Walter John Mueller (December 6, 1894 – August 16, 1971) was a professional baseball player who played

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In cricket, baseball and ...

in the Major Leagues, for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

, from 1922 to 1926. He is best known for becoming the first player to hit a

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

off the first pitch ever thrown to him in the major leagues. Walter was also the father to

Don Mueller Donald Frederick Mueller (April 14, 1927 – December 28, 2011) was a professional baseball player who played mainly as a right fielder in Major League Baseball for 12 seasons from 1948 until 1959. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed, and ...

, who also played in the major leagues, during the 1940s and 1950s, as well as the brother of fellow major leaguer, Heinie Mueller.

Professional career

He began the 1922 season with the Pirates, but he sat on the bench for three weeks before the team's manager, George Gibson, gave him a chance to play. In the early 1920s, Pittsburgh did not play baseball within the state borders on Sundays, due to Pennsylvania's

blue laws Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, Sunday trade laws and Sunday closing laws, are laws restricting or banning certain activities on specified days, usually Sundays in the western world. The laws were adopted originally for religious reasons, ...

. Therefore, he Pirates interrupted a home stand to travel to Cubs Park for a one-day trip on Sunday, May 7, 1922 to play the

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 ...

. During that game, Mueller became the first major leaguer ever to hit a

off the first pitch thrown to him in the major leagues. The pitch that resulted in the historic home run, was thrown by future

Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Grover Cleveland Alexander Grover Cleveland Alexander (February 26, 1887 – November 4, 1950), nicknamed "Old Pete", was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He played from 1911 through 1930 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and St. Louis Cardinals. He ...

. Later in the game, Mueller added another RBI for the Pirates, as the team defeated the Cubs, 11-5. While Mueller is recognized today for this accomplishment, he was not at the time of the event. The game's boxscore credited the home run to Claude Rohwer, who was on the Pirates roster to start the 1922 season, but was set to the

minor leagues 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 No ...

several days later. Rohwer would never play a game in the majors. Yet, the name of "C. Rohwer" appeared in the boxscore for the May 7th game, even though Walter Mueller was in right field for the Pirates that day. The mixup with Rohwer was enough to keep Mueller's name out of the record books for several years. Mueller would only hit one more home run in his major league career. He recorded a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .306 in 40 games the following season for the Pirates. He played 49 more games in the 1924 and 1926 seasons before playing his last game in 1926. He remained the only Pirate to homer on the first pitch of his first major league start until Starling Marté accomplished the feat on July 26, 2012.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mueller, Walter 1894 births 1971 deaths Baseball players from Missouri Indianapolis Indians players Major League Baseball outfielders Pittsburgh Pirates players

Professional career

See also

References

External links