Circuit Clouts - Herm Wehmeier

HALL OF FAME CANDIDATE

Herm Wehmeier

Starting Pitcher
Louisville Colonels (BRO, MAN, ATL, STL, WAS, DET)
1951-1966

It must be tough being Herm Wehmeier. Firstly, that name: Herm Wehmeier. It’s as if he’s folks got a crap Scrabble pull and just did the best they could with all the “E”s and “H”s and “M”s. Secondly, and much more relevant to his UL career, poor Herm pitched in the gargantuan shadow of the league’s all time greatest hurler, Johnny Antonelli. It’s one thing to play second fiddle but when the first chair is occupied by Itzhak Perlman you might as well be a fourth grade band class bow slinger.

Herm was a member of the initial UL draft in 1951. Picked 156th overall in the 20th round by the Louisville Colonels (later the Atlanta Hilltoppers) Herm spent the first couple of years of his career mostly working out of the Colonels’ pen. After a one year stint in Brooklyn where he went 21-6 with a 2.76 ERA. Herm would go on to win 23 games in both 1957 and 1960 as well as another 20 win season in 1962 (four 20+ win seasons ain’t nothing to sneeze at). In 1958 Herm also authored a 18 win campaign in Louisville/Atlanta’s first championship season.

The bottom line(s) on Herm Wehmeier aren’t necessarily all that earth shattering. 191 wins is a solid career contribution but with a winning percentage of only .520 and a career 3.82 ERA some of the shine wears off. But honestly, Herm’s career was never one of an Ace but rather an Ace’s mate, that other guy you could rely on to help your team be a winner. Herm was like Bud Abbott to Johnny Antonelli’s Lou Costello; we can all agree one is doing a lot of the heavy lifting but would you enshrine one in a Pantheon of Greats without the other? Well, would you?? (Lance Mueller)

AWARDS & ACCOLADES

ERA Champion (1955)

WHIP Champion (1955)

1-time Player of the Week

CAREER RANKINGS (as of 1989)

#15t - Complete Games

#18- WAR

#20 - Wins

#20 - Innings Pitched

#28 - Games Started

#31 - Shutouts

#34 - Strikeouts

REGULAR SEASON

Year Team Age G GS W L SV ERA IP HA R ER HR BB K CG SHO WHIP WAR

1951 Louisville 24 36 5 5 5 0 6.46 69.2 91 60 50 59 36 1 0 2.15 -0.0

1952 Louisville 25 32 0 5 3 12 2.38 34.0 22 13 9 15 18 0 0 1.09 0.4

1953 Louisville 26 19 11 2 5 1 7.59 74.2 106 65 63 36 44 0 0 1.90 1.5

1954 Brooklyn 27 16 16 9 6 0 3.51 123.0 121 54 48 23 56 9 2 1.17 3.8

1955 Louisville 28 34 34 21 6 0 2.76 277.0 232 96 85 56 139 12 3 1.04 8.8

1956 Louisville 29 32 32 15 12 0 2.86 264.1 241 96 84 42 153 15 2 1.07 9.5

1957 Louisville 30 42 42 23 15 0 3.65 335.1 344 156 136 70 165 19 2 1.23 10.4

1958 Louisville 31 35 35 18 14 0 4.07 274.0 282 130 124 78 143 15 0 1.31 7.8

1959 Louisville 32 40 40 18 17 0 3.42 313.0 302 135 119 23 73 173 17 4 1.20 5.7

1960 Louisville 33 41 41 23 12 0 2.70 337.0 310 122 101 19 92 205 16 2 1.19 7.1

1961 Louisville 34 31 31 7 16 0 3.99 236.2 230 121 105 22 63 173 12 1 1.24 4.3

1962 Louisville 35 43 43 20 16 0 3.64 339.0 304 153 137 33 113 234 13 1 1.23 4.8

1963 Louisville 36 53 53 14 27 0 4.64 364.1 370 203 188 43 135 240 7 0 1.39 4.5

1964 Manhattan 37 31 31 10 14 0 5.03 207.2 196 118 116 42 76 126 3 0 1.31 -0.8

1965 ATL/STL/WAS 38 38 5 1 4 2 4.29 79.2 75 42 38 10 37 34 0 0 1.41 -0.4

1966 Detroit 39 26 0 0 4 0 5.54 50.1 54 38 31 13 27 26 0 0 1.61 -1.4

Total UL 16 yrs 549 419 191 176 15 3.82 3379.2 3280 1602 1434 205 995 1965 139 17 1.26 66.1

WORLD SERIES

Year Team Age G GS W L SV ERA IP HA R ER HR BB K CG SHO WHIP PR

1958 Louisville♦ 31 1 1 0 0 0 2.25 8.0 8 2 2 1 2 4 0 0 1.25 1.9

1960 Louisville 33 2 2 1 1 0 1.59 17.0 11 4 3 2 1 8 1 0 0.71 4.6

Total UL 2 yrs 3 3 1 1 0 1.80 25.0 19 6 5 3 3 12 1 0 0.88 6.5