Mark Littell
Encyclopedia
Mark Alan Littell is a professional baseball player who pitched
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...

 in the Major Leagues from 1973-1982 for the Kansas City Royals
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From 1973 to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium...

 and St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...

. Littell had a lifetime ERA
Earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...

 of 3.32 and saved 56 games from 1976 to 1981. Bone spur
Bone spur
Osteophytes, commonly referred to as bone spurs, are bony projections that form along joint margins. They should not be confused with enthesophytes, which are bony projections which form at the attachment of a tendon or ligament.-Pathophysiology:...

s in his elbow cut his career short, and Littell retired midway through the 1982 season at the age of 29.

Primarily a relief pitcher
Relief pitcher
A relief pitcher or reliever is a baseball or softball pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed due to injury, ineffectiveness, fatigue, ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as being substituted by a pinch hitter...

, Littell served at the Royals' closer in 1976-1977, and is best remembered for giving up a walk-off home run to New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...

 first baseman
First baseman
First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team...

 Chris Chambliss
Chris Chambliss
Carroll Christopher Chambliss is a former Major League Baseball player who played from to for the Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves...

 to end the 1976 American League Championship Series. It was only the second home run he allowed in more than 100 innings pitched that year.

Two years later, the Royals dealt Littell, along with catcher Buck Martinez, to the Cardinals in exchange for relief pitcher Al Hrabosky
Al Hrabosky
Alan Thomas "Al" Hrabosky is a former Major League Baseball player from - for the St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals and Atlanta Braves and is currently the color commentator on Cardinals regular season broadcasts on FSN Midwest...

.

In 2006, Littell took a protective cup he invented, Nutty Buddy
Nutty Buddy
Nutty Buddy is an ice cream cone topped with vanilla ice cream chocolate ice cream, chocolate and peanuts, manufactured in the United States....

, to market. A promotional video clip found its way onto YouTube in which Littell demonstrated the device by allowing a 90 mph fastball to hit him in the groin while wearing a Nutty Buddy. Littell told the Kansas City Star that he worked with Royals pitchers in spring training and learned that half the pitchers did not wear an athletic cup, which inspired him to invent the Nutty Buddy, which he bills as being stronger and better fitting than its competition. A demonstration of this was also broadcast on Lopez Tonight
Lopez Tonight
Lopez Tonight was an American late-night television talk show hosted by comedian George Lopez. The hour-long program premiered on November 9, 2009, on cable network TBS. Lopez was the first Mexican American to host a late-night talk show on an English-language network in the United States. The...

(April 5, 2010).http://www.lopeztonight.com The clip made its way to The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest...
The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest...
truTV Presents: World's Dumbest... is a cable television series produced by Meetinghouse Productions, Inc. and is airing on truTV...

, as #7 on World's Smartest Inventions 2.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK