American baseball player
Baseball player
Ted Wilks
|
---|
|
Pitcher
|
Born:
November 13, 1915
Fulton, New York
, U.S.
|
Died:
August 21, 1989
(1989-08-21)
(aged 73)
Houston, Texas
, U.S.
|
Batted:
Right
Threw:
Right
|
|
April 25, 1944, for the St. Louis Cardinals
|
|
August 5, 1953, for the Cleveland Indians
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|
Win?loss record
| 59?30
|
---|
Earned run average
| 3.26
|
---|
Strikeouts
| 403
|
---|
Saves
| 46
|
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---|
|
|
|
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Theodore Wilks
(November 13, 1915 ? August 21, 1989) was an American
professional baseball
player. Born in
Fulton, New York
, he was a
right-handed
pitcher
who appeared in 385
games
in
Major League Baseball
over ten seasons (1944?53) as a member of the
St. Louis Cardinals
,
Pittsburgh Pirates
and
Cleveland Indians
. He was listed as 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) tall and 178 pounds (81 kg).
In his major-league career, Wilks compiled a 59?30 record in his 385 appearances, 341 of them as a
relief pitcher
, with a 3.26
earned run average
and 46
saves
, 22
complete games
and five
shutouts
. In 913
innings pitched
, he allowed 832
hits
and 283
bases on balls
. He racked up 403
strikeouts
. As a Cardinal, he was a member of two
World Series
championship teams, defeating the
St. Louis Browns
in
1944
and the
Boston Red Sox
in
1946
. In World Series play, he compiled an 0?1 record in three appearances, with a 4.91 earned run average and seven strikeouts.
Baseball career
[
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]
Wilks was a 28-year-old rookie pitcher in 1944. He beat the
Cincinnati Reds
3?0 on August 29, for his eleventh victory in a row. Wilks took a
no-hitter
into the eighth inning, prior to
Frank McCormick
hitting for a single. It was one of three Cincinnati hits. Wilks concluded the 1944 season with a 17?4 record and a 2.65
earned run average
.
Following his impressive rookie season, Wilks encountered arm problems which limited his effectiveness. However, he became an important pitcher in the Cardinal
bullpen
in the post-World War II era
[1]
and twice (
1949
;
1951
) led the
National League
in saves, although the save was not yet an official MLB statistic. Cardinal catcher
Joe Garagiola
nicknamed Wilks "The Cork" because he was their "stopper" out of the bullpen.
[2]
By the conclusion of the
1947
campaign, Wilks had compiled a career record of 33?11.
Wilks had a reputation as a pitcher for regularly throwing at the heads of black batters. While pitching with the Cardinals in 1947, he attempted to organize a boycott so as not to have to play a desegregated Brooklyn Dodgers with Jackie Robinson.
[3]
After his pitching career ended, Wilks turned to
coaching
. He served in the
farm systems
of the Indians and the
Milwaukee Braves
, then spent two years coaching in the
American League
with the
1960 Indians
and the
1961 Kansas City Athletics
. In 1960, he was involved in a fight with pitcher
Mudcat Grant
, triggered by Wilks's racist comments. Following a dispute over the national anthem, Wilks told Grant, who was black, that "If we catch your nigger ass in Texas, we’re going to hang you from the nearest tree", leading Grant to punch Wilks. Following that incident, Wilks was sent down to the farm leagues.
[4]
[5]
Wilks died in
Houston, Texas
, where he had played
minor league baseball
for the
Houston Buffaloes
in the early 1940s, at the age of 73.
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Snyder, John. 2010.
Cardinals Journal: Year by Year and Day by Day with the St. Louis Cardinal since 1882. Clerisy Press. 339.
- ^
Wolf, Gregory H.
"Ted Wilks"
.
Society for American Baseball Research
Biography Project
. Retrieved
20 August
2018
.
- ^
Moore, Louis (2017).
We Will Win the Day: The Civil Rights Movement, the Black Athlete, and the Quest for Equality
. USA: ABC-CLIO (Praeger). p. ix.
ISBN
978-1440839535
.
- ^
1 Robert S. Brown, “Mudcat Grant and the Protest of the National Anthem,” Paper presented at 30th Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture (May 30-June 1, 2018), 6.; “Mudcat Grants Walks Off the Field, Gets Suspension,” Sacramento Bee, Sept. 17, 1960 (AP story reprinted in many newspapers). Also recounted in Steve Jacobson, Carrying Jackie’s Torch: The Players Who Integrated Baseball ? and America, Lawrence Hill Books, pages 56-57 and in William Moore, We Will Win the Day: The Civil Rights Movement, the Black Athletes, and the Quest for Equality, 2007
- ^
Blackistone, Kevin (August 17, 2021).
"Mudcat Grant was never sorry"
.
Washington Post
.
External links
[
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]