Dale Jerome Willis (born May 29, 1938) is a retired American college and

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

who was a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for a single season in 1963. He threw and batted

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

and was listed as tall and . Willis was born in

Calhoun, Georgia Calhoun is a city in Gordon County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,949. Calhoun is the county seat of Gordon County. History In December 1827, Georgia had already claimed the Cherokee lands that be ...

. He attended the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach

Dave Fuller Dave Fuller (1915 – September 15, 2009) was an American college baseball coach who led the Florida Gators baseball team of the University of Florida for twenty-eight seasons. Early life and education Fuller attended Wake Forest University i ...

's Florida Gators baseball team in 1955 and 1956. As a senior in 1956, he posted three consecutive games with ten or more strikeouts, averaged 11.9 strikeouts per game, and earned an All-SEC selection. He was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1976. Nine Named to UF Hall of Fame
, ''St. Petersburg Times'', p. 3C (April 24, 1976). Retrieved July 23, 2011. Willis was signed by the

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 sea ...

in 1960, and spent six years playing for their minor league affiliates. For the

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

, he appeared in 25 games pitched, all in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

, and posted an 0–2

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of matc ...

with a 5.04

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA). He allowed 46 hits and 25 bases on balls in 44 innings pitched, with 47 strikeouts. Willis was credited with one save, earned May 25 against the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

. He also got into one game as a pinch runner.

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, o
Pura Pelota
1938 births Living people Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Birmingham Barons players Dallas Rangers players Florida Gators baseball players Kansas City Athletics players Leesburg A's players Major League Baseball pitchers People from Calhoun, Georgia Portland Beavers players Shelby Rebels players Shreveport Sports players Sioux City Soos players Syracuse Chiefs players Tiburones de La Guaira players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1930s-stub

See also

References

External links