Danny Litwhiler
Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 9:16 amAlthough he's only an $.85M outfielder in SOM, Danny Litwhiler, who died at age 95 recently, was an important figure in baseball lore.
Born Aug. 31, 1916, he played college ball at Michigan State and coached at his alma mater and Florida State and enjoyed an 11-year major league career withthe Phillies, Cardinals, Braves and Reds. And his inventions changed the game.
Litwhiler was the first major leaguer to play an entire season without committing an error (317 chances in 151 games in 1942) and played 187 consecutive errorless games over a period of two seasons. A two-time Gold Glove winner, he had a lifetime average of .282 with 107 home runs, 451 RBIs and 428 runs scored in 1,057 games played.
He later served as international president for the U.S. Baseball Federation from 1978-83 and helped develop one of the first radar guns for use in clocking pitches. Other innovations included an unbreakable mirror for pitchers to check their deliveries and employment of a bat sawed in half to teach bunting. While at Florida State, Litwhiler developed "diamond dust," which could be used to dry baseballs, and also "diamond grit," which could be spread over wet spots in the infield, causing them to dry faster. All told, Litwhiler produced more than 100 inventions for the game.
In 28 years of coaching Division I college baseball at both Florida State and Michigan State, he had a combined record of 678-445-9 (.603) and guided his teams to nine appearances in the NCAA tournament. His former players included Kirk Gibson, Rick Miller and Steve Garvey.
Born Aug. 31, 1916, he played college ball at Michigan State and coached at his alma mater and Florida State and enjoyed an 11-year major league career withthe Phillies, Cardinals, Braves and Reds. And his inventions changed the game.
Litwhiler was the first major leaguer to play an entire season without committing an error (317 chances in 151 games in 1942) and played 187 consecutive errorless games over a period of two seasons. A two-time Gold Glove winner, he had a lifetime average of .282 with 107 home runs, 451 RBIs and 428 runs scored in 1,057 games played.
He later served as international president for the U.S. Baseball Federation from 1978-83 and helped develop one of the first radar guns for use in clocking pitches. Other innovations included an unbreakable mirror for pitchers to check their deliveries and employment of a bat sawed in half to teach bunting. While at Florida State, Litwhiler developed "diamond dust," which could be used to dry baseballs, and also "diamond grit," which could be spread over wet spots in the infield, causing them to dry faster. All told, Litwhiler produced more than 100 inventions for the game.
In 28 years of coaching Division I college baseball at both Florida State and Michigan State, he had a combined record of 678-445-9 (.603) and guided his teams to nine appearances in the NCAA tournament. His former players included Kirk Gibson, Rick Miller and Steve Garvey.