Donald Paul Kirkwood (born September 24, 1949) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

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 played five seasons for the

California 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 ha ...

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

, and

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

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). Kirkwood attended

Oakland University Oakland University is a public research university in Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills, Michigan. Founded in 1957 through a donation of Matilda Dodge Wilson, it was initially known as Michigan State University-Oakland, operating under the Mi ...

Professional career

In his first three minor league seasons, he had a win–loss record of 20–14 before making his MLB debut. His best season was 1975 with a win–loss record of 6–5 and an era of 3.11.

Personal life

In January 2020, he was inducted in the Hollie L. Lepely Hall of Honor class. He currently works at a total sports complex, giving pitching lessons.

References

1949 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada California Angels players Chicago White Sox players El Paso Diablos players El Paso Sun Kings players Major League Baseball pitchers Oakland Golden Grizzlies baseball players Quad Cities Angels players Salinas Packers players Sportspeople from Pontiac, Michigan Baseball players from Oakland County, Michigan Toronto Blue Jays players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1940s-stub