Merrill Glend "Pinky" May (January 18, 1911 – September 4, 2000) was an American professional baseball player and third baseman who appeared in 665 games in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1939 through 1943. He later became a longtime manager in the minor leagues and fashioned a 40-year career in organized baseball. He served in the United States Navy during World War II and was the father of former longtime major league catcher Milt May.
Wilburn Rue Butland (March 22, 1918 – September 19, 1997) was an American professional baseball pitcher who appeared in 32 games in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox over four seasons between 1940 and 1947. Born in Terre Haute, Indiana, Butland batted right-handed and threw left-handed. He was listed as 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) tall and 185 pounds (84 kg).
In his four-season MLB career, Butland posted a 9–3 record with 62 strikeouts and a 3.88 earned run average in 1502⁄3 innings pitched. His lone full season in the majors was 1942, in which he appeared in 23 games, won seven, lost one, threw two shutouts and six complete games, and posted a sparkling 2.51 ERA. He handled 46 total chances (15 putouts, 31 assists) in his major league career without an error for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
Butland's pro career lasted from 1936 through 1950, although he missed three seasons due to service in the United States Army during World War II. He died in Terre Haute at age 79 on September 19, 1997.
John E. Wilson (1927 – January 11, 2019), popularly known as Jumpin' Johnny Wilson, was an American basketball and baseball player. He gained his nickname for being the only player on his high school team able to dunk the basketball.
James Harry Taylor (May 20, 1919 – November 5, 2000) was an American professional baseball player. He was a right-handed pitcher who appeared in 90 games, 44 as a starter, in Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1946–48) and Boston Red Sox (1950–52). The native of East Glenn, Indiana, stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 175 pounds (79 kg).
Taylor's professional career lasted from 1938 through 1955, with five seasons (1941–45) missed due to United States Army service in World War II and another two (1953–54) out of organized baseball in the semipro ranks. He spent the entire 1947 campaign on the Dodgers' big-league roster, winning ten of 15 decisions with 20 starting assignments and two shutouts. It was an eventful season for Brooklyn that saw Jackie Robinson break the baseball color line in the Major Leagues, manager Leo Durocher's season-long suspension for "conduct detrimental to baseball", and the Dodgers win their seventh overall National League pennant.
Taylor was the Dodgers' starting pitcher in Game 4 of the 1947 World Series on October 3 at Ebbets Field. Matched against the New York Yankees' Bill Bevens, Taylor failed to record an out, facing four batters in the first inning and allowing two singles, a base on balls, a fielder's choice (the batter reaching on an error) and an unearned run before being relieved by Hal Gregg, who got out of the inning without further scoring. Bevens, meanwhile, threw 82⁄3 innings of no-hit baseball. But the Yankee hurler allowed ten bases on balls, and his no-hitter and game were ruined by pinch hitter Cookie Lavagetto's ninth-inning double, scoring the decisive two runs and enabling the Dodgers to win, 3–2.
Taylor returned to the minor leagues during the 1948 season, and spent almost all of the following two years at Triple-A. But in September 1950, his contract was purchased by the Red Sox, who were chasing the Yankees and Detroit Tigers in the American League pennant race. After one game in relief, he threw two complete game victories, September 25 against the Philadelphia Athletics (a two-hit shutout) and October 1 against the Yankees. But Boston fell short in the standings, finishing in third place, four games behind the Yankees.
In his 90 MLB games, Taylor worked 3572⁄3 innings pitched, and allowed 344 hits and 201 bases on balls. He recorded 127 strikeouts, 16 complete games and four saves.
He posted a .161 batting average (20-for-124) in his career. He fielded his position well, recording a .990 fielding percentage with only one error in 105 total chances.
Kenneth Wayne Trinkle (December 15, 1919 – May 10, 1976) was an American professional baseball player and right-handed pitcher who appeared in 216 games in Major League Baseball with the New York Giants (1943 and 1946–1948) and Philadelphia Phillies (1949). A relief specialist, he led the National League in appearances in 1946 and 1947. The native of Paoli, Indiana, stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 175 pounds (79 kg).
