Bob Miller

Robert Gerald Miller (July 15, 1935 – May 24, 2022) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played for three different teams during his Major League Baseball (MLB) career. During the 1953 season, he was the youngest player in the major leagues, one of only three players who were 17 years old. Born in Berwyn, Illinois, Miller was a left-hander who batted right-handed. He was listed as tall and weighed .

Miller had a 33–6 won–lost record in three seasons at Morton East High School, including three no-hitters. In his final season in high school, Miller pitched two no-hitters and had 106 strikeouts in the nine games he pitched. As required by the Bonus Rule as it existed when he was signed, the Tigers had to immediately place Miller on their 40-man roster and keep him there for two years.

Miller made his major league debut on June 25, less than a week after being signed to the team. Taking the mound at age 17, he was the youngest Tiger hurler to start a game. Miller finished the 1953 season with a 1–2 record in 13 appearances (all but one in relief), and an ERA of 5.94 in 36 innings of work.

In the 1954 season he had a 1–1 record and the only save of his career, appearing in 22 games (all but one in relief) and ending with a 2.45 ERA in 69 innings. In the 1955 season he pitched to a 2–1 record in seven appearances (three of them starts, including his only complete game) and ending with an ERA of 2.49 in 25 innings. Miller finished with an 0–2 record in the 1956 season in 11 appearances (all but three in relief), and his ERA ballooned to 5.68 in 35 innings of work.

With the Mets, Miller finished the season with a 2–2 record in 17 appearances, all in relief, and had an ERA of 7.08 in 20 innings. Miller's final major league appearance was on September 18, 1962, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Houston Colt .45s, with Miller retiring the last three batters in the ninth inning of a game the Mets lost 8–6 at the Polo Grounds. The '62 Mets ended up with a record of 40–120, most losses of any team in Major League Baseball's modern history.

Career statistics + Career pitching W L G GS CG SHO GF Sv IP H R ER HR BB K HBP ERA WHIP 6 8 86 8 1 0 48 2 188.7 206 114 99 15 92 75 4 4.72 1.580