Raymond Frederick Katt (May 9, 1927 – October 19, 1999) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball during the 1950s, and later became the longtime and highly successful head baseball coach of Texas Lutheran University. A lifelong resident of New Braunfels, Texas, Katt stood 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) (183 cm) tall, weighed 200 pounds (91 kg), and threw and batted right-handed in his playing days. He attended Texas A&M University.
Walker James Cress (March 6, 1917 – April 21, 1996) was an American professional baseball player and scout. The right-handed pitcher appeared in 33 Major League Baseball games, 31 in relief, in 1948 and part of 1949 for the Cincinnati Reds. Born in Ben Hur, Virginia, and nicknamed "Foots", he was listed as 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) tall and 205 pounds (93 kg).
Cress played baseball for Louisiana State University from 1938 to 1939. His professional playing career began in 1939 in the Boston Red Sox' farm system. He missed the 1943–1945 seasons in World War II military service, but the website Baseball in Wartime lists no service branch under his name. In 1946, Cress returned to baseball and won 19 of 22 decisions for the Lynn Red Sox of the Class B New England League. The next year, 1947, he won 15 of 20 decisions for the New Orleans Pelicans of the Double-A Southern Association.
Cress then was acquired by Cincinnati, setting the stage for his major-league career. He worked in 30 games for the 1948 Reds, with two assignments as a starting pitcher. He posted his only MLB complete game on October 1, 1948, during the season's final weekend. Facing the Pittsburgh Pirates at Crosley Field, he had held the Bucs to two hits and no runs over eight innings, and was nursing a 1–0 lead going into the ninth. But in the final frame, he surrendered four hits and two runs, and when the Reds could not respond in their half of the ninth, Cress was tagged with the loss, his only MLB decision.Cress then worked in three early-season games in 1949 and pitched two scoreless innings coming of the Reds' bullpen before returning to the minors for the rest of his career. As a big leaguer, he allowed 62 hits and 45 bases on balls in 62 total innings pitched, with 33 strikeouts and no saves. He won a combined 33 games for the Tulsa Oilers of the Double-A Texas League in 1949–50, and ended his minor-league career with 99 victories.
After his pitching career, Cress resided in Baton Rouge, LA, working as an electrician, and became a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros, and San Francisco Giants. He later became the Director of Recreation for BREC, a recreational organization in East Baton Rouge Parish. Cress died at the age of 79 on April 21, 1996, in Baton Rouge.
Billy Arnold Muffett (September 21, 1930 – June 15, 2008) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He pitched in the Major Leagues for all or parts of six seasons (1957–1962) for the St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox. In his playing days, he stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall, weighed 198 pounds (90 kg), and threw and batted right-handed. He was born in Hammond, Indiana.
Beginning his professional career in 1949, Muffett missed the 1952 and 1953 seasons due to military service. He returned to minor league baseball in 1954.Muffett came to the major leagues with St. Louis in 1957 and fashioned his best overall season, winning three of five decisions, posting an earned run average of 2.25 and notching eight saves. Over his career, he won 16 and lost 23 (.410) with a 4.33 ERA in 125 games. He threw seven complete games and one shutout and was credited with 15 career saves.
After retiring as a player, Muffett was a longtime MLB pitching coach for the Cardinals, California Angels and Detroit Tigers between 1967 and 1994, as well a minor league instructor. He coached on the Cardinals' 1967–68 National League pennant-winning clubs, and their 1967 World Series champion edition. He survived a bout with cancer in 1987, but continued in his role as Tiger pitching coach during his recovery.
Billy Muffett died June 15, 2008, at his home in Monroe, Louisiana.
Edward Michael Hanyzewski (September 18, 1920 – October 8, 1991) was an American professional baseball player, a right-handed pitcher who worked in 58 games (25 as a starting pitcher) in the Major Leagues between 1942 and 1946 for the Chicago Cubs. He threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 200 pounds (91 kg) and attended the University of Notre Dame.Hanyzewski's best Major League season came in 1943, when he appeared in 33 games (16 as a starter), won eight of 15 decisions, and fashioned a 2.56 earned run average in 130 innings pitched with three complete games.
Hanyzewski pitched in only two games (one in April and one in September) for the 1945 Cubs, who won the National League pennant, and did not appear in the 1945 World Series.During his MLB career, Hanyzewski allowed 213 hits and 79 bases on balls in 218 innings pitched, with 81 strikeouts. He did not record a save.
Mack Edwin Burk (born April 21, 1935) is an American former professional baseball catcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the 1956 and 1958 Philadelphia Phillies. Of his 16 big league game appearances, 13 were as a pinch runner, two as a pinch hitter, and only one inning as a catcher.
Burk stood 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) tall, weighed 180 pounds (82 kg) and threw and batted right-handed. He attended the University of Texas at Austin and signed a $40,000 bonus contract with the Phillies in September 1955. Under the rules of the day, a "bonus baby" such as Burk was compelled to spend his first two years as a professional baseball player on a Major League roster. In his pro debut, on May 25, 1956, Burk pinch-ran for catcher Andy Seminick, in a home game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Connie Mack Stadium. In Burk’s third game, on June 5, he pinch hit for pitcher Curt Simmons in the fifth inning and singled off left-hander Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Redlegs. Burk came around to score his first big-league run that inning on a sacrifice fly by Stan Lopata. Burk scored two more runs during the 1956 season, both as a pinch runner. In his lone appearance in the field, Burk caught one inning, the bottom of the eighth, in relief of Lopata on July 15 against the St. Louis Cardinals, and handled one chance flawlessly.Burk missed the entire 1957 season due to military service. But in 1958, he returned to baseball and was able to gain much-needed playing time in minor league baseball. Burk also played in one game with the Phillies. In his second big-league plate appearance and at bat, Burk was called upon to pinch hit for Phils' pitcher Ray Semproch in the 14th inning of a game against the San Francisco Giants, and he was called out on strikes against veteran Johnny Antonelli. It would be Burk's final MLB appearance. All told, he collected three runs scored, and one single in his two at bats for a career batting average of .500.
