Bill Mueller

Bill Mueller

Infobox MLB retired
name=Bill Mueller
position=Third baseman
bats=Switch
throws=Right
birthdate =birth date and age|1971|3|17
city-state|Maryland Heights|Missouri
debutdate=April 18
debutyear=by|1996
debutteam=San Francisco Giants
finaldate=May 11
finalyear=by|2006
finalteam=Los Angeles Dodgers
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.291
stat2label=Home runs
stat2value=85
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=493
teams=
* San Francisco Giants (by|1996by|2000, by|2002)
* Chicago Cubs (by|2001by|2002)
* Boston Red Sox (by|2003by|2005)
* Los Angeles Dodgers (by|2006)
highlights=
* World Series champion (2004)
* Silver Slugger Award winner (2003)
* Led AL in batting average in 2003 with .326

William Richard Mueller (pronEng|ˈmɪlɚ; born March 17, 1971) is a former Major League Baseball third baseman. Mueller's playing career was spent with the San Francisco Giants (1996-2000, 2002), Chicago Cubs (2001-02), Boston Red Sox (2003-2005), and Los Angeles Dodgers (2006). He won the American League batting title in 2003, and helped the Red Sox win the 2004 World Series. He was a switch hitter and threw right-handed.

Playing career

Mueller was born in Maryland Heights, Missouri and attended De Smet Jesuit High School and Southwest Missouri State University. He was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 15th round of the 1993 amateur draft.

Mueller made his professional debut with the Giants low A team, the Everett Giants in 1993 and quickly rose through the Giants farm system, with stops in San Jose, Shreveport, and Phoenix before making his major league debut with the Giants as a pinch hitter on April 18 1996 against the Chicago Cubs.He got his first career hit the following day, also as a pinch hitter, against Terry Adams.

He played third base for the Giants fairly regularly for five seasons, until he was traded to the Chicago Cubs before the by|2001 season for pitcher Tim Worrell. (Having by then settled into the Bay Area year-round, out of respect for Mueller the Giants delayed the trade several days so that he could attend the Cal-Stanford football game one last time as a local star. [http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_6505691] ) He returned to San Francisco in September by|2002 in a trade for pitcher Jeff Verplancke. Before the by|2003 season, Mueller was signed by the Boston Red Sox as a free agent. In his first year in Boston, he won the American League batting title with a .326 average. He also set career highs in the power department that season, belting out 45 doubles and 19 home runs. He had never previously hit more than 10 home runs or 29 doubles in any season.

He contributed nearly half of his career home runs during his three years with the Red Sox. Mueller developed a reputation for consistency throughout the major leagues. In fact, for five of his ten years in the major leagues, his batting average was between .290 and .295. His minor league numbers were very much the same, consistently between .290 and .310.

Mueller joined the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 2006 season, but played only 32 games before undergoing his third knee surgery, which would prove to be career-ending. Doctors have ruled out all known procedures to repair the deteriorating condition in his right knee. [ [http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060720&content_id=1567061&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la&partnered=rss_la Mueller stymied] ]

Coaching career

On November 17, 2006, the Dodgers announced that Mueller was retiring from baseball and had been hired as a special assistant to the GM. [ [http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20061117&content_id=1742882&vkey=pr_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la Mueller retires, joins front office] ]

On June 15, 2007, Mueller was named Los Angeles Dodgers interim hitting coach when Eddie Murray was fired. After a month on the job, manager Grady Little announced that the Dodgers would be removing the "interim" tag and that Mueller would remain the teams's hitting coach through the end of the season. [ [http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070614&content_id=2026033&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la LA dismisses Murray as hitting coach] ]

After the season, it was announced that Mueller would be giving up his role as hitting coach to return to a front office position. [ [http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071105&content_id=2293108&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la The Official Site of The Los Angeles Dodgers: News: Los Angeles Dodgers News ] ]

