Roland Frank Sheldon (born December 17, 1936) is a retired American professional baseball player, a right-handed pitcher who appeared in 160 Major League

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

from to and to . Born in

Putnam, Connecticut Putnam is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 9,224 at the 2020 census. History Putnam, originally known as Aspinock, then part of Killingly, is a New England mill town incorporated in 1855. Created from se ...

, he attended the University of Connecticut. He was listed as tall and .

Early career with Yankees

Signed by the New York Yankees at age 23 after one season as a baseball and basketball player at UConn preceded by a semester at Texas A&M and four years of service in the United States Air Force, in his first pro campaign, 1960, pitching in the Class D

New York–Pennsylvania League New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

, Sheldon won 15 games and lost one (for a winning percentage of .938) with 15

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. The following year, he made the 1961 Yankees' varsity roster out of

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

, survived the May cutdown from 28 to 25 men, and took a turn in the Bombers' starting rotation in July and August. On July 5 and 9, he tossed consecutive complete-game shutouts against the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox, as the Yankees kept pace with the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

in a two-team pennant race—ultimately won by the Yankees in September. Sheldon would pitch in 35 games, including 21 starts, and win 11 of 16 decisions Sheldon, however, did not appear in the

1961 World Series The 1961 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1961 season. The 58th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the American League (AL) champion New York Yankees (109–53) ag ...

, won by the Yankees in five games over 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 ...

. The 1962 season saw Sheldon make 34 total appearances (with 16 starts) and posted a 7–8

record A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

and a 5.49 earned run average. The Yankees won the American League pennant, but again Sheldon was not used in the World Series, a seven-game triumph over the San Francisco Giants. He then spent all of and the first two months of 1964 back in the minors with Triple-A

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Later MLB career

Recalled by the Yankees in June 1964, Sheldon contributed to their successful pennant defense during a summer-long struggle against the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles. He appeared in 19 games, with 12 starts, threw three complete game victories and added a save coming out of the bullpen. He then appeared in Games 1 and 7 of the

1964 World Series The 1964 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1964 season. The 61st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals against the Amer ...

against the St. Louis Cardinals, hurling

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 ...

of hitless, scoreless relief. The Yankees, however, lost both games and the series to the Redbirds. He began with three appearances as a relief pitcher out of the Yankee bullpen, but on May 3 he was traded to the cellar-dwelling Kansas City Athletics with Johnny Blanchard for Doc Edwards, a journeyman catcher. Sheldon managed a winning record, 10–8, with a 3.95 earned run average for a Kansas City team that lost 103 games. Then, in 1966, he posted a solid 3.13 ERA in 14 games for the Athletics, even though he lost seven of 11 decisions, through mid-June. Two days before the June 15 trade deadline, he was acquired by the Red Sox, another second-division club, in a six-player trade and plugged into Boston's starting rotation, where he was ineffective. He ended up only 1–6 (4.97) in 23 games for the Red Sox, was traded during the offseason to Cincinnati, and never returned to the majors. He pitched four full seasons of Triple-A ball before retiring after the 1970 campaign. For his career, Sheldon appeared in 160 Major League

and notched 371

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s in

. He allowed 741 hits and 207

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 had 17 complete games, four shutouts and two saves. During his off-seasons, Sheldon completed his coursework for a degree in physical education in 1965 from the University of Connecticut.

References

External links

Baseball Reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheldon, Roland Rollie 1936 births Living people Auburn Yankees players Baseball players from Connecticut Boston Red Sox players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players UConn Huskies baseball players UConn Huskies men's basketball players Indianapolis Indians players Kansas City Athletics players Major League Baseball pitchers New York Yankees players People from Putnam, Connecticut Richmond Virginians (minor league) players Salt Lake City Bees players Seattle Angels players Sportspeople from Windham County, Connecticut Toledo Mud Hens players Tucson Toros players Vancouver Mounties players American men's basketball players