page_title: Hoyt Wilhelm
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Hoyt Wilhelm / Early life
caption_attribution_description: English: James Hoyt Wilhelm commemorative statue outside Huntersville Athletic Park in Huntersville, NC
context_page_description: James Hoyt Wilhelm, nicknamed "Old Sarge", was an American Major League Baseball pitcher with the New York Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, California Angels, Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, and Los Angeles Dodgers between 1952 and 1972. Wilhelm was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985, and is one of 83 pitchers enshrined in the Hall.
  Wilhelm grew up in North Carolina, fought in World War II, and then spent several years in the minor leagues before starting his major league career at the age of 29. He was best known for his knuckleball, which enabled him to have great longevity. He appeared occasionally as a starting pitcher, but pitched mainly as a reliever. Wilhelm won 124 games in relief, which is still the major league record. He was the first pitcher to reach 200 saves, and the first to appear in 1,000 games.
  Wilhelm was nearly 30 years old when he entered the major leagues, and pitched until he was nearly 50. He retired with one of the lowest career earned run averages, 2.52, in baseball history. After retiring as a player in 1972 Wilhelm held longtime coaching jobs with the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves.
context_section_description: Wilhelm was born in 1922, long thought to have been 1923. He was one of eleven children born to poor tenant farmers John and Ethel (née Stanley) Wilhelm in Huntersville, North Carolina. He played baseball at Cornelius High School in Cornelius, North Carolina. Knowing he could not throw fast, he began experimenting with a knuckleball after reading about pitcher Dutch Leonard. He practiced honing it with a tennis ball, hoping it was his best shot at Big League success.
  Wilhelm made his professional debut with the Mooresville Moors of the Class-D North Carolina State League in 1942. He served in the United States Army in the European Theater during World War II and participated in the Battle of the Bulge, where he was wounded, earning the Purple Heart for his actions. He rose to the rank of staff sergeant while in the Army, and played his entire career with a piece of shrapnel lodged in his back as a result of the wounds he received in battle. Wilhem carried the nickname "Old Sarge" because of his service in the military.
  After his release from the military, Wilhelm returned to the Moors for the 1946 season, and earned 41 wins over the 1946 and 1947 seasons. He later recalled being dropped from a Class D minor league team and having the manager tell him to forget about the knuckleball, but he persisted with it. The Boston Braves purchased Wilhelm from Mooresville in 1947, and on November 20, 1947, he was drafted by the New York Giants from the Braves in the 1947 minor league draft.
  Wilhelm's first assignment in the Giants organization was in Class B with the 1948 Knoxville Smokies, for whom he registered 13 wins and 9 losses. He also spent a few games that season with the Class A Jacksonville Tars of the South Atlantic League, and returned to Jacksonville in 1949, earning a 17–12 win-loss record and a 2.66 earned run average (ERA). Wilhelm was promoted to the Class AAA Minneapolis Millers in 1950, where he was the starting pitcher in 25 of the 35 games he pitched in, registering a 15–11 record with a 4.95 ERA. His role in 1951 with the Millers was the same as the year before, primarily as a starter, but also making eleven relief appearances. His ERA came down to 3.94 in 1951, but his record fell to 11–14.
caption: James Hoyt Wilhelm Commemorative Statue outside Huntersville Athletic Park in Huntersville, NC
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "5312", "Image ImageLength": "2988", "Image Make": "samsung", "Image Model": "SM-G900V", "Image Orientation": "Rotated 90 CW", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "G900VVRU2BPB1", "Image DateTime": "2016:07:11 16:53:38", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "238", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "3152", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "512", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "288", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Rotated 90 CW", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3300", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "19976", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/190", "EXIF FNumber": "11/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "40", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:07:11 16:53:38", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:07:11 16:53:38", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "757/100", "EXIF ApertureValue": "227/100", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "63/10", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "57/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "24/5", "EXIF SubSecTime": "376", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "376", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "376", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5312", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2988", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3122", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "31", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "F16QLHF01SB"}