Dennis Eugene Musgraves (born December 25, 1943) is an American former

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 baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player, a right-handed

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 ...

who appeared in five

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), ...

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

as a member of the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

. Musgraves' father, Wilson, pitched in the

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

in 1946 and 1947. Musgraves attended Hazelwood High School in Missouri and the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

where he pitched for the

Missouri Tigers baseball The Missouri Tigers baseball team represents the University of Missouri in NCAA Division I college baseball. The Missouri Tigers had an overall record of 2053-1339-17 entering the 2012 season. Head coaches Year-by-year record CB=''Collegiate ...

team. By the end of his sophomore year at Missouri, he had thrown a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

against

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

and helped lead the Tigers to the finals of the

1964 College World Series The 1964 NCAA University Division baseball tournament was played at the end of the 1964 NCAA University Division baseball season to determine the national champion of college baseball. The tournament concluded with eight teams competing in the C ...

. He signed with the Mets in June 1964 and received a signing bonus of $100,000 (), the largest bonus the Mets had ever paid up to that point. He stood tall and weighed . All of Musgraves' Major League appearances occurred during July 1965. As a reliever, he yielded only four total

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

in nine innings in stints against the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

Milwaukee Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bost ...

and

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

.Retrosheet
/ref> In his fifth game, a start against the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

on July 29, 1965, at

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...

, Musgraves went seven full innings and gave up his first (and only) earned run in Major League Baseball on a bunt single by

Doug Clemens Douglas Horace Clemens (born June 9, 1939), is an American former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from – for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals. During Clemens’ playin ...

in the fifth inning, but then blanked the Cubs the rest of the way. In the top of the eighth inning, he was replaced by

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

Joe Christopher Joseph O'Neal Christopher (born December 13, 1935) is a former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from through . Listed at 5' 10", 175 lbs., he batted and threw right-handed. Christopher reached the big ...

. Chicago won the game 2–1 in extra innings. The rest of his career would be spent in minor league baseball, continuing in the Mets' system through 1970 and then retiring after a stint with the 1971

Omaha Royals Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County, Nebraska, Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. List of ...

. Musgraves' Major League totals included only 11 hits allowed in 16

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

, with seven

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

and 11

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musgraves, Dennis 1943 births Living people Buffalo Bisons (NL) players Durham Bulls players Greenville Mets players Baseball players from Missouri Major League Baseball pitchers Memphis Blues players New York Mets players Omaha Royals players Raleigh-Durham Mets players Tidewater Tides players Williamsport Mets players Winter Haven Mets players Missouri Tigers baseball players Florida Instructional League Mets players Baseball players from Indianapolis