Michael Alan Henneman (born December 11, 1961) is a former

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), ...

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 ...

with a 10-year career from 1987 to 1996. He played for the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers, both of 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 ...

, and 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 ...

of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

. Henneman was born in

St. Charles, Missouri Saint Charles (commonly abbreviated St. Charles) is a city in, and the county seat of, St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. The population was 65,794 at the 2010 census, making St. Charles the ninth-largest city in Missouri. Situated on t ...

but adopted and raised by a family in

Festus, Missouri Festus is a city situated in Jefferson County, Missouri, United States, and is also a suburb of St. Louis. It had a population of 12,706 individuals as of the 2020 census. Festus and its adjacent neighbor Crystal City are often collectively know ...

. He graduated from St. Pius X High School in Festus, and attended Jefferson College in nearby Hillsboro in order to play

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

but worked his way onto the

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

team after impressing the school's coach in an American Legion baseball game. In 1983, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Wareham Gatemen The Wareham Gatemen are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Wareham, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Gatemen play their home games at Clem Spillane Fi ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. Henneman was named the ''Sporting News'' Rookie Pitcher of the Year in 1987, and led Tiger

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

s in wins and

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 ...

in both 1987 and 1988. Henneman was elected to the American League All-Star team in 1989. Henneman has the second most saves (154) in Tigers history, behind only

Todd Jones Todd Barton Jones (born April 24, 1968) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He was an effective middle reliever for several teams and also filled the role of closer, most nota ...

. Since retiring from baseball, Henneman has been a coach and roving instructor in the Tigers' minor league system. Henneman was adopted as an infant and only found out about five brothers and two sisters after taking a DNA test in 2020.

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, o
Retrosheet
1961 births Living people American League All-Stars Baseball players from Missouri Birmingham Barons players Detroit Tigers players Houston Astros players Jefferson College (Missouri) alumni Jefferson Vikings baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers Minor league baseball coaches Nashville Sounds players Oklahoma State Cowboys baseball players Oklahoma State University alumni People from St. Charles, Missouri Texas Rangers players Tiburones de La Guaira players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Toledo Mud Hens players Wareham Gatemen players Junior college men's basketball players in the United States American adoptees {{US-baseball-pitcher-1960s-stub

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