LES MUELLER

Baseball

Born: March 4, 1919; Belleville, Illinois
Died: October 25, 2012; Belleville, Illinois
Position: Pitcher
Played For: Detroit Tigers (1941, 1945)

By Steve Porter

He pitched in one of the most famous games in Major League Baseball history. He appeared in a World Series and secured a ring when his team won it.

The late Les Mueller, a Belleville native, made his mark in baseball at different levels. That’s why he’s earned enshrinement into the 2024 St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame.

“I know it’s quite an honor for him,” grandson Mark said of Les, who passed away at age 93 in 2012. “Grandpa was a really good people-person, and he had a fun and easy way about him.”

Nothing came easy for Les, but he made the most of his opportunities, whether it was in baseball and helping operate Mueller Furniture, a vital part of the Belleville Business District on East Main. John Mueller, Les’ dad, started the store in 1927 and it’s still going strong today.

“He knew the business, and everybody liked him,” Mark Mueller said. “In retail, that counts with the customers.”

Baseball also counted a lot with Les Mueller and that’s why he played it and pitched in it for as long as he could.  “He loved baseball and he loved to pitch,” said son Roger, an outstanding boys’ basketball coach at Belleville West High School. Les was still pitching in the Mon-Clair League when he was more than 40-year-old.

Mueller did his most famous pitching for the 1945 World Series champion Detroit Tigers. They defeated the Chicago Cubs in seven games and Mueller got to work two scoreless innings of relief in Game 1. Overall, in 1945, Mueller went 6-8 with a 3.78 ERA.

“He got to pitch those two innings in Wrigley Field,” Roger Mueller said.  Yet Les’ wife, Peggy, didn’t get to watch her husband shut down the Cubs on Oct. 2. Peggy had more important things to do. “She was in the hospital delivering me that day,” Roger quipped.

Being part of a World Series champion in 1945 wasn’t Les Mueller’s only memorable highlight that season. There was an unforgettable outing against the Philadelphia Athletics. The Tigers and A’s battled to a 1-1 tie in 24 innings, when the game was stopped because of darkness.

Mueller, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound right-hander, pitched the first 19.2 innings for the Tigers.  “He figured he threw between 250 and 280 pitches,” Mark said. He was effective. Hall of Fame pitcher Hal Newhouser told reporters afterward: “He was throwing as hard at the end of the game as he was when it started.”

He also beat the New York Yankees twice that season, once on a two-hit shutout in the House that Ruth built. “I thought I had pitched quite well that season,” Les Mueller said years ago in an interview with Jim Sargent. “So it just about broke my heart when Detroit didn’t keep me in 1946.”

So, Mueller, who signed with the Tigers in 1937 and pitched with them in four games for 1941 before serving in the Armed Forces for a couple of years, was out of MLB by 1946.

He continued pitching locally even when Mueller Furniture duties came calling. “He joined the business full time after baseball,” Mark said. The rest is Belleville family history, which includes sons Les, Jr., Lynwood, Les’ brother Roland and eight grandchildren.