Ed Lagger

 

Ed Lagger pitched eight games in relief for the 1934 Philadelphia Athletics.

Edwin Joseph Lagger was born July 14, 1912, in Joliet, Illinois, just southwest of Chicago, to Louis, a lawyer, and Eliza Lagger. The 1920 census found them living at 703 W Jefferson Street in Joliet, a house which they owned. Louis was 42 and in his own law practice, Eliza was 41, and the kids were Louis Jr., 18; Dorothy, 16; Edwin, 7; and Robert, 3.

In the 1930 census the family’s address is 701 W Jefferson and there is no 703; I’m not sure what happened there. They own the home, which is valued at $12,000, and they own a radio set. Louis and Eliza are 53 and 51, and have been married for 30 years. Dorothy has moved out, but has been replaced in the house by Louis Jr.’s wife Geraldine; Louis Jr. is a clerk for a railroad. 17-year-old Edwin and 13-year-old Robert are in school. Ed graduated from high school that year, and entered the University of Notre Dame.

In the spring of 1932 Ed started pitching for the Notre Dame varsity. The first newspaper mention I found of him was in the Indianapolis Times, April 21:

IRISH BEAT LEAGUERS

NOTRE DAME, Ind., April 21.—Ed Lagger, sophomore right-hander, made his debut with Notre Dame Wednesday and hurled the collegians to a 4 to 2 triumph over South Bend’s Central League team. He allowed seven hits and struck out nine.

Ed transferred to Northwestern University for his junior year. I didn’t find any 1933 mentions of him; the Wilmette Life reported on March 22, 1934:

Wildcat Baseball Prospects Look Up

A strong pitching staff plus a veteran infield and outfield figures to make Northwestern a contender for the Big Ten baseball championship this year…

Ed Lagger, 200-pound right hander, who played one year at Notre Dame before transferring to Northwestern, is expected to be a regular pitcher this year…

…which seems to suggest that he wasn’t a regular pitcher the year before. On April 14 he beat Bradley 10-2, allowing two unearned runs, striking out 14, and hitting a grand slam. On April 19 the Indianapolis Times said that he “showed indications at Bradley that he may develop into a starting hurler;” the next day Ed started Northwestern’s conference opener against Michigan and won 3-1, allowing just four singles. On the 22^nd the Springfield Daily Illinois State Journal reported that “Ed Lagger is the name of Northwestern’s hurling ace. Needless to say they’ve nicknamed him ‘Old Style.’” It didn’t take him long to progress from possibly developing into a starter to being the ace of the staff.

On April 27 the Daily Northwestern reported:

The Northwestern baseball team joins as one in announcing that their big right-hand pitcher, Ed “Moose” Lagger wears long woolen underwear all the time. We trust that Ed knows the difference between winter and summer—although around Chicago—it is difficult to guess whether it’s going to rain or snow.

From the Madison Wisconsin State Journal, May 5:

…It is expected that Ed Lagger, big right hander, will hurl for the visitors. Lagger, a transfer from Notre Dame, was a fast ball pitcher with a world of speed when at Notre Dame but he is reported to have mastered the art of controlling his curve now and that makes him one of the most effective chuckers in the Big Ten…

On May 18 Ed pitched a two-hitter against the University of Chicago, winning 3-0, striking out twelve, and hitting a triple. This game was looked back on in the July 18 Daily Northwestern:

Last spring, Coach Paul Stewart had a big, burly 200 pounder tossing ‘em over for him. His name was Edward [sic] Lagger and he managed to win four of the five Western conference victories the Purple garnered.

On one particularly muggy Friday, Ed was given the nod by Stewart to go in and see what he could do against Chicago. Lagger accepted the compliment and pitched one of the best efforts of the Big Ten season. He let Kyle Anderson’s hardhitting club down with two hits and was positively brilliant all the way through.

After the contest he was approached by a gentleman every college ball player dreams of doing business with. It was a major league scout. He was Earl Mack, son of Cornelius McGillicuddy of the Philadelphia Athletics. The upshot of the matter was that Lagger went down and had a talk with the manager of the A’s.

Now Ed is a quiet sort of a chap and doesn’t have much to say. So very few knew what had transpired between he and Mack. But after the Northwestern nine had concluded its schedule, the big right-hander packed his trunk and left for Philadelphia, where he joined that city’s American league entry.

He is still with them. He has been in two ball games and while he didn’t best Mel Harder in a hurling duel or let the Yankees down with a brace of hits, he has nevertheless shown Mr. Mack enough to stay with the club…

Backing up slightly, on June 5 the AP reported that Ed would be joining the Athletics the following week, and on the 6^th the Iowa City Daily Iowan added that “Lagger, who played one year at Notre Dame before going to Northwestern to complete his college work, is a powerful fellow, standing 6 feet 3 inches in his socks and he weighs 220 pounds.”

On June 15 Ed made his debut, at home against the Indians, relieving Roy Mahaffey to start the sixth inning with the Athletics down 5-3. He gave up four runs that inning, three on a homer by Earl Averill, then allowed three more in the seventh before being relieved with two out. Mack didn’t use him again for three weeks; on July 6 in Boston Ed pitched the last 2 2/3 innings and allowed the last two runs in an 18-6 loss.

