow players were barely literate, and his bravery was honored by a legendary granite monument that stood for decades in New York City’s Polo Grounds.

CONRADO MARRERO (b. 1911) – the elder statesman of Cuban baseball, the diminutive 5-foot-7 Marrero was a great amateur pitcher in his homeland before joining the Washington Senators from 1950 to 1954; after returning to Cuba, where he is reportedly the last surviving major leaguer living on the island, he taught baseball to children and became a beloved goodwill ambassador for the amateur game.

FRANK O’ROURKE (1916-1989) – one of the greatest, albeit largely unknown, baseball fiction writers of the post-World War II era, O’Rourke authored gritty, highly realistic short stories and novels that were influenced by his ballplaying experiences (he even worked out with the Philadelphia Phillies in spring training in the late 1940s) and his intimacy with the major leaguers he used for his fictional characters.

PETE ROSE (b. 1941) – the inimitable “Charlie Hustle” began his assault on the record books in 1963 as the first piece of what would become the Big Red Machine; his prowess at hitting a baseball would be matched only by his penchant for generating controversy, and, in the eyes of many, his eventual placement on baseball’s ineligible list and banishment from the Hall of Fame made what he had achieved between the white lines seem irrelevant.

MAURY WILLS (b. 1932) – single-handedly restoring the stolen base as a potent offensive weapon with the Dodgers in the 1960s, paving the way for the even greater stardom of Hall-of-Famers Lou Brock and Rickey Henderson, Wills electrified the baseball world by stealing 104 bases in his 1962 MVP season; but his popularity and public acclaim came with a steep price, as he would eventually battle cocaine and alcohol addiction.

A complete list of all fifty candidates for the 2010 election of the Shrine of the Eternals follows. Election packets, containing ballots and biographical profiles of all candidates, will be mailed to Baseball Reliquary members on April 1, 2010. To be eligible to vote, all persons must have their minimum $25.00 annual membership dues paid as of March 31, 2010.

The three new inductees will be announced in May, with the Induction Day ceremony scheduled for Sunday, July 18, 2010 in Pasadena, California. In addition to the presentation of plaques to the 2010 inductees, this year’s ceremony will honor the recipients of the 2010 Hilda Award (named in memory of Hilda Chester and acknowledging a baseball fan’s exceptional devotion to the game) and the 2010 Tony Salin Memorial Award (presented annually to an individual dedicated to the preservation of baseball history).

For additional information on the Shrine of the Eternals, contact Terry Cannon, Executive Director of the Baseball Reliquary, at P.O. Box 1850, Monrovia, CA 91017; by phone at (626) 791-7647; or by e-mail at terymar@earthlink.net.

THE SHRINE OF THE ETERNALS

CANDIDATES FOR THE 2010 ELECTION

2010 Candidates

The number to the right of candidates' names indicates number of years on Shrine of the Eternals ballot.
1. Hank Aguirre (6)
2. Roger Angell (2)
3. Eliot Asinof (7)
4. Billy Bean (8)
5. Steve Blass (New!)
6. Chet Brewer (11)
7. Charlie Brown (3)
8. Jay Buhner (New!)
9. Jefferson Burdick (New!)
10. Helen Callaghan (7)
11. Charles M. Conlon (9)
12. Dizzy Dean (10)
13. Ed Delahanty (7)
14. Buck Dent (2)
15. Hector Espino (New!)
16. Eddie Feigner (10)
17. Lisa Fernandez (10)
18. Rube Foster (12)
19. Ted Giannoulas (8)
20. Eddie Grant (New!)
21. Jim "Mudcat" Grant (6)
22. Pete Gray (12)
23. Ernie Harwell (7)
24. Dr. Frank Jobe (8)
25. Charles "Pop" Kelchner (3)
26. Mike "King" Kelly (3)
27. Effa Manley (12)
28. Conrado Marrero (New!)
29. Dr. Mike Marshall (5)
30. Jocko Maxwell (2)
31. Tug McGraw (7)
32. "Nuf Ced" McGreevey (4)
33. Fred Merkle (4)
34. Manny Mota (3)
35. Frank O'Rourke (New!)
36. Phil Pote (8)
37. Vic Power (2)
38. Dan Quisenberry (4)
39. J.R. Richard (11)
40. Pete Rose (New!)
41. Rusty Staub (5)
42. Casey Stengel (12)
43. Chuck Stevens (2)
44. Luis Tiant (8)
45. Fay Vincent (9)
46. Rube Waddell (12)
47. John Montgomery Ward (4)
48. Maury Wills (New!)
49. Wally Yonamine (3)
50. Don Zimmer (6)

Dear Readers

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear TGOB, happy birthday to you.....and maybe no more.

