On the same day the Baltimore Orioles signed outfielder Tyler O’Neill of Maple Ridge, British Columbia to a three-year deal worth $49.5 million, a former Orioles outfielder passed away. According to Mark Polishuk of MLB Trade Rumors on Saturday, Merv Rettenmund of Flint, Michigan died at the age of 81. Rettemund played 13 Major League Baseball seasons from 1968 to 1980.
Who did Rettenmund play for?
Rettenmund played six seasons with the Baltimore Orioles from 1968 to 1973. That was followed by two seasons with the Cincinnati Reds from 1974 to 1975, two more seasons with the San Diego Padres from 1976 to 1977, and three seasons with the California Angels from 1978 to 1980.
Rettenmund’s MLB career statistics
Rettenmund batted .271 with 66 home runs and 329 runs batted in. During 1023 games, 3074 plate appearances and 2555 at bats, he scored 393 runs and had 693 hits, 114 doubles, 16 triples, 68 stolen bases, 445 walks, 1037 total bases, 36 sacrifice bunts, and 20 sacrifice flies, along with an on base percentage of .381 and a slugging percentage of .406.
Two-time World Series MVP
Twice Rettenmund won a World Series. The first time with the Baltimore Orioles in 1970, and the second time with the Cincinnati Reds in 1975. In 1970, the Orioles defeated the Cincinnati Reds four games to one. In the 1970 postseason, Rettenmund batted .375 with three hits in eight at bats. In 1975, the Reds defeated the Boston Red Sox to win the series four games to three. Rettenmund represented the Reds in three postseason games and had a walk in game three of the 1975 National League Championship Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Multi-Sport Athlete
Rettenmund also played high performance football at Ball State University. In fact, he was drafted in the 19th round, 257th overall in the 1965 National Football League Draft. Rettenmund was a wide receiver and running back at Ball State, but decided to play MLB instead. Interestingly, he signed a MLB contract one day before being drafted in the NFL.
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