Ed’s next game was on July 24 in Cleveland; he relieved Johnny Marcum to start the fifth inning with the Athletics down 9-4 and allowed just one unearned run in four innings. He relieved in five games during August, the highlight being a three-up, three-down ninth inning vs. Cleveland on the 18^th. For the year, and for his major league career, he had an 11.00 ERA in 18 innings in eight games, allowing 27 hits and 14 walks, and striking out two.

Despite the lack of success, Ed was retained on the Philadelphia reserve list over the offseason. On January 24, 1935, the Sporting News named him as one of the A’s pitchers “almost certain to be optioned before the training trip starts.” On February 21 the Daily Northwestern reported “Ed Lagger, big right-hand pitcher last spring who went direct from the campus to the major leagues at the call of Connie Mack, will leave for California to get in shape for another big league season.”

An AP story dated April 6 said:

Ed Lagger is wearing an Oklahoma City uniform. He is held on option by the Philadelphia Athletics.

But I didn’t find any evidence that Ed pitched for Oklahoma City, or anywhere else, in 1935 or afterward. It seems as though those eight games for Philadelphia were his entire professional career. In the 1935 Joliet city directory he is still shown as a student at 701 W Jefferson; in 1937 he is a chemist, at the same address. That year he got married. From the Chicago Daily News, May 22:

Helene Rita Kramer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank J. Kramer, 318 Campbell street, Joliet, who will be married to Edwin J. Lagger, son of Attorney and Mrs. Louis Lagger, 701 West Jefferson street, Joliet, May 29 at St. Raymond’s Catholic church in that city. Miss Kramer is a teacher in a Joliet school.

In the 1938 city directory Ed, still listed as a chemist, and Helene are living at 619 Cowles Avenue; son Louis was born that year, in July. In the 1940 census they are at that same address, renting the house for $45 a month. They are both 27 years old. Ed is a chemist for a chemical company and made $1830 the previous year; it says that in 1935 his residence was Santiago, California, which must have been for the Athletics’ training camp. Louis is one year old.

In October 1940 Ed filled out a draft registration card, which says that he is 6-4 235, has blue eyes, black hair, and a dark complexion, and is employed by Blockson Chemical Company on Patterson Road. In December son Edwin J. Jr. was born. In February 1943 son Thomas was added. Apparently somewhere along the way three other children were born, for a total of six.

The 1945 Joliet city directory lists Ed as a foreman at Blockson Chemical Co., and the family is living at 902 Caton Avenue. By 1955 he is listed as a foreman at US Rubber, and in 1960 he is a “dispr” (dispatcher?), back at Blockson. He was only 48 at that time, but after that I lose track of him, other than a 1968 announcement of son Thomas’s engagement. Ed passed away at age 69 on November 10, 1981. Helene followed him in 2005, aged 92.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/L/Plagge101.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/laggeed01.shtml

Willie Mueller

 

Willie Mueller was a relief pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers, briefly in 1978 and even more briefly in 1981, who is better remembered for his role in the 1989 motion picture Major League.

Willard Lawrence Mueller, Jr., (pronounced Miller) was born August 30, 1956, in West Bend, Wisconsin. He graduated from West Bend West High School in 1974, lettering in baseball, basketball, football, track, and wrestling. In July 1974, not having been drafted, he was signed as a free agent by the Milwaukee Brewers. He was sent to the Newark Co-Pilots of the New York-Pennsylvania League, Class Short-Season A, where he had a 6.00 ERA in 15 innings in seven relief appearances.

In January 1975 Willie filled out a questionnaire in which he said that his off-season job was construction, his hobbies were hunting and cards, and he was 6-4, 180 pounds. In a 1978 story Willie said that he was 5-11, 150, when he signed with the Brewers:

But between his decision to turn pro and the following spring Willie did something about his vital statistics. “I went on a weightlifting program, got a job on construction and really built myself up,” he disclosed. “I must have been a late height bloomer, too. Anyway, when I reported, I was 6-4 and weighed 220 pounds. That’s when I stopped relying on the curve ball I used for four years in high school and went to the fastball. And I’ve been throwing hard ever since.”

Willie spent 1975 with the Burlington Bees of the Class A Midwest League, missing some time to an unspecified injury. He made 25 appearances, ten of them starts, and had a 3.12 ERA in 98 innings.

In 1976 Willie injured his right thumb during spring training. In late April he was assigned to the Newark roster, which seems strange given his good 1975 season, but on May 6, still recuperating from the thumb injury, he was moved back to Burlington. 

On July 20 he was loaned to the Clinton Pilots, a co-op team also in the Midwest League, in order to get more relief work, though on August 9 he started and pitched a one-hit shutout. For the season, between the two teams, he had a 1.75 ERA in 72 innings in 29 games, three of them starts,

For 1977 Willie ended up back with Burlington, despite having pitched well there for two straight years. Though he was used mostly as a reliever he was leading the league in wins in late August and ended up with the second-most; he was 15-7 with a 3.85 ERA in 124 innings in a league-leading 55 games, four of them starts. After the season he pitched for the Brewers’ Arizona Instructional League team, where he had a 4.38 ERA.

