John Harold Haydel (July 9, 1944 - September 12, 2018) was an American 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 t ...

player 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). Haydel signed with the Milwaukee Braves as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 1962. Later that year, he was drafted in the

First-Year player draft The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...

by the

Houston Colt .45s 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 s ...

. The following year, he was traded along with

Dick LeMay Richard Paul LeMay (August 28, 1938 – March 19, 2018) was an American professional baseball player. A left-handed pitcher, LeMay appeared in parts of three Major League Baseball seasons (1961–63), but had a long career in minor league basebal ...

and

Merritt Ranew Merritt Thomas Ranew (May 10, 1938 – October 18, 2011) was an American professional baseball catcher who appeared in 269 games over all or parts of five Major League Baseball seasons (1962–65; 1969) for five different teams. He batted left ...

to the Chicago Cubs for Dave Gerard and Danny Murphy. In 1966, Haydel was selected in the Minor League Draft by the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

. Three years later, he was drafted in the Rule 5 draft by the Minnesota Twins. During his time with the Twins, Haydel played at the Major League level in 1970 and 1971. Haydel died September 12, 2018.John Haydel Obituary
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References

Sportspeople from Houma, Louisiana Minnesota Twins players Major League Baseball pitchers 2018 deaths 1944 births Baseball players from Louisiana Arizona Instructional League Cubs players Arizona Instructional League Giants players Dallas–Fort Worth Spurs players Dublin Braves players Evansville Triplets players Phoenix Giants players Portland Beavers players St. Cloud Rox players Tacoma Twins players Wenatchee Chiefs players Burials in Louisiana {{US-baseball-pitcher-1940s-stub