Leroy William Wheat (September 15, 1929 – July 29, 2008) was an American

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 ...

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 worked in 11 career

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 for the 1954 Philadelphia Athletics and 1955's maiden edition of 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 ...

. A right-hander, Wheat stood tall and was listed as .

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 ...

"Lee Wheat"
/ref> Wheat was born in

Edwardsville, Illinois Edwardsville is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Illinois, and is a suburb of St. Louis. As of the 2020 census, the population was 26,808. The city was named in honor of Ninian Edwards, then Governor of the Illinois Territory. ...

, and attended

Truman State University Truman State University (TSU or Truman) is a public university in Kirksville, Missouri. It had 4,225 enrolled students in the fall of 2021 pursuing degrees in 52 undergraduate and 11 graduate programs. The university is named for U.S. Presid ...

and the

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

. He was originally signed by 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 Fi ...

prior to the 1948 season, but after four years in the Indians' farm system and one year performing

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

-era military service, he was traded to the Philadelphia Athletics on February 19, 1954, with

Bill Upton William Ray Upton (June 18, 1929 – January 2, 1987) was a Major League Baseball pitcher who made two relief appearances in with the Philadelphia Athletics. He batted and threw right-handed. Upton had no decision in either of his appearanc ...

for

Dave Philley David Earl Philley (May 16, 1920 – March 15, 2012) was an outfielder who played in Major League Baseball. A switch hitter who threw right-handed, he debuted on September 6, and played his final game on August 6, . He was born in Paris, Texas. ...

. Wheat began his major league career on April 21, 1954, at the age of 24 against the Washington Senators. Relieving

Marion Fricano Marion John Fricano (July 15, 1923 – May 18, 1976) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He is likely remembered for throwing the pitch that ended Cass Michaels' career on August 27, . U.S. Navy The , right-hander was born in Brant, ...

, Wheat pitched three innings, allowing six runs on five hits and five walks. Spending much of 1954 with the Triple-A

Ottawa A's The Ottawa Athletics (also known as the Ottawa A's) were a professional minor-league baseball team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that operated from 1952 to 1954. The team played at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa and was a member of the Triple-A In ...

, he went 0–2 in eight MLB games with a 5.72

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 ...

. His final appearance, on September 25 of that year, was the penultimate game of the Athletics' 54-year history in Philadelphia. The following season, the franchise moved to Kansas City, Missouri. He appeared in three games for the relocated 1955 Athletics, going 0–0 with a 22.50 ERA. On April 23, he appeared in his final major league game. Wheat spent the rest of 1955 with Triple-A

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

. The following April 16, he was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers with

Tom Saffell Thomas Judson Saffell (July 26, 1921 – September 10, 2012) was an American professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Athletics. Early life Saffell grew up in Etowah, T ...

and cash for

Tim Thompson Charles Lemoine Thompson (March 1, 1924 – October 25, 2021) was an American professional baseball player and catcher in the Major Leagues. He appeared in 187 games over all or parts of four seasons (1954; 1956–58) for the Brooklyn Dodgers ...

. He spent 1956 and 1957 in Triple-A, did not play professionally in 1958, and wrapped up his pro tenure with the Double-A

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. All told, in his 11 MLB games, including one appearance as a starting pitcher, Wheat posted an 0–2 won–lost record and no saves. In 30 innings pitched he surrendered 46 hits and 12 walks, along with 23

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

s for a career ERA of 6.82. He fanned eight. Wheat spent nine seasons playing minor league baseball, going 51–49 in 224 games. In 1949, his first professional season, he went 17–9 with a 2.77 ERA for the

Dayton Indians The Central League was a minor league baseball league that operated sporadically from 1903–1917, 1920–1922, 1926, 1928–1930, 1934, and 1948–1951. In 1926, the league merged mid-season with the Michigan State League and p ...

Baseball Reference Baseball-Reference is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is often used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advan ...

br>minor league statistics
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheat, Lee 1929 births 2008 deaths American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from Illinois Columbus Jets players Dayton Indians players Kansas City Athletics players Major League Baseball pitchers New Orleans Pelicans (baseball) players Oklahoma City Indians players Ottawa A's players People from Edwardsville, Illinois Philadelphia Athletics players St. Paul Saints (AA) players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Sportspeople from Greater St. Louis Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players Truman Bulldogs baseball players