In 1978 Willie finally moved up a notch, to the Holyoke Millers of the Class AA Eastern League. On August 10 the Brewers finished a series in New York and headed to Boston, while General Manager Harry Dalton arrived in Holyoke, 90 miles away from Boston, for Harry Dalton Night festivities. While there he arranged for Willie, the league leader in saves, to go to Boston for a tryout with Brewers manager George Bamberger before the game the next day. Thomas A. Hawley reported on the 12^th in the Madison Wisconsin State Journal:

…”They told me—just for one day,” said Mueller. “They just told me they wanted to check me out.”

Mueller is 8-5 with an earned run average of about 2.70 with Holyoke. Mueller, a big kid at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, spent the last three seasons in the Class A Midwest League, meaning that Class AA ball is the highest level he’s ever played.

“People sit around and talk about the big leagues,” he said. “You always think that if you’re in the minor leagues you can play in the big leagues. If you don’t think you can be in the big leagues, you shouldn’t be there.”

…Bamberger said Mueller probably would get another 15-minute workout today.

Cal McLish, the Brewers’ pitching coach, seemed impressed with Mueller’s efforts Friday.

“I definitely like him,” said McLish. “His delivery is good. That means he’s going to be around the plate all the time. He’s got a good fastball, good slider. His changeup wasn’t that good, at least today, but a changeup is a pitch he’s only going to throw on the sidelines. In a game, the manager is going to want to see the hard stuff. I was just talking to him; the way he throws, I said, he should be trying to get guys with hard stuff, get ‘em in one or two pitches.”

McLish stopped short of saying that Mueller could help the team now. “With a lot of young pitchers, it’s emotions,” he said. “You can’t tell.”

Mueller went along with the characterization of himself as a fastball pitcher. “I like to blow the ball by people,” he said. “Just come in and throw strikes.”

Obviously, he’d like to stick around. “I hope, I hope,” he said. “All you need is a chance.”

Will he get it? “It is a possibility,” said Bamberger. “But I’ll say this: it is a slim possibility.”

One thing Mueller’s got going for him is his home town, Bamberger said, laughing. “I live in Silver Lake (Wis.),” the manager said. “That’s only three miles from West Bend. Heck, bring him up. I don’t know if we need him to pitch, but I need somebody to drive me into the stadium every day.”

The Milwaukee Sentinel added:

“He probably throws harder than anyone in our bullpen,” said Bamberger after watching the 21 year old Mueller pitch before the Boston game. “And he throws as hard or harder than anyone on our staff. He’s got a chance to make it as a big league pitcher.”

The Brewers had Willie stay over in Boston the night of the 11^th, rooming with Moose Haas. He didn’t get to throw before the next day’s doubleheader because it was raining, but Bamberger decided to keep him anyway—and used him in the second game. Willie relieved Mike Caldwell in the fifth inning, down 8-0, and pitched the last 3 2/3 innings, allowing three runs, two of them earned, on three hits, striking out four and not walking anybody. The first batter he faced was Rick Burleson, who tripled, but he pitched very well after that except for a two-run homer by Jim Rice in the eighth.

Willie didn’t get into another game until the 22^nd, as reported on the next day by UPI’s Michael V. Uschan:

The Milwaukee Brewers swept a doubleheader from the Cleveland Indians Tuesday night, 3-2 and 5-4, and the nightcap had a script right out of Hollywood.

Willie Mueller, a rookie from West Bend, Wis., pitching for the first time in County Stadium before family and friends, came on in relief in the sixth inning with his team trailing 4-2.

He shut down the Indians and his teammates dramatically rallied for three runs in the ninth to give him his first major-league victory.

“It was one of those dreams I had as a kid to pitch here. But it’s unreal that I’m here right now,” said Mueller, who was in Double A ball in Holyoke, Mass., before being called up Aug. 12.

“It was wonderful but unreal. My parents were there and a lot of my friends When I came in all I wanted to do was pitch strikes. I couldn’t believe it.”

The Janesville Gazette added:

“I’m just floating around in space like the U.S.S. Enterprise,” Mueller, 21, said, referring to the space ship in the television series “Star Trek.”

“I mean, it’s unreal, a dream, doing this for the home state team before an awful lot of people from my home town,” he said. “But these guys played great behind me. They played major league defense. I just threw the ball and let the hitters hit it to somebody.”…

“I was very impressed with Willie Mueller,” Brewers’ manager George Bamberger said. “He pitched just like he did in Boston that game. He went out and threw strikes and took charge. I’m going to try to pick my spots for the kid, but the way he’s looking I may be able to pitch him any time we need him.”

Willie got into just three more games, allowing eight runs in 5 2/3 innings, which raised his Milwaukee ERA to 6.39. His teammates voted him a one-third share of their portion of the World Series money, which amounted to $175.26.

