Russell Lewis Miller (March 25, 1900 – April 30, 1962), was a

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 ...

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 ...

. He played in

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) during 1927 and 1928 for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. Listed at and , he threw and batted right-handed.

Baseball career

Miller's

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

baseball career spanned 1925 to 1932, as he compiled a 49–43

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 ...

pitching a total of 162 games for seven different teams. He spent time with

farm team In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

s of the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

in 1927 and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

in 1929. Miller's major league career consisted of 35 appearances for the

; two in 1927 (both starts) and 33 in 1928 (12 starts). His two appearances in 1927 came in late September; after losing his first start on September 24 to the

, he won his second start on September 29 against the

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

, pitching a complete game while allowing just one run. In 1928, Miller accrued an 0–12 record, taking losses both as a starting pitcher and as a reliever; he did earn two saves. Overall with the Phillies, Miller had a 1–13 record with 5.40

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Compa ...

and 23 strikeouts in

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 ...

Personal life

Miller was born in Ohio in 1900. He was a younger brother of fellow major league pitcher J. Walter Miller (1898–1975); both played

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 ...

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. Miller's senior entry in the Ohio State

yearbook A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of a book published annually. One use is to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. The term also refers to a book of statistics or facts published annually. A yearbook often ...

noted that he was a member of

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States-based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapters ...

fraternity and that he had earned three

varsity letter A varsity letter (or monogram) is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its recipient was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met. Description ...

s in baseball. In February 1942, he was working in

agricultural extension Agricultural extension is the application of scientific research and new knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education. The field of 'extension' now encompasses a wider range of communication and learning activities organized for r ...

for Ohio State, and he was later the agricultural agent for

Crawford County, Ohio Crawford County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,025. Its county seat is Bucyrus. The county was created in 1820 and later organized in 1836. It was named ...

, a position he held for 28 years, until his death. Miller died in 1962 in

Bucyrus, Ohio Bucyrus ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Crawford County, located in northern Ohio approximately 28 miles (45 km) west of Mansfield and southeast of Toledo. The population was 11,684 at the 2020 census. The c ...

, and was interred in

Reynoldsburg, Ohio Reynoldsburg is a city in Fairfield, Franklin, and Licking counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is a suburban community in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area. The population was 41,076 at the 2020 census. History Reynoldsburg was originally ...

. He was survived by his wife and two sons.

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Russ 1900 births 1962 deaths People from Lawrence County, Ohio Baseball players from Ohio Major League Baseball pitchers Philadelphia Phillies players Syracuse Stars (minor league baseball) players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Reading Keystones players Columbus Senators players Columbus Red Birds players Indianapolis Indians players Albany Senators players Ohio State Buckeyes baseball players