Burk continued his career in the minors through 1960 in the Phillies' farm system before leaving pro baseball.
Saturnino Escalera Cuadrado (December 1, 1929 – July 3, 2021) was a Puerto Rican former professional baseball player and scout whose playing career extended for 14 seasons (1949–1962). The outfielder and first baseman appeared for one full season, 1954, in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Redlegs and was the first player of African descent to appear in an MLB game for the Cincinnati franchise. He threw and batted left-handed, stood 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and 165 pounds (75 kg).
Clarence James Maddern (September 26, 1921 – August 9, 1986) was an American professional baseball outfielder who appeared in 104 Major League games for the Chicago Cubs in 1946, 1948 and 1949, and the Cleveland Indians in 1951. His minor league career extended from 1940 through 1957. He threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 185 pounds (84 kg).
Maddern attended the University of Arizona on a baseball scholarship and signed a contract with the Cubs' minor league affiliate Bisbee Bees, in the Arizona–Texas League. His career was interrupted by service from 1943 to 1945 in the United States Army during World War II, when he served in the 76th Infantry Division. Maddern served in France and participated in the Battle of the Bulge.In 1946 Maddern was leading the Texas League in hitting with the Tulsa Oilers before being called up by the parent Cubs. He also was a stalwart in the postwar Pacific Coast League as a star for the Los Angeles Angels and a member of four other PCL clubs. The biggest moment in his career came the night of September 29, 1947, before a sellout crowd in Los Angeles' Wrigley Field. The Angels and the San Francisco Seals had finished in a dead heat for the PCL pennant and met in a one-game playoff. The game was a scoreless tie until Maddern broke it up with a grand slam home run in the eighth inning to give the Angels a 5–0 win over the Seals.Maddern left baseball in 1957, returned to Bisbee and became an insurance agent. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Bisbee, Arizona
David Lee Bakenhaster (March 5, 1945 – July 30, 2014) was an American professional baseball pitcher who appeared in two games in Major League Baseball as a member of the 1964 St. Louis Cardinals. Born in Columbus, Ohio, and raised in nearby Dublin, he threw and batted right-handed and was listed as 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and 168 pounds (76 kg).
Bakenhaster signed with the Cardinals for a $40,000 bonus in 1963 after he graduated from Dublin Coffman High School. The Cardinals protected him from the first-year player draft by putting him on their 25-man MLB roster for 1964. But he would appear in only two games and hurl only three full innings as a Redbird.
He made his major-league debut at the age of 19 on June 20, 1964, at Busch Stadium. He entered a contest against the San Francisco Giants in a low-leverage situation, with St. Louis trailing 10–1 in the eighth inning. Bakenhaster allowed six hits and four unearned runs in two full innings as the Giants rolled, 14–3. One month and two days later, on July 22, he appeared in his second and last MLB game, another one-sided home game, this time against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bakenhaster again worked the ninth inning, allowing a two-run home run to Bill Mazeroski and surrendering the final two runs in an eventual 13–2 Pittsburgh romp.The Cardinals then sent Bakenhaster to the minor leagues for the remainder of 1964; he escaped the first-year player draft but never returned to the majors. He missed the 1968 season while serving in the military, and retired from the game after the 1970 season. In his brief MLB career, he posted a 0–0 won–lost record and a 6.00 earned run average, with nine hits and one base on balls in three full innings pitched. He did not record a strikeout.
After leaving baseball, Bakenhaster worked for 34 years in a warehouse operated by Exel Logistics, serving the Nabisco Brands Food Company in Columbus, Ohio. In 1975, he married the former Carolyn Harr. In 2002, he was elected to the inaugural class for the Dublin Coffman High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
James Michael Rittwage (October 23, 1944 in Cleveland, Ohio) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for one season. He pitched eight games for the Cleveland Indians during the 1970 season.
Richard Paul LeMay (August 28, 1938 – March 19, 2018) was an American professional baseball player. A left-handed pitcher, LeMay appeared in parts of three Major League Baseball seasons (1961–63), but had a long career in minor league baseball. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated from Withrow High School.
LeMay attended the University of Michigan, stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed 190 pounds (86 kg). He signed with the San Francisco Giants in 1958 and was recalled from the minor leagues during the 1961 season, appearing in 27 games for the Giants that season, starting five. He dropped six of nine decisions and recorded an earned run average of 3.56 and one complete game in 83+1⁄3 innings pitched. He had nine-game trials with the 1962 Giants and the 1963 Chicago Cubs, and was winless in two decisions. All told he won three games, lost eight and had a career ERA of 4.17 in 45 Major League games. In 108 innings pitched, he surrendered 100 hits and 49 bases on balls. He struck out 69, and was credited with four saves. In his lone MLB complete game, on June 24, 1961, at Busch Stadium, he defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 6–1, allowing six hits; future Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Gibson took the loss.After he returned to minor league baseball in 1963, LeMay had a successful career as a starting pitcher at the Triple-A level through 1970, reaching the double digits in wins for six consecutive seasons, including 17- and 16-victory seasons in 1965 and 1968. All told, he won 139 games and lost 124 as a minor league pitcher. LeMay also managed at the Class A level in the Cubs' farm system in 1971–72 and was a scout for the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1970s and the Montréal Expos during the 1980s.
LeMay died on March 19, 2018.