Willie went to spring training in 1979 to compete for a spot in the Brewers’ bullpen, but ended up being sent to the Vancouver Canadians, their AAA team in the Pacific Coast League. He got mentioned in the Portland Oregonian of June 24, in an article about the Portland Beavers’ mascot, Round Tripper:

…Round Tripper has already got a lively slapstick feud going with the Vancouver Canadians in general and relief pitcher Willie Mueller—whom he calls “Buckethead”—in particular. It all started when he issued a fake challenge to the Canadian dugout between innings earlier in the season and got his answer from Mueller in the form of a bucket of water.

It escalated from there. “I was caught by surprise by that bucket of water,” said RT. “So I tried to think of something quick. The bat boy pointed out the hose, so I used it.”

To spectacular effect. He turned the hose on and cleared out the entire Canadian dugout. Now every time the Canadians come to town he spends hours preparing for them—no doubt it’s mutual, judging from the happy hijinks which have occurred.

In Vancouver Willie was used in a mixture of starting and relieving roles, starting 12 times in 41 games, with a 4.47 ERA in a career-high 131 innings. He was on the Milwaukee 40-man protected roster until his contract was sold to Vancouver in late November—making him eligible for the December 3 minor league draft, though he was not chosen.

Willie was invited to the Brewers’ 1980 spring training as a non-roster player, to again compete for a spot in their bullpen, but he wound up spending the season in Vancouver again. He had a 4.02 ERA in 112 innings in 57 games, just two of them starts.

Willie returned to Vancouver for 1981 and had an excellent year, with a 1.78 ERA in 81 innings in 31 games, two of them starts. In what seems like a strange move, he was lent to the Denver Bears, the Montreal Expos’ AAA team in the American Association, near the end of the season. He pitched two scoreless innings for a save, then in the playoffs he started and won game two as the Bears swept the Omaha Royals. After that series ended, ten days went by and then on September 16 the Brewers called him back up. On September 20 he pitched the sixth and seventh innings of an 8-2 loss in Baltimore, allowing the final run.

Milwaukee kept Willie on the 40-man roster over the off-season, though he was one of the last Brewers to sign a 1982 contract, in mid-February. 

Toward the end of spring training he was optioned to the Wichita Aeros of the American Association, who were replacing Denver as the Expos’ AAA affiliate. From the Janesville Gazette, April 1:

The Brewers have a backlog of relievers on the parent club and in Triple A, so Mueller was expendable. Mueller pitched for the Expos’ Denver farm club briefly at the end of last season. They liked what they saw and would like to see more this season.

Before he left, the 220-pound Mueller got into the following exchange with 200-pound reliever Rollie Fingers. It started as Fingers loped after a fly ball during a morning batting practice.

Mueller: “It’s like watching ‘Wild Kingdom’ when you run—like a walrus on the beach.”

Fingers: “Double-knits are the only thing that’s saved you.”

Mueller: “Take your number (34) and multiply by two and you’ve got your waist size.”

Fingers: No reply.

Mueller: “You’ve got Gilligan’s head and the skipper’s body!”

Mueller declared the winner by a clean knockout.

There was talk that Willie would likely be traded to the Expos, but for some reason that never happened. But he did spend the year in Wichita, pitching 75 1/3 innings in 56 relief appearances, with 12 saves and a 4.66 ERA. In 1983 he reverted to Vancouver, where his ERA ballooned to 6.87 in 40 games, and then he was out of baseball.

In 1988, though, he returned, in a way. He got a phone call from a man named David Ward, the writer/director of an upcoming movie called Major League, which was to be filmed in Milwaukee. As Willie put it in a 2019 interview for Milwaukee television station WDJT:

“So, one night around 9 o’clock I got a telephone call from David Ward. He says, ‘Well, we were doing a screenplay of the actor that’s going to play the Duke and he ain’t doing real well. And I said to Pete Vuckovich, you know anybody real big and ugly that can throw the ball real hard, he said try Willie Mueller out of West Bend.’”

Willie got the part of Duke Simpson, the Yankee relief pitcher brought in to face Tom Berenger’s character in the climactic scene. The movie was released on April 7, 1989, a few days after the following appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer in an article about Indians’ reliever Doug Jones:

…The change-up changed people’s minds.

It’s called the “OK change” because when a pitcher grips the ball, his index finger and thumb form an “O” on the right side of the ball.

“When I was at Vancouver (Class AAA) in 1982, I saw a guy named Willie Mueller throw it,” Jones said. “He was a big, loudmouthed ox that nobody cared for that much. I didn’t start throwing it, but I kept it in the back of my mind.”

This was fleshed out in an AP story that appeared in papers in early June, after Major League had become a hit:

Jones credits changeup to star of movie

Cleveland Indians pitcher Doug Jones says one of the stars in the baseball movie “Major League” helped him develop his changeup.

In the movie’s climactic scene, the Indians face the Yankees, and the pitcher for the Yankees in that game is in real life a person named Willie Mueller.

In 1982, Mueller pitched for Vancouver in the Pacific Coast League, and one of his teammates was Doug Jones.

“He wasn’t a real good pitcher,” said Jones of Mueller. “I don’t think he even made it to the big leagues. But he was the first guy I saw that threw the changeup the way I do now.”

