Skip to main content

Sunday School: History Lesson 55

Bob Miller was a pitcher with the Phillies from 1949-1958. Signed as an amateur free agent in 1948, Miller made his Major League debut with the Phillies the next season, pitching 3 games in relief, after winning 19 minor league games.

He returned with the big club the next season and won 11 games and posted a 3.57 ERA for the 1950 pennant winners. Miller, a Michigan native, got his chance to start following struggles by veterans Russ Meyer and Ken Heintzelman. Miller quickly made the most of his chance by pitching consecutive shutouts of Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. By the time Miller allowed a run, in his third start, he had pitched 22 straight scoreless innings. Miller's record soon ran to 8-0.

Miller would soon prove to be an accident prone player the likes of which the Phillies have probably not seen since. In late June, 1950 Miller tripped over a step while carrying his luggage to a waiting train and injured his back. After a period of recovery, he did not pitch as effectively. Over the remainder of the season, Miller won three of his nine starts.

Miller started game 4 of the World Series, but was pulled in the very first inning, after spotting the Yankees a 2-0 lead. He took the loss in that game.

By 1952, Miller returned to the minor leagues and he appeared in just 3 games with the Major League Phillies that season. He was back in the big leagues for good in 1953, but truly lacked much stamina and didn't go deep into games, so he was relegated to the bullpen. He spent three seasons as a key reliever for the Phils, but again accidentally injured himself when he fell over his children's toys in his home and broke his own wrist. A year later, in 1958, Miller would retire.
Miller would later become head baseball coach at the University of Detroit, near his home.

----------------------------------

Be sure to follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE.

BallHype: hype it up!
Share on Facebook

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PhoulBallz Q&A with Mike Stutes

Mike Stutes completes "The Reading Phils Mike Tri-fecta" over three days, here on PhoulBallz.com. Stutes, a 22 year old, was an 11th round selection by the Phillies in the 2008 amateur draft. Stutes, a right handed starting pitcher, helped lead Oregon State to the College World Series championship in both 2006 and 2007. Stutes and teammate Vance Worley are the first players to begin a season at Reading the year after being drafted since Pat Burrell did it in 1999. Stutes was the Phils' minor league pitcher of the month in August '08, when he went 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA in 6 starts. Check out my Q&A with the third Mike below. Can I get you to talk about the coaching staff and how they help you deal with ups and downs? They've been real positive with me. I started out good and then I hit a rough patch. They've stuck with me through it all. I haven't heard any negative words from them. Every day they try to come out, work with me, try to get me turned around...

Jason Knapp Q&A

PhoulBallz .com was fortunate enough to meet with Phillies prospect Jason Knapp just one day after he caught the attention of the baseball world with his 7 shut out innings, 14 strike out performance against the Indians' Lake County team. - I asked Jason, the Lakewood BlueClaw , for some thoughts about his big game... I had pretty good command of three pitches (fastball, curve, change up). I was on the same page with my catcher, D'Arnaud , and I ended up, ya know, I felt pretty good. - In a great performance like that, how much credit goes to Travis D'Arnaud , the catcher? More than you might expect, definitely. I didn't shake him off once. He told me what to throw and I do what I'm told. And if it works out, a lot of the credit goes to the catcher. - Does the lack of run support (Lakewood has scored 3 total runs in his 3 starts), in your few starts, increase your stress level, or enhance your focus? No, I just try to go out and do my job every outing. Ya know, we...

Yankees Fans Misled By Pepsi Promotion

**** Today, New York Yankees fans attended a Pepsi promotion in Times Square hoping for chances to win opening day tickets to the new stadium, but the tickets, which were difficult to track down due to poor organization on Pepsi's part, were actually for a game in June. Furthermore, the 250 pairs that were promised were actually only 100 pairs. The fans, who were made to sprint through traffic over multiple city blocks when locations for the promotion changed, quickly turned against the soda brand by pooring out their beverages and chanting anti-Pepsi phrases. Yankees fans are even threatening a boycott of Pepsi. An appearance by Yankee great Goose Gossage could not even settle the angry mob, as he had to be whisked away, as a precaution, according to the Daily News . Ooo , I'd hate to see what "the worst fans in sports" (Philadelphia fans) would have done to their free Pepsi cans and beloved reliever in that situation. Because this happened in a non-Philly city, th...