page_title: Danny Litwhiler
section_title: Coaching career
hierarchical_section_title: Danny Litwhiler / Coaching career
caption_attribution_description: Persistent URL: floridamemory.com/items/show/261014 Local call number: TD00331A Title: University of Miami baseball coach Jimmie Foxx with FSU coach Danny Litwhiler in Tallahassee, Florida Date: April 18, 1957 Physical descrip: 1 photonegative - b&amp;w - 60 mm. Series Title: Tallahassee Democrat Collection Repository: State Library and Archives of Florida 500 S. Bronough St., Tallahassee, FL, 32399-0250 USA, Contact: 850.245.6700, Archives@dos.myflorida.com
context_page_description: Daniel Webster Litwhiler was an American Major League baseball player who played outfield from 1940 to 1951. He played for the Boston Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, and Cincinnati Reds. He was the first Major Leaguer to have an error-free season. That same season, 1942, he also became the first player to stitch together the fingers of his glove.
context_section_description: Litwhiler coached at Florida State University from 1955 to 1963, and led them to three College World Series appearances.
  He then coached at Michigan State University from 1964 to 1982, and holds the record for most wins by a coach in the school's history.  Among his former players are Steve Garvey, Kirk Gibson and Rick Miller.
  During his coaching career, he invented a very effective method of drying baseball fields after rain using calcined clay which was marketed as Diamond Grit, enabling play to resume very quickly and in the process saving organized baseball millions of dollars over the decades.  He also invented the use of the radar gun for timing pitches, which effectively revolutionized the assessment of pitchers.  It first came on the market in collaboration with the Jugs company, known as the Jugs Gun.
caption: Litwhiler (right) as Florida State coach with Jimmie Foxx (left), Miami coach.
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