The way Jones throws it is without using his forefinger. The ball is held between his thumb and the last three fingers of his hand.

“Willie didn’t teach me to throw it, but he did put the idea in my head because I had never seen anyone throw it that way before,” said Jones.

It took Jones six years to perfect the grip for that pitch, but it was worth the wait. He was an American League All-Star last year and is the Indians’ all-time save leader.

Jones said he did not know Mueller was in the movie.

“I was just sitting there watching it and all of a sudden there was Willie,” said Jones. “I was shocked.”

In November 1996 Willie was among the former Brewers and Braves who attended the groundbreaking for Miller Park in Milwaukee. A 1999 article in The Province of Vancouver choosing an all-time Canadians team included the line, “Brad (The Animal) Lesley and Willie Mueller were named to the all-nutbar team.” Two months later it was announced that the Canadians would be moving to Sacramento, and Lowell Ullrich of The Province reminisced about the 22 years of the franchise:

…There were dozens of other memories that luckily never made it to public consumption, until now.

There were the players, like relief pitcher Willie Mueller, whose pre-game warmup once consisted of firing a ball of shaved ice in the clubhouse at the back of a very surprised reporter’s head.

“You pest-imist,” bellowed the gargantuan Mueller, evidently confusing the writer with a negative-looking rodent…

In June 2004 Willie was one of the former teammates seated on the field at Miller Park with Paul Molitor for a ceremony honoring Molitor for his Hall of Fame induction. In 2011 Willie was added to the Wall of Fame at Regner Park by the West Bend Baseball Association. In 2019 came the story on the 30^th anniversary of Major League quoted from above; in it Willie also said:

“It’s a bittersweet deal, you know I worked my hind end off to try to be a professional ballplayer and get to the major leagues, which of course I achieved for a short period of time…even the cards I get in the mail for signatures is mostly asking if I can sign “The Duke” because everybody knows the movie.”

In 2020, Willie is an assistant coach at Concordia University of Wisconsin, and an instructor at RBI Baseball & Softball Academy in West Bend.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/M/Pmuelw101.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/muellwi01.shtml

Dick Rusteck

  

Dick Rusteck pitched for the New York Mets in 1966, throwing a four-hit shutout in his debut appearance.

Richard Frank Rusteck was born July 12, 1941, in Chicago, to William and Josephine Rusteck. He lettered in baseball and basketball at St. Philip High School in Chicago, and his senior year, 1959, he made the All-Catholic League team as a pitcher. He was offered baseball scholarships from two colleges but chose to attend Notre Dame, which was not one of the two. He graduated in 1963 with an economics degree, lettering in baseball for three years. He was offered contracts by the Giants, Mets, and Tigers; Detroit offered as much as New York but he figured his chances of advancement were better with the Mets. Upon signing he filled out a questionnaire in which he said he was of Lithuanian descent, was 6-0 170, was single, had no off-season occupation, and his hobbies were golf and listening to music.

A left-handed pitcher who batted right-handed, Dick was sent to Salinas of the Class A California League, where he had control problems, walking 64 in 70 innings and ending up with a 7.20 ERA. After the season he spent a six month hitch in the Army; upon his return in May 1964 it was said that he reported to the Buffalo Bisons, the Mets’ AAA team, but he did not pitch there. He went to the Williamsport Mets of the Class AA Eastern League, but after seven games, in which he had an 11.25 ERA in eight innings, he was sent back down to Class A, this time with the Auburn Mets of the New York-Pennsylvania League. Here he did much better, with an ERA of 4.38 in 37 innings, though he walked 26. After the season the Mets sent him to their team in the Florida Instructional League, where he struck out 22 and walked 21 in 21 innings, allowing only 11 hits, with a 3.43 ERA.

Dick started 1965 with the Greenville Mets of the Class A Western Carolinas League, and in 21 innings in ten games he had a 2.14 ERA with 31 strikeouts; he then got moved back to Auburn, where he struck out 55 in 44 innings, allowing only 22 hits, and his ERA went down to 1.64. This earned him a promotion in August back to Williamsport, site of his 11.25 ERA of the year before—here, being used mostly as a starter for the first time in his pro career, he lowered that mark to 1.98 in 50 innings. Between the three teams he struck out 143 batters in 115 innings, allowing just 78 hits, had an ERA of 1.88, and cut his walk ratio to one per two innings, much better than it had been.

After the season the Mets sent Dick to the Florida Instructional League again; he had a decent 3.55 ERA in 38 innings but impressed manager Eddie Stanky enough that he talked the team into moving Dick to the major league roster to protect him from the minor league draft.

In February 1966 Dick signed a major league contract with the Mets and went to spring training, where manager Wes Westrum was high on him and planned to keep him, but a couple of poor outings led to the team deciding he needed more time in the minors. He was sent to the Jacksonville Suns of the Class AAA International League, where he got off to a great start, overshadowing teammate Tom Seaver; he was almost called up in early May but he got hit in the elbow by a line drive and the Mets decided to hold off. In his first six starts he had six complete game wins and an ERA of 1.13. He lost the seventh start, and then the Mets promoted him on June 9. The next night at Shea Stadium he made his major league debut, as reported by Jack Lang in the following day’s Jersey Journal:

Rusteck Lives Up to Westrum’s Hopes

It is obvious now why Wes Westrum spent the better part of a month pleading with the front office to bring up Dick Rusteck.