Dear Readers:
This blog is now five years old and as you probably noticed it is not really new writing, more like posting interesting, historical stories about the sport we love.

So the question for you is, would you miss it if it was discontinued or shall we continue? Please respond with a simple word: Dump or Save.

Thanks
The editor

Mark McGwire

From Baseballlibrary.com

Originally drafted by the Montreal Expos in 1981, McGwire opted for college instead, reasoning that the scholarship offered by USC was worth more than the $8,500 the Expos were willing to pay. After three years at Southern California and a stint on the 1984 U.S. Olympic team, McGwire signed with the Oakland A's and reached the major leagues in August of 1986. As a rookie in 1987 he blasted 33 homers before the All-Star break and was a unanimous choice for AL Rookie of the Year after finishing with 49 homers, 118 RBIs and a .289 average. His 49 longballs smashed the old rookie record of 38, jointly held by Frank Robinson and Wally Berger. He also exhibited a healthy perspective by sitting out the season's final two games and a chance at 50 home runs to be present at the birth of his first child.

Although McGwire's average had slipped into the .230's by 1990, he still averaged nearly 35 home runs and over 100 RBIs. He teamed up with slugging right fielder Jose Canseco to form the Bash Brothers, the centerpiece of Oakland's intimidating lineup who would slam their forearms into each other at home plate after each home run. With Canseco and McGwire leading the offense, Dave Stewart in the midst of four straight twenty-win seasons and Dennis Eckersley racking up saves, Oakland went to three consecutive World Series, winning it all in 1989 when they swept the San Francisco Giants.

Unfortunately for McGwire, back injuries began to erode his playing time, a chronic problem that often forced him to the bench or the disabled list. He also struggled to match his early career production at the plate. Although he remained healthy enough to play 154 games in 1991, his average plummeted to .201 with just 22 homers and 75 RBIs. McGwire appeared lost in the batter's box, inspiring well-meaning but ineffective batting tips from everyone he spoke to. 1992 saw him rebound to a .268 mark with 42 home runs and 104 RBIs, but a severe injury to his left heel in August (and the players' strike in 1994) would limit him to a total of 74 games the next two seasons.

In 1995, McGwire played in only 104 games, but managed to hit 39 home runs in 317 at-bats. His average of one HR every 8.13 at-bats was a hint of things to come, topping both Ruth's and Maris' frequency in their 60- and 61-homer seasons. McGwire maintained a similar pace through the 1996 season, leading the majors with 52 home runs in just 423 AB's. He also posted a .312 batting average and 113 RBIs.

With McGwire eligible for free agency after the 1997 season, it was generally assumed the impoverished A's could not afford to re-sign the highly sought-after slugger. Trades were rumored from spring training on, but they never stopped him from hitting the ball out of the park. On July 31, McGwire and his 34 homers were dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals for three young pitchers: Blake Stein, T.J. Mathews and Eric Ludwick. The trade reunited him with former A's manager Tony LaRussa.

After going homerless in his first 10 National League games, McGwire belted 24 over the Cardinals' remaining 41 games to finish the season with 58. The total tied him with Jimmie Foxx and Hank Greenberg for the most homers by a right-handed batter and his 110 circuit blasts in 1996 and 1997 topped Foxx's record of 106 over two years. Neither record, however, would last for even a year.

McGwire loved the atmosphere in baseball-mad St. Louis, not to mention the National League style of play. "It's amazing how many 1-2-3 innings you see over here," he said. "Those innings never seem to happen in the American League. There is also so much more standing around in the American League. Here, you always feel into the game. It's just a better way to play the game." After years of sparse crowds at Oakland, he happily signed a three-year deal, including an option for the 2001 season, to stay with the Cardinals. The fans loved him for it, and the appreciation only grew when McGwire announced he was giving $1 million of his salary to help sexually and physically abused children in St. Louis and California.