Patricia Roy (October 3, 1938 – May 23, 2017) was an All-American Girls Professional Baseball League infielder. Listed at 5' 10", 125 lb., she batted and threw right handed.Patricia Roy played a season in the league but her career was cut short after an insurance company refused to cover players under the age of 18.Born in Goshen, Indiana, Patricia was the daughter of Arthur and Margaret Roy. She grew up in Harlan, Indiana, near Fort Wayne, and participated in pick-up games and sandlot ball with the boys before joining an organized Pony League baseball team. But after surpassing her male counterparts, Patricia was told that girls could not play in that league. She then went to the Junior Girls Baseball League located at South Bend, which served as a farm club for the All-American league.In 1954, Roy was noticed and recruited by an AAGPBL scout. She was aged 15 and still in high school, but she convinced her parents she was old enough to play in the league. Patricia was offered a contract and it was co-signed by her mother. By that time, the Fort Wayne Daisies club was short of players and gave the young girl a chance to play. Usually the AAGPBL hired older girls, but made an exception because of the shortage of talent at a difficult time.But Roy did not get much of a chance to play during the only season she was with the pennant-winning Daisies. She was used sparingly as a backup infielder for Betty Foss at first base and Katie Horstman at third, until a 16-year old teammate, Shirley Weierman, broke an ankle while sliding into second base. After Weierman's injury, the insurance company hired by the league decided it not cover any girl under age 18. Roy and Weierman were released immediately.In one season career, Roy hit .079 (3-for-38) with two RBI in 14 games. At the field, she recorded 95 putouts with two assists and turned one double plays, while committing five errors in 179 total chances for a combined .951 fielding average.Following her graduation at Harlan High School in 1956, Roy enrolled at Ball State University and earned a bachelor's and master's degrees in physical education in 1960. She began her career as a physical education teacher at Chesterton High School in 1960, and served as head of the Department of Girls Physical Education at East Gary from 1964 through 1971. In between, she threw fastpitch softball for the Valparaiso Queens team and travelled all over the Midwest.Afterwards, Roy became a pioneer for girls athletics in Indiana when she was hired by the Indiana High School Athletic Association in 1972. Her first role in the IHSAA was as director of the girls' athletics department, a position that did not exist before her arrival. As a result, Roy established the guidelines for the tournament series for all sports for girls in Indiana and guided the IHSAA girls basketball team to its first championship. She lasted 27½ years at the IHSSA, the longest tenure for an executive in the organization's history.In 1988, Roy received further recognition when she became part of Women in Baseball, a permanent display based at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, which was unveiled to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League rather than any individual figure.She garnered numerous honors, starting with the Indiana Hall of Fame Pioneer of the Game Award and the St. Vincent Silver Medal Award in 2002 for her significant role in the implementation into the IHSAA program. In addition, she was recognized nationally by the Women's Sports Foundation and the U.S. Olympic Committee, received the first Marian Archer Award and ICGSA Service Award from the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association, commissioned a Kentucky Colonel in 1993, and was named a Sagamore of the Wabash by the Governor of Indiana Evan Bayh in 1994. She gained inductions in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, the Indiana Softball Hall of Fame, the Indiana Volleyball Hall o Fame, the Lake Station Hall of Fame, and the Indiana Coaches of Sports Association. Besides, the Patricia L Roy Mental Attitude Award is given annually to one senior player in each class of the Indiana State Girls High School Basketball Championship who best exemplifies a positive attitude, scholarship and leadership skills.After retiring, Patricia Roy moved to Ave Maria, Florida, where she died on May 23, 2017, at the age of 78.
Doris Jones (born 1924) was a member of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). She was born in Sellersburg, Indiana. In 1945, she played for the South Bend Blue Sox, in South Bend, Indiana. Doris only played for one season and was simultaneously enrolled at Georgetown College, majoring in Art. Her ambition was to become a professional cartoonist.
Bruce Raymond Barmes (October 23, 1929 – January 25, 2014), nicknamed "Squeaky", was an American professional baseball player.
An outfielder, Barmes had an outstanding minor league career, notching a .318 career batting average and 1,627 hits in 1,439 games played over eleven full seasons (1950–60). He made All-Star teams in the Florida State League in 1950 and the Tri-State League in 1952, when he won the batting title with the Charlotte Hornets, and he helped his teams win league championships in his first three seasons of professional baseball. However, his major league career was simply a Cup of coffee during a late September call-up with the 1953 Washington Senators.
Barmes batted left-handed, threw right-handed, stood 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m) tall and weighed 165 pounds (75 kg). His MLB debut came when he replaced Jackie Jensen as Washington's right fielder in the first game of a doubleheader at Griffith Stadium against the Detroit Tigers on September 13. He handled two chances in the field without an error and grounded out to second baseman Fred Hatfield against Ned Garver in his only at bat. Barmes' other four MLB appearances came as a pinch hitter. He earned his only MLB hit with a pinch single off Bob Trice of the Philadelphia Athletics on September 26.Bruce Barmes was the uncle of MLB infielder Clint Barmes.
Alfred James Pilarcik (July 3, 1930 – September 20, 2010) was an American professional baseball player. An outfielder, he appeared in 668 Major League games between 1956 and 1961 for the Kansas City Athletics, Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox. Pilarcik stood 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) tall, weighed 185 lb (84 kg) and threw and batted left-handed.
Primarily a right fielder, Pilarcik played in over 100 games for three successive seasons (1957–1959) as a member of the Orioles. In 1960, his last season in Baltimore, Pilarcik saw less service, but he was stationed in right field at Boston's Fenway Park on September 28, 1960, Ted Williams' final game as an active player. He caught Williams' long drive to right field at the bullpen wall in the fifth inning, then, three frames later, watched helplessly as Williams' 440-foot (134-metre) blast carried over the bullpen for Williams' 521st and final career home run — in the Hall of Fame hitter's last at bat in the Major Leagues.Pilarcik's career lasted one more season, split between the 1961 Athletics (in his second turn for that franchise) and the White Sox. All told, in six MLB campaigns, he compiled a career batting average of .256 with 22 home runs and 143 runs batted in. Defensively, he recorded a .986 fielding percentage playing at all three outfield positions.He was signed by Yankees scout Lou Maguolo.After baseball, he went into the teaching profession and taught at Lake Central High School for 33 years, retiring in 2001.
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.