From the first time he saw him in the Florida Instructional League last November, Westrum has been impressed with the slender, blond lefthander from Notre Dame.

Last night 33,977 fans at Shea Stadium and a million or so watching on TV saw why.

Rusteck, who arrived in New York only the night before following his recall from Jacksonville, made his first start against the powerful Cincinnati Reds and shut them out with four singles, 5-0.

Not a single Cincy baserunner reached second base as Rusteck pitched a masterpiece in his first league start. The only walk he issued was in the first inning. He went to a 3-2 count on just three other batters and he accomplished his mission with haste, making only 95 pitches in the two hour and six minute ball game.

Was Rusteck nervous pitching before the largest crowd he’d ever seen in a ball park?

“Just the normal nervousness of a pitcher making his first major league start,” the cool kid admitted later.

“I might have been more nervous a few years ago but I’m 24 now. All I did was to try and pitch the way I did at Jacksonville.”

At Jacksonville he was 6-1 and he confessed that he had expected to be recalled earlier.

“When I won my first four or five I knew there was talk about me coming up,” he said. “But then I lost my first game, 4-0, last Saturday night I forgot about it. I didn’t think they’d bring me up after that.”

Rusteck wasn’t aware that he had a booster in Westrum. Even after the kid had been rocked in his last two appearances in spring training, Wes wanted to keep him. But the front office decided otherwise and perhaps it was for the best, because when Dick came up last night, he was ready.

As Westrum said, “The magnificent thing about him is that he throws strikes.”

Rusteck is Westrum’s type of pitcher because he keeps the ball low.

“He has a major league arm plus complete control of his fast ball and his curve,” the manager raved. “He never lets up to get a ball over.”

Leonard Koppett’s game story in the New York Times began this way:

RUSTECK VICTOR ON 4-HITTER, 5-0

Fans 4 in First Big League Start—Bressoud Gets 2 Homers for Met Mark

Glory was the word for the New York Mets last night.

Dick Rusteck, a 23-year-old left-hander they called up from the minors only the day before, pitched a four-hit shutout against the Cincinnati Reds in his first major league appearance. Eddie Bressoud hit two home runs, the important one with two men on base in the second inning. The infield played brilliantly, and a crowd of 33,977 cheered the 5-0 Met victory.

Such nights are rare enough for the Mets under any circumstances, but this one came at a particularly good time. During the week, the pitching staff had gone completely to pieces and the team’s record, as well as its performance, was becoming too painfully identical with former years.

Cleon Jones, the rookie who has been one of the few consistent assets the Mets could rely upon, was unable to play because of a bruised hand. Cincinnati’s starter was Jim Maloney, who had a 6-1 won-lost record and who had shut out the Mets with two hits the last time he pitched here. Roy McMillan, the regular shortstop, finally had to sit down to rest his .164 batting average. And the team had lost 17 of its last 23 games.

These were hardly promising circumstances, but Rusteck and Bressoud, who was McMillan’s replacement, turned everything around. Suddenly, everything looks brighter. Rusteck’s debut, and the arrival of Bob Shaw, may change the pitching picture, and a couple of victories can do wonders for morale…

From Barney Kremenko’s report in the June 25 Sporting News:

…He threw a considerable number of curves, but his big pitch was a fast ball.

“His fast ball moves,” pointed out Ralph Kiner, the former slugger who now is one of the Mets’ broadcasters.

“A couple of times, the ball jumped more than half a foot as it came up to the plate.”

Impressed, too, by the newcomer was plate umpire Ed Sudol.

“His fast ball has a tendency to rise at the last instant,” Sudol said. “It had the batters off balance and was probably the main reason they popped up so much.”

The young man’s poise also caught the eye.

“Nothing bothered him,” emphasized Kiner.

“A couple of times he fell behind on 3-and-0 counts, but came back with strikes.”

Dick was suddenly a New York celebrity, being called “Golden Boy.” Then, four days later, again at home, he had his second start. He gave up a single and a walk to the Cardinals in the first inning, but thanks to two caught stealings he only faced three batters. Then in the second, after three singles, a home run, and a batter reaching first on catcher’s interference, he was removed: one+ inning, five hits, five runs, three of them earned. Westrum concluded that he might need four days rest between starts rather than three, which meant his next one should have been in a doubleheader on June 19. But as Jack Lang reported in the Jersey Journal on the 20^th:

Dick Rusteck was supposed to start yesterday and couldn’t, and he still can’t pitch.

After the 5-0, 4-2 double defeat in Cincinnati, Wes explained that Rusteck has a stiffness or soreness in his right [left] shoulder.

“I can’t say what it is,” explained pitching coach Harvey Haddix. “Many times young pitchers can’t tell the difference between soreness and stiffness.