By the start of his first full season in St. Louis, McGwire had become the biggest draw in baseball. Fans showed up in droves to see for themselves the awe-inspiring distances his pronounced upper cut swing could hit a baseball. "McGwire's swing is designed to produce home runs (and strikeouts)," wrote Allen Barra in the New York Times. "nything else - doubles, singles, the occasional ground ball, is an accident." Batting practice in St. Louis often attracted bigger and more enthusiastic crowds than the A's would bring in for games during his final seasons.

Those crowds set the tone for the circus-like ambiance that would attend his earth-shattering 1998 campaign. Beginning on Opening Day -- when he launched a grand slam off Los Angeles' Ramon Martinez -- the eyes of the baseball world followed Big Mac to learn if he could knock Maris off the top of the home run charts. Healthy and happy in St. Louis, McGwire homered in the first four games of the season, a feat previously accomplished only by Willie Mays in 1971. He won the NL Player of the Month Award in both April and May (he had also won the award in September of 1997, making him the first player ever to be so honored in three straight months), and by the All Star break had clouted 37 longballs to tie Reggie Jackson's 1969 mark for the most home runs in the first half of the season.

But McGwire's season was not all wine and roses. A fiercely devoted team player, he chafed at the intense media blitz that focused solely on his power-hitting as the Cardinals themselves endured a disappointing, underachieving season. "I don't think there's ever been another athlete to be singled out like I was singled out the last two months of the season," McGwire later said.
He also survived a minor scandal when a reporter discovered a muscle enhancer called androstenedione in his locker. Although banned by the NFL, NCAA and the International Olympic Committee, the over-the-counter nutritional supplement was not proscribed by Major League Baseball. Still, its discovery incited a controversy by those who claimed that his use of the steroid both tainted his pursuit of the home run record and set an unhealthy example for young athletes. Though he remained unrepentant and claimed that it didn't help him hit home runs, McGwire grew uneasy with his unintended role as apologist for andro and stopped using it the following season, making his decision public in August of 1999.

The debate was swiftly forgotten, however, as McGwire closed in on Maris' record. Adding to the theatrical feel of the Great Home Run Chase of 1998, Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa had pulled into a virtual dead heat with the heavily favored McGwire on the strength of an epic June home run binge. The rivalry captivated the nation, and was widely credited with finally restoring baseball to the prominence it had held before the 1994 strike soured fans on the game.

McGwire and Sosa forged a compelling friendship during the race, and Big Mac himself was heard to muse, "Wouldn't it be great if we ended up tied? I think that would be beautiful." At times it seemed he might get his wish. When the Cardinals played at Chicago's Wrigley Field on August 19th, Sosa slammed home run number 48 to move one ahead of McGwire. Before the day was done, however, McGwire had gone deep twice to reclaim the lead in a battle that would go down to the final weekend of the season.

The next day, McGwire homered twice in a doubleheader against the Mets at Shea Stadium, becoming the first player to belt at least 50 home runs in three straight seasons. On the first of September he broke Hack Wilson's 1930 NL record of 56 with two homers at Florida's Pro Player Stadium. Four days later he joined Ruth and Maris in the exclusive 60-homer club. Sosa would reach the mark on September 12th.

McGwire matched Maris on September 7th and on Tuesday, September 8th ripped the long-awaited 62nd round tripper, a fourth-inning solo shot off Cubs' right-hander Steve Trachsel. The record-setting blast barely cleared the wall just 15 feet from the left field foul pole, and ironically, at an estimated 341 feet marked his shortest home run of the season.

The home run came not only in front of a national television audience on ESPN, but with McGwire's friend and rival Sosa standing in right field and with Maris' family sitting in the stands at Busch Stadium. After crossing home plate, McGwire hoisted his son -- a Cardinals batboy -- in the air as pandemonium swept Busch Stadium. The game was delayed for eleven minutes in the celebration that followed, as Sosa trotted in from the outfield to offer his congratulations.
But with three weeks left in the season, the race had really only begun. While McGwire kept padding his new record, Sosa remained close behind, and on the final Friday of the regular season, Sammy launched his 66th homer at the Houston Astrodome to pull ahead of Big Mac. Sosa's lead would again proved short-lived, though, as McGwire tied him just 47 minutes later by hitting his 66th in St. Louis.

