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Back When There Was Baseball: Mark Littell
December 19, 2024 · 55 min

Mark Littell passed away on September 5, 2022.  We re-air this podcast in honor of him:

Our guest this week is Mark Littell, relief pitcher with the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals from the mid-1970s through the early 1980s.  Mark was involved in several great moments in baseball history.  He is unfortunately recognized as the pitcher who gave up the home run to Chris Chambliss in Game 5 of the 1976 ALCS which allowed the Yankees to advance to the World Series.  However, Mark was the winning pitcher in both ends of a doubleheader, was the winning pitcher the night Lou Brock got his 3,000th hit, and also surrendered Pete Rose's 3,631st hit, which set the National League record.  He averaged 11 strikeouts per nine innings in 1978, which is a Cardinals record.  Mark Littell had 4 outstanding seasons in a row:  1976/1977 (K.C. Royals) and 1978/1979 (St. Louis Cardinals).  Mark shares some funny stories about his career as we look Back When There Was Baseball.