“If it’s stiffness, that can be worked out. If it’s soreness, that’s something else.”

Before yesterday’s games, Haddix had Rusteck throwing from a distance of 90 feet instead of the conventional 60 feet between the mound and the plate. It’s something Harvey himself did as a pitcher because the extra distance required more of an overhand throw and helped stretch the muscles.

“I did it every spring to get the winter stiffness out of my arm,” Haddix explained.

Rusteck said it helped. His arm felt looser after the workout.

“But it’s still sore,” he added.

The Mets are beginning to wonder if they have a problem pitcher on their hands. Rusteck came up from Jacksonville 10 days ago, broke in with a shutout and then was KO’d in the second inning in his next start. He complained of the shoulder problem immediately…

The New York Times reported that the problem was caused by Dick using an unnatural motion because of favoring his elbow after being struck by the line drive at Jacksonville.

On the 26^th Dick pitched the last inning in a 7-0 loss to the Cubs in Chicago, walking two and giving up the final run. On July 3 he felt well enough to start again, at home against the Pirates. As the Newark Star-Ledger put it, “The Mets’ young southpaw, Dick Rusteck, dueled Veale into the fifth inning, but then the heat caught up with him;” it was 1-1 through four, but when the first three Pirate batters in the fifth got hits Dick was removed.

Ultimately, on July 16, it was decided to put Dick on the disabled list. On August 18 he was activated and returned to Jacksonville. In five more starts there he went 0-3, and he finished the season 6-4 with a 2.30 ERA. The Mets called him back up on September 9 and he made four relief appearances, allowing just one run in a total of nine innings; for the year his major league totals were a 3.00 ERA in 24 innings in eight games. Those would also be his career totals.

After the season Dick went back to the Florida Instructional League, where he started three games, pitching just 13 innings; he struck out 11 and walked ten. He left Florida in November to pitch for Caguas in the Puerto Rican Winter League.

In January 1967 Dick signed a new Mets contract; it was reported that he was trying to work his shoulder back into shape in Puerto Rico and that if successful he would have a chance at the Mets’ starting rotation. Late in spring training, though, he was sent to the minor league base for reassignment, and he ended up back with Jacksonville. In April a story that appeared in various newspapers, about ballplayers who were also musicians, said that he played clarinet and saxophone.

In late May, after starting just three games and lasting (again) just 13 innings, Dick was demoted to the Winter Haven Mets of the Class A Florida State League, where he pitched 18 innings in six games, walking 23. On July 17 it was announced that the Mets had sold his contract to Jacksonville. After the season he made one appearance in the Florida Instructional League, two scoreless innings. On December 19 new Mets manager Gil Hodges mentioned that Dick had had elbow surgery.

Dick spent 1968 with Jacksonville, but while recuperating from his surgery he only appeared in 11 games, six of them starts. He had a 4.63 ERA in 35 innings, with 18 walks. Along the way his bad luck manifested itself in other ways—this item appeared in the Pittsfield (MA) Berkshire Eagle, on June 11:

Dick Rusteck, the former Notre Dame pitching star who was regarded as a prize prospect by the New York Mets a few years ago, suffered a broken nose in an automobile accident on Memorial Day. However, the injury only kept him inactive for two days. Rusteck still is with Jacksonville of the International. He’s a friend of Jim O’Brien Jr. of Pittsfield.

And this is from the September 7 Sporting News:

A weird, off-the-field accident in Rochester August 20 put Jacksonville lefthander Dick Rusteck on the disabled list for an indefinite period. Rusteck, walking in downtown Rochester, was struck on the right shoulder by a sheet of glass which apparently fell from a building. Seventeen stitches were needed to close the wound.

Dick returned to the fall Florida Instructional League, where he had a 7.11 ERA in 19 innings, though his control was back—just six walks. Despite that seeming lack of success, the Sporting News of January 4, 1969, reported that he was one of just two non-roster invitees to the Mets’ spring training camp, adding:

…Last spring, Rusteck was recovering from elbow surgery in the Jacksonville camp and could hardly throw a ball…

“Anyone who saw Dick Rusteck break in with a shutout against the Reds at Shea Stadium two years ago,” said [Mets GM Johnny] Murphy, “knows this fellow can pitch in the big leagues if his arm is sound. And I believe his arm is sound.

“What I saw of Rusteck at Jacksonville at the end of the season, and later in one game in the Florida Instructional League, convinced me his arm is sound again. In fact, after I saw him in the instructional league, I ordered Whitey Herzog not to pitch him anymore. I didn’t want to risk losing him in the draft for $25,000.”

Rusteck, 27 and a graduate of Notre Dame, complained that he wasn’t pitching enough in the instructional loop until Murphy explained his motives and advised Dick he would urge Hodges to bring him to the Met camp in February.

“Rusteck is lefthanded and we’re not so deep in the lefthanded department that we couldn’t use another able pitcher,” Murphy reasoned.

Rusteck was 2-4 while recuperating from surgery at Jacksonville last season, but his hard throwing in the final weeks when the Met farmhands were winning a playoff berth and, eventually, the Governor’s Cup, convinced Murphy he deserved another big league look.