Highlights

* Was the American League batting champion in 2003 with a batting average of .326.
* Won the American League Silver Slugger Award for third basemen in 2003.
* On July 29, 2003 against the Texas Rangers, became the only player in major league history to hit two grand slams in a single game from opposite sides of the plate. He in fact hit three home runs in that game, and his two grand slams were in consecutive at-bats.
* Hit a game-winning walk-off home run on July 24, 2004 against the New York Yankees. The game had been a seesaw battle featuring a bench-clearing brawl in which Boston catcher Jason Varitek and Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez famously clashed after Bronson Arroyo hit Rodríguez with a pitch. The game appeared to be another devastating loss for the then stagnant Red Sox, but in the bottom of the ninth, with the Red Sox down a run and Yankees closer Mariano Rivera on the mound, Mueller hit a 3-1 pitch into the Red Sox bullpen in right-center, winning the game for the Red Sox. Many baseball analysts considered this game to be the turning point in the Red Sox 2004 season, in which they went on to win the World Series.
* Made a significant number of contributions to the Red Sox's World Series win in 2004. The most notable was his critical RBI single in the ninth inning of Game 4 against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. Down 4-3 in the ninth inning and facing elimination, Kevin Millar drew a walk from closer Mariano Rivera. Dave Roberts came in to pinch run for Millar and stole second base. Mueller singled him home and the Red Sox went on to win in 12 innings, beginning their run of eight straight wins, culminating in the title.
* With his former team, the Boston Red Sox, down three games to two in the 2007 American League Championship Series, Bill Mueller was brought in to throw out the ceremonial first pitch of game six to bring back a little of the magic that his hit against the Yankees in 2004 had brought. The Red Sox went on to win the game 12-2, the ALCS 4-3, and the World Series (in a sweep, just like the 2004 season).

Reputation

As a player, Mueller was regarded by teammates and adversaries alike as a consummate professional -- a player who steadily did his job with no questions asked. As a result, he was sometimes called "The Pro". Another nickname is "Billy Ballgame", a reference to Ted Williams' nickname "Teddy Ballgame." He was seen by many fans as unselfish. In short, he talked softly and carried a big stick.

ee also

* Batters with two grand slams in the same baseball game
* List of Major League Baseball batting champions
* Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game
* Los Angeles Dodgers all-time roster

References

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mueller — You may be looking for someone or something called Muller or Müller. Mueller is a spelling variant of the German surname Müller (miller). In German, the letter ü can be replaced with ue . It may refer to: People Armin Mueller Stahl (born 1930),… …   Wikipedia

  • Bill Parcells — Date of birth August 22, 1941 (1941 08 22) (age 70) Place of birth Englewood, New Jersey Position(s) Head Coach, Vice President College Wichita State Awards 1994 AP NFL Coach of Year 1986 AP NFL Coach of Year 1986 Sporting News NFL Coach of… …   Wikipedia

  • Bill Chen — at the 2008 World Series of Poker Hometown Lafayette Hill, PA World Series of Poker Bracelet(s) …   Wikipedia

  • Randy Mueller — NFL PlayerCoach Color fontcolor Birthplace=flagicon|USA St. Maries, Idaho College=Linfield College Position=General Manager coach=yes coachingyears= 1983 1989 1990 1994 1995 1999 2000 2001 2005 2007 coachingteams=Seattle Seahawks Assistant in Pro …   Wikipedia

  • Les Mueller — Leslie Clyde Mueller (born March 4, 1919 in Belleville, Illinois) is a former right handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Detroit Tigers in 1941 and 1945. In 1940, Mueller played for the Beaumont Exporters in the Texas League …   Wikipedia

  • Don Mueller — Mueller in about 1953. Outfielder Born: April 14, 1927 (1927 04 14) (age 84) …   Wikipedia

  • Siggi Mueller — (born 12th October 1964) is a German film composer, photographer, keyboarder, accordion and piano player. Siggi Mueller is considered one of the most renowned German film composers. He composes music for numerous German cinema and TV productions… …   Wikipedia

  • 2004 World Series — Team (Wins) Manager Season …   Wikipedia

  • San Francisco Giants all-time roster — This list is complete and up to date as of April 30, 2010. This is a list of players, both past and present, who appeared at least in one game for the New York Giants or the San Francisco Giants. Players in Bold are members of the National… …   Wikipedia

  • Boston Red Sox — Red Sox redirects here. For other uses, see Red Sox (disambiguation). Boston Red Sox 2012 Boston Red Sox se …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”