Former major league reliever Mark Littell, who once won both games in a doubleheader for the St. Louis Cardinals, has died at the age of 69.
Littell died Monday in the city of complications from heart surgery, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
A Missouri native, Littell has spent his entire pitching career in the state. He made his major league debut with the Kansas City Royals in 1973 at the age of 20 and stayed with the team through the 1977 season. In December of that year, he was traded with catcher Buck Martinez to the Cardinals for reliever Al Hrabosky.
Littell retired during the 1982 season at the age of 29 due to splinters in his elbow. This team won the World Series without him on the roster.
According to the Post-Dispatch, Littell, who lived in North Dakota, attended celebrations honoring this club a few weeks ago.
Little finished 32-31 with a 3.32 ERA and 56 saves in 316 games (19 starts).
Littelli’s best season came in 1976 with the Royals when he finished 8-4 with a 2.08 ERA and 16 saves in 60 games.
That season, in the American League Championship Series, he gave up a walk-off home run by the New York Yankees to New York Yankees’ Chris Chambliss and denied the Royals their first World Series berth.
And with the Cardinals on August 10, 1981, he gave Pete Roses 3,631. career hit that broke Stan Musial’s National League record.
With the Cardinals, Littell still holds the record for most strikeouts in a season by a 130 reliever, set in 1978.
After his retirement, Littell coached in the minor leagues. He was also the author of three books including On the 8th Day, God Made Baseball.