After being passed over in the draft Dick pitched for Acarigua in the Venezuelan Winter League, then reported to spring training. He apparently didn’t live up to Murphy’s expectations, and in late March he was sent to the Mets’ new AAA team, the Tidewater Tides of the International League—unfortunately for him he missed out on the Mets’ 1969 season. He also missed out on Tidewater’s season, as before getting into a game he was sold to the Rochester Red Wings, also of the International League, a Baltimore Orioles affiliate. In 18 innings for the Red Wings he had an 8.00 ERA with 15 walks, and on July 4 Rochester assigned him to the Memphis Blues of the Texas League, the Mets’ AA affiliate, which is kind of confusing. For Memphis he pitched 70 innings in 14 games, nine of them starts, and had a 3.73 ERA with 34 walks.

For 1970, after another surgery, Dick somehow wound up in the Twins’ organization, with their AAA team, the Evansville Triplets of the American Association. On March 27 he filled out a questionnaire; he was now 6-1 180, still single, and a teacher in the off-season; his hobbies were still golf and music and he had completed his six-year Army reserve obligation. On May 12 the Evansville Courier and Press reported:

Rusteck’s arm went bad after his stint with the Mets, eventually leading to an operation this winter to remove some bone chips around his elbow.

“So far it hasn’t given me any trouble,” Dick said while here for the opening series. “But I keep knocking on wood.”

On August 11 the same newspaper reported that he “is just beginning to come around in the last month after an elbow operation during the winter.” He ended up having his best year in a while, with a 2.81 ERA in 93 innings in 30 games, 12 of them starts, though with 50 walks. Toward the end of the season the Courier and Press noted that he “will either play winter ball or return to his native Chicago and serve the school system there—elementary and high school—as a substitute teacher.”

For 1971 Dick signed a contract with the Portland Beavers, the Twins’ new AAA team, then was invited to major league spring training. He didn’t make the Twins’ roster and also didn’t make the Beavers’ roster, getting sent to the Charlotte Hornets of the Class AA Dixie Association. Here he had the best year of his career: 17-8 record, 2.40 ERA, 28 starts, 13 of them complete, four of those shutouts, 195 innings, 133 strikeouts and 59 walks. He had a streak of 27 consecutive scoreless innings, pitched in the all-star game, and was named to the Topps Class AA All-Star Team. But he wasn’t protected from the draft, and on November 29, while he was pitching for Los Mochis in the Mexican Pacific Coast Winter League, he was drafted by the Phillies.

For 1972 the Phillies sent Dick to their AAA affiliate, the Eugene Emeralds of the Pacific Coast League. Despite a string of 25 scoreless innings, he didn’t do nearly as well as he had in ’71, with a 5.16 ERA in 157 innings, his walks rising to 82.

In 1973 Dick was out of professional baseball, but in 1974 he caught on with the Dorados de Chihuahua of the Mexican League. He was released in July with a 3.45 ERA in 86 innings, then moved back to Eugene. Soon after, in a Eugene restaurant, he ran into Frank Peters, the maverick player-manager of the independent Class A Portland Mavericks, owned by maverick Bing Russell. Peters talked Dick into signing with the Mavericks and deactivated himself. Dick got into eight games the rest of the season, starting seven and completing six, with a 3.32 ERA in 57 innings. In a December 7 Sporting News article about Bing Russell being named Class A Executive of the Year, Russell was quoted about Dick, now 33 years old:

“He not only won ball games for us,” Russell said, “but he helped our young pitchers with their technique. He didn’t do it from a sideline coaching standpoint alone. He also did it by his performance on the mound.”

Dick returned to the Mavericks in 1975. There was a Northwest League rule that each team could only have one veteran player, which came into play in early August when the team signed Jim Bouton. Dick was released so that Bouton could be signed, but the two were released and re-signed repeatedly, as needed. Dick had a 4.50 ERA in 72 innings in eleven starts.

In 1976 Dick returned to the Mavericks again, now being used in relief. One article mentioned that he “sports a red fireman’s cap in the bullpen.” He had a 2.65 ERA in 34 innings in 15 games. In 1977 he was back, the Sporting News reporting on July 16:

Dick Rusteck, the former Mets’ (1966) pitcher, has found a home with Portland (Northwest), where the Mavericks employ the 36-year-old hurler only in games played at home or in Eugene. A mortgage banker in Portland, Rusteck says he’ll keep playing as long as the club wants his services. “I think I can help some of the young pitchers,” he said.

However, by the time that was published Dick had already been released. Soon after he signed with the Salem Senators, also of the Northwest League, where he finished out the season. Between the two teams he had a 4.13 ERA in 72 innings in 11 games.

This concluded Dick’s professional baseball career. A 1981 Portland Oregonian article on former Mavericks players said that he was working for the Oregon Bank. A post by his wife on a Mets fan website said that he moved to Wasilla, Alaska, in 1982 and lived there for ten years, working for the state, and that at that time (2008) they were retired in Arizona.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/R/Prustd101.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rustedi01.shtml