World War II interrupted many baseball careers.
Les Mueller, who would 100 years old today, was one of those players that pitched in the big leagues before and after the war.
Mueller’s professional career began in 1939 at the age of 20 in the Detroit Tigers organization. He would go 9-10 with two teams.
In 1940 with Beaumont in the Texas League, Mueller posted an 18-11 record and also tossed a no-hitter for the Exporters.
Although he was 6-16 with Beaumont during the following season, Mueller made his major league debut for the Tigers in St. Louis on Aug. 15, 1941.
Mueller went to the mound in relief of Dizzy Trout in the bottom of the fourth with the Browns on top 5-1. He worked four innings and gave up a hit and a run with three strikeouts. He would appear in three more contests without a record the rest of the year.
After a 5-2 season in the minors in 1942, Mueller spent the next two years stateside in the United States Army.
Back in the Big Leagues
Mueller returned to Detroit in 1945 and helped the Tigers win the World Series. He would pitch in the opener of the series as the Tigers would beat the Chicago Cubs in seven games.
The right-hander finished with a 6-8 record with an ERA of 3.68 in what would turn out to be his final season in the big leagues.
Opening day in St. Louis marked the first appearance of the season for Mueller on April 17.
With the Tigers down 5-1, Muller took over in the seventh inning for Hal Newhouser, who would go on to be the American League Most Valuable Player as he won the pitching triple crown with a 25-9 record an ERA of 1.81 and 212 strikeouts.
One-armed player Pete Gray was the first batter that Mueller faced and he gave up a single, which was the first big league hit for the Browns outfielder.
Mueller’s top performance that ended in a victory that season was in New York as the Tigers won 2-0 in Yankee Stadium on May 31.
Perhaps the most famous game in Mueller’s career came on July 21 in Philadelphia.
He allowed 13 hits and surrendered a run in the fourth, which to put in context when he left the game with two outs in the 20th inning, wasn’t too bad. Trout finished the game that ended in a 1-1 tie after 24 frames. Future Baseball Hall of Fame inductee George Kell went 0-for-10 in the contest.
At the plate, Mueller wasn’t much of a hitter. He batted .170 in his career with eight hits. However, he did hit a homer off Joe Haynes against the Chicago White Sox at Briggs Stadium on June 9.
Mueller, who passed away in 2012, pitched in the minors for the Tigers and Yankees from 1946 to 1948.