Willard Raymond Schmidt (1928-2007) - Find a Grave Memorial

Major League Baseball Player. He pitched 7 seasons in the Major Leagues, five with the St. Louis Cardinals and two with the Cincinnati Reds. A native of Hays, Kansas, he signed with the Cardinals as an amateur free agent before the 1949 Season. He attended Fort Hays State College in Kansas for one year before joining the St. Louis' minor league affiliate at Beloit, Kansas. He progressed Steadily through the Cardinals farm system, making stops with Ontario, Canada, Rochester, New York, Houston, Texas and Omaha, Nebraska, before making his Major League debut on April 19, 1952, in an 8-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Used mostly as a spot starter and long reliever during his career, at times he was also used as the number four starter in the Cardinals rotation. His best year overall was 1957 when he went 10-3 with a 3.96 ERA in 116.7 innings of work. On December 5, 1957, he was traded along with Marty Kutyna and Ted Wieand to Cincinnati for Curt Flood and Joe Taylor. He continued his role as a spot starter and reliever with Cincinnati, appearing in 77 games total in 1958 and 1959. Retiring from baseball after the 1959 season, he went into private business, owning car dealerships in the Norman, Oklahoma and Oklahoma City areas. He also kept an interest in baseball, coaching Little League and American Legion teams. He was inducted in the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Over the course of his career, he accrued a lifetime 31-29 record with a 3.97 ERA and 2 saves in 194 Major League games.

Bio by: Frank Russo