Lou Kretlow
Louis Henry Kretlow (June 27, 1921 – September 12, 2007)[1] was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in the Major Leages (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers (1946 and 1948–49), St. Louis Browns (1950 and 1953), Chicago White Sox (1950–53), Baltimore Orioles (1954–55) and Kansas City Athletics (1956). The native of Apache, Oklahoma, threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall and weighed 185 pounds (84 kg). Kretlow attended the University of Oklahoma (1941–42) and served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II (1943–45), before beginning his pro career in 1946.
| Lou Kretlow | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Kretlow in about 1953 | |||
| Pitcher | |||
| Born: June 27, 1921 Apache, Oklahoma | |||
| Died: September 12, 2007 (aged 86) Enid, Oklahoma | |||
| |||
| MLB debut | |||
| September 26, 1946, for the Detroit Tigers | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 23, 1956, for the Kansas City Athletics | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Win–loss record | 27–47 | ||
| Earned run average | 4.87 | ||
| Strikeouts | 450 | ||
| Teams | |||
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Over ten MLB seasons, Kretlow posted a 27–47 won–lost record in 199 games pitched (104 started), with 22 complete games, three shutouts, 43 games finished, one save, a 4.87 earned run average and 1.659 WHIP. In 785⅓ innings pitched, he allowed 781 hits, 479 runs (425 earned) and 522 bases on balls. He was credited with 450 strikeouts.
After 1957, his final year in baseball, Kretlow owned an Oklahoma oil company and became a golf pro at Meadowlake Golf Course in Enid. In 1961, he set a world record when he scored a hole-in-one on a 427-yard par 4 at Lake Hefner Golf Club in Oklahoma City. This shot on a straight-away hole with an actual wooden wood and old style ball prompted Duffy Martin, the developer of Guthrie's Cedar Valley Golf Club, to say "If Lou had the kind of equipment they are using now, Tiger Woods couldn’t carry Lou's jock strap".
Lou Kretlow died in Enid of natural causes at the age of 86.
References
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
- Baseball Reference – Bullpen