While Sosa went homerless in the final two games of the year, McGwire cemented his place in history by thumping two circuit blasts in each of his last two games, hitting #70 in his final at-bat of the season off Montreal's Carl Pavano. For the year, he batted .299 with 147 RBIs and 130 runs, drew an NL-record 162 walks, and fanned 155 times. His slugging percentage of .752 trailed only hallowed Cardinals' second baseman Rogers Hornsby's .756 mark in 1925 for the best rate in league history, and his home run every 7.27 at-bats established a new major league record. Practically the only laurel McGwire didn't garner was the NL MVP; that honor went to Sosa, who had topped the NL with 158 RBIs and led the Cubs' to a wild-card berth.

After enduring the intense pressure of his record-setting season ("It was almost as if I didn't break the record, I'd be a failure", he said afterwards), McGwire spent a relatively quiet off-season, though he did film a cameo appearance on the sitcom "Mad About You" and also took time to meet Pope John Paul II when the pontiff's US tour came to St. Louis in January.
The following season, McGwire once again dueled with Sosa for the baseball's home run crown. While the race lacked the drama of 1998, the two put on a splendid show anyway. McGwire finished the year in front again, topping Sosa 65 to 63 as the pair became the only players in history to reach the 60-homer plateau in consecutive seasons. McGwire also became the first player to drive in at least 100 runs and finish a season with more RBIs (147) than hits (145). In another personal milestone, McGwire hit the 500th home run of his career on August 5th off San Diego's Andy Ashby, needing the fewest at-bats of any player (5,487) to attain the mark and becoming the first to reach #400 and #500 in consecutive seasons. The records brought him little pleasure, though, as the Cardinals again finished well out of the running for the post-season.
In 2000, however, the fortunes of McGwire and the Cardinals would take a strange turn. Fueled by an offseason pitching makeover and the late-spring acquisition of center fielder Jim Edmonds, St. Louis grabbed the NL Central lead early on and was never seriously challenged. McGwire, meanwhile, was hitting home runs at his typically unfathomable pace until a case of patellar tendinitis sidelined him virtually the entire second half. While he still blasted 32 home runs in only 231 at-bats, Big Mac couldn't play the field and was limited to pinch-hitting appearances en route to his first post-season trip in eight years.

McGwire had knee surgery during the off-season, and hoped to return helathy enough to play every day in 2001. Hampered by his still-recovering knee, he stumbled through the first half of the season, hitting barely over .200. Even slowed by injury, nothing seemed to stop Big Mac from hitting home runs. He blasted more than 20 before straining his right hamstring in August. As the Cardinals fought for their second playoff berth in as many years, McGwire found himself on the bench once again. (RS/AGL)

Mueller family baseball:

Like great-grandfather, like grandfather, like father, like son

Columbia Missourian, Tuesday, November 3, 2009

by Daniel Paulling

Former Giants' manager Leo Durocher, center, with Don Mueller, left, and Willie Mays,
the two players he depended on to win a second consecutive NL pennant.
Photo courtesy of Mueller family

COLUMBIA – Baseball has a romantic history of being handed down, generation to generation, father to son.

A Columbia family has been part of that. Eric and Andrew Mueller represent the fourth generation of baseball players. Their father, Mark Mueller, played in the minor leagues in the early 1970s. Their grandfather, Don Mueller, played in the major leagues in the 1940s and 50s. Their great-grandfather, Walter Mueller, played in the major leagues in the 1920s.

Eric Mueller played four years for St. Louis University. Andrew Mueller is in his last season as a pitcher at Missouri. He expects to return soon after undergoing knee surgery in May.

The Muellers’ story begins with a historic home run.

WALTER MUELLER, THE HISTORIC FIRST
If you listed the worst conditions to start a major league career, Walter Mueller’s would have fit most. He played his first game on May 7, 1922, at 27, years after most players start. The opposing pitcher that day was future Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander, who was in the middle of his brilliant career.

