Richard Lewis Stigman (born January 24, 1936) 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 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 is ...

, a

left-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 ...

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 seven Major League seasons (1960–1966) for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

and

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

. Born in

Nimrod, Minnesota Nimrod is a city in Wadena County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 69 at the 2010 census, making it one of the smallest incorporated towns in Minnesota, though it is included on most major maps. Nimrod was incorporated as a city in ...

, he graduated from

Sebeka High School Sebeka High School is a public high school in Sebeka, Minnesota, United States serving grades 7–12. The high school is part of Sebeka Public School (Independent School District 820), and is contained within the same building as the elementary ...

. Stigman was listed as tall and weighed . Stigman's professional career lasted from 1954 to 1967. In his

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

campaign, with Cleveland, he had posted a 4–4

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 match ...

with three

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

s and a 3.32

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 ...

through June 30. Surprisingly, he was selected to the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

All-Star team by

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Al López Alfonso Ramón López (August 20, 1908 – October 30, 2005) was a Spanish-American professional baseball catcher and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Brooklyn Robins / Dodgers, Boston Bees, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Cle ...

, but he failed to appear in either of that summer's All-Star games (from 1959–1962, two such games were played each year). He spent two full years with the Indians, and then—on the brink of the season—he was traded to his hometown Twins with

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

Vic Power Victor Felipe Pellot (November 1, 1927November 29, 2005), also known professionally as Vic Power, was a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican professional baseball first baseman. He played twelve seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athl ...

for

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 ...

pitcher

Pedro Ramos Pedro Ramos Guerra (born April 28, 1935), is a Cuban former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Senators / Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, and the expansion Washing ...

. That set the stage for Stigman's two most successful MLB campaigns. In 1962, he helped pitch the Twins to a shocking second-place finish in the American League. He worked in 40 games, alternating between starting and

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 the ...

, and went 12–5 (3.66) with six complete games in 15 starts and three saves out of the bullpen. Then, in , Stigman took a regular turn in the Minnesota rotation, making 33 starts and working in 241

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 ...

. Although he had only a .500 record (15–15), he threw 15 complete games and three

shutouts In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

, posting an ERA of 3.25. All were career bests as the Twins finished third in the league. But was a setback for both Stigman and the Twins. He won only six of 21 decisions and his ERA rose to 4.03; the Twins, meanwhile, fell into a tie for sixth place in the AL. It cost Stigman his place in the Twins' starting rotation, as he reverted to a swing-man role. He went 4–2 (4.37) in 33

games pitched In baseball statistics, games pitched (denoted by Games G in tables of only pitching statistics) is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher; a player who is announced as the pitcher must face at least one batter, although except ...

, with eight starts and four saves out of the bullpen. However, he contributed to the Twins' 1965 American League pennant, the club's first title since it moved to

Minneapolis–Saint Paul Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is commonly known as the Twin Cities ...

in 1961. Stigman did not appear in the

1965 World Series The 1965 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1965 season. The 62nd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers against the Amer ...

, won by the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

in seven games. The following spring, he was traded to the second-division

, where he closed out his major league career. One of his two victories came on May 31, a 1–0 complete game shutout over the

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 ...

in which Stigman scattered seven hits.

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

br>box score: 1966-05-31
/ref> Boston traded Stigman to the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

during the off-season, and he pitched one more season of Triple-A before retiring. In his 235 big-league games pitched, including 119 starts, Stigman posted a 46–54 record. In 922 innings pitched, he surrendered 819 hits and 406

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 ...

; he fanned 755. He had 30 complete games, five shutouts and 16 career saves. In retirement, he became a businessman in Minneapolis–Saint Paul. In his honor, a park in his home town of Nimrod was named Stigman's Mound. Stigman's Mound is a favorite stop for picnics, launches or finishes by canoe enthusiasts on the adjacent

Crow Wing River The Crow Wing River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed November 29, 2012 tributary of the Mississippi River in Minnesota, United States. The river rises at an elevation ...

, a tributary of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. The Nimrod Gnats, amateur baseball team in Nimrod, named their baseball field after him.

References

External links

Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stigman, Dick 1936 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Nicaragua American League All-Stars Baseball players from Minnesota Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Cleveland Indians players Boston Red Sox players Fargo-Moorhead Twins players Major League Baseball pitchers Minnesota Twins players Mobile Bears players Olean Oilers players People from Wadena County, Minnesota San Diego Padres (minor league) players Tifton Indians players Vidalia Indians players