Hitting sixth and playing right field for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Walter Mueller became ingrained in baseball lore. On the first pitch he saw, he hit a three-run, inside-the-park home run over the center fielder’s head. Walter Mueller was the first player in the major leagues to hit the first pitch he saw for a home run. Later in the game, he added another RBI in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 11-5 rout of the Chicago Cubs.

Walter Mueller hit one more home run in his career.

After his 2-for-5 performance in his first game, he had 117 more at-bats in 1922. Walter Mueller hit .306 in 40 games the next season. He played 49 more games in the 1924 and 1926 seasons before playing his last game in 1926 and died in 1971 in St. Louis.

His son also had a knack for being involved in history.

DON MUELLER, THE CLASSIC PLAYER
Don Mueller keeps a framed copy of the Sept. 3, 1951, New York Daily News front page in a cabinet. Light has damaged the picture, whitening the photo, but you can see everything if you look hard enough.

Don Mueller has a cigar in his mouth, three bats cradled in his left arm and two more in his right, signifying the five home runs he hit in two days. The caption beneath the photo reads “Proud Popper.” Don Mueller hit three home runs on Sept. 1, 1951, a day before his son was born.

When Mark Mueller was born, his father was at-bat. Someone phoned the dugout with news of his son’s birth. The news was relayed to Monte Irvin, who was on deck. Irvin waited for a pitch to be thrown and then told Don Mueller about his son.

Don Mueller hit the next pitch for a home run, his second of the game, helping the Giants in their 11-2 rout of their hated rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers.

He finished the season with 16.

“Back then, teams wouldn’t let players go see their children being born,” Don Mueller said.

Later that season, the Giants finished the season in historic fashion. They were 13 1/2 games behind the Dodgers on August 11, 1951, but rallied to finish the season tied atop the standings, which forced a three-game playoff to advance to the World Series.

The two teams split the first two games, and the Giants were losing 4-1 in the bottom of the ninth in Game 3. Alvin Dark singled to lead off the inning, and Don Mueller singled to put runners on first and third.

Whitey Lockman doubled down the left field line. Dark scored, but Don Mueller broke his ankle sliding into third. Clint Hartung pinch ran for Don Mueller. Bobby Thompson then stepped to the plate.

Two pitches later, Russ Hodges delivered his famous call for WMCA-AM in New York City.

“Branca throws...there’s a long drive...it’s gonna be, I believe...THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT, THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT, THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT, THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT.”

That was, as it has been remembered in baseball history, "the shot heard ’round the world."

With the win, the Giants qualified for the World Series, where they lost to the New York Yankees in six games. Don Mueller couldn’t play because of his ankle.

Three seasons later, he missed another opportunity to be remembered. Entering the last day of the 1954 season, Don Mueller led the National League in batting average at .343. Teammate, fellow outfielder and neighbor in the clubhouse Willie Mays was second with .342.

Don Mueller went 2-for-6 against future Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts in front of less than 8,000 people in Philadelphia. Mays, however, went 3-for-4 with a walk. Don Mueller hit into a force out his sixth time at-bat; Mays was on-deck when the inning ended, just as he had been during Thomson’s famous home run three seasons earlier.

Mays finished three points ahead of Don Mueller, .345 to .342.

Don Mueller played parts of five more seasons in the major leagues, never hitting more than .306. Mays would become a Hall of Famer, only breaking Don Mueller’s 1954 batting average of .342 once more in his career.

Don Mueller’s spirits probably weren’t low for too long: The Giants won the World Series the season he came so close to winning the batting title.

Their win came with some help from Mandrake the Magician.

In 1934, Lee Falk created a comic strip called “Mandrake the Magician.” Mandrake was a superhero who used his powers to combat crime. Don Mueller earned the nickname “Mandrake the Magician” because of his propensity for poking hits magically through the infield. Part of that talent came from Don Mueller’s ability to put the ball in play: Every 162 games, he averaged only 22 walks versus 19 strikeouts.

He finished with a lifetime .296 batting average and made two All-Star teams. Don Mueller lives in St. Louis and still receives memorabilia from fans to autograph.

MARK MUELLER, THE MINOR LEAGUER
Before he was 10, Mark Mueller was tracking fly balls at Comiskey Park with the Chicago White Sox. His father finished his career with Chicago, and Mark Mueller would visit him during the summer. One of his favorite parts of those trips was chasing after balls during batting practice.

As for his playing career, Mark Mueller spent three seasons bouncing around in the minors before being cut in the spring training of 1974. He was drafted by his hometown St. Louis Cardinals and also played for the New York Mets organization.

“Only one in a hundred gets to make it,” Mark Mueller said. “Odds are against you when you sign. I got to the opportunity to play enough that I knew I wasn’t going to make it. I just wasn’t quite good enough.”

Mark Mueller would arrive at the park at 4:30 or 5 p.m. play, finish around 10:30 or 11 p.m., get something to eat — his diet consisted of “a lot of fast food” — and then get ready for the next game, which usually entailed a long bus ride.

“Playing the game was never the hard part,” he says. “Just the travel got old. We didn’t really have anything to pass the time.”

Mark Mueller went to the University of Southwest Louisiana after his playing career ended and met his wife, Nancy Mueller, there. They lived in Houston for three years while she worked with AMI, which is partnered with the Columbia Regional Hospital. Mark Mueller, who wanted to live near his previous home of St. Louis, jumped at the opportunity to live in Missouri once again, and they moved to Columbia in 1985.

ERIC AND ANDREW MUELLER, THE PITCHERS
Walter Mueller and Don Mueller both played outfield. Mark Mueller played shortstop and third base. His sons were both converted to pitchers.

Eric Mueller’s switch came when he played for St. Louis University. He was named an all-state catcher in 2001 while at Hickman but began pitching in 2004.

Eric Mueller tore his ulnar collateral ligament in his right (pitching) elbow which required Tommy John surgery. He redshirted a season, and the next year he closed out the Atlantic-10 Tournament Championship game. The win sent the St. Louis Billikens to the NCAA baseball tournament for the first time since 1966.

Eric Mueller had 93 at-bats his first two seasons, but he never hit again after being converted to pitcher. He finished with 31 innings thrown in his pitching career. He now works as an event coordinator for St. Louis University and recently obtained his MBA.

Andrew Mueller, who is three years younger than his older brother, switched to pitcher after his junior year of high school at Hickman. The Kewpies won the state championship his senior year, and Andrew Mueller closed out the championship game.

He almost wasn’t allowed to do it.

In the semifinal game at Simmons Field, Andrew Mueller was hitting with two strikes and one out. He struck out and several opposing players, unaware that there were only two outs, began to walk off the field. Andrew Mueller, also thinking he was the third out, threw his helmet toward the dugout, walked up the first base line and waited for a teammate to bring him his glove.

The umpire turned away, saw the helmet bouncing around and ejected Andrew Mueller from the game. Andrew Mueller’s coach argued for a few minutes that his player only thought it was the third out. The umpire allowed Andrew Mueller back into the game.

It’s still a story Andrew Mueller and former coach Dave Wilson talk about.

“We have a good chuckle about it now and then,” Andrew Mueller said. “He made a rule that everyone had to take their helmet off in the dugout.”

Hickman had been winning by a large margin when Andrew Mueller was ejected for a few minutes, but Lee’s Summit brought the game to within one run. He hit a two-run home run to help Hickman to an 11-8 victory.

If Andrew Mueller had been ejected, he wouldn’t have been eligible for the championship game the next day against DeSmet, which was coached by Greg Vitello. Vitello’s son Tony Vitello is Andrew Mueller’s pitching coach at MU.

Andrew Mueller felt it was going to be a good day when he came in relief in the championship game.

Andrew Mueller recorded a nine-pitch strikeout on a curveball to end the game. The rest of the Kewpies came onto the field for the celebratory dog pile. Andrew Mueller ranks that, as well as his start against Arizona State this season, as his favorite baseball moments.

He just didn’t want it to end.

“I was kind of sad that that was the last out of the game,” Andrew Mueller said. “For the last two weeks, I was in the zone. I couldn’t make an out.”

Andrew Mueller threw 10 1/3 innings for the Tigers last season with eight strikeouts. He hasn’t hit once.

Eric Mueller, left, with his brother Andrew Mueller. Eric Mueller played baseball at
St. Louis University. Andrew Mueller pitches for Missouri.

Don Mueller hit five home runs in two days in September 1951.
His son was born during this stretch.

Mays, Don Mueller arrive in New York