Willard Schmidt

Willard Schmidt was born in Hays in 1928 and attended Fort Hays State for one season before signing with the St. Louis Cardinals.

A right-handed pitcher, Schmidt broke into professional baseball by winning 22 games in Class D Beloit in 1949.  In 1951, he won 19 in Class A and made his debut with the Cardinals at the end of the 1952 seson.

Schmidt played seven major league seasons, five of them with the St. Louis Cardinals.  His best season was 1957 when he won 10 and lost 3.

Following the 1957 season, he was traded to Cincinnati in a deal that involved Curt Flood going to St. Louis.  Schmidt pitched for the Cincinnati Reds in 1958 and 1959. 

In seven major league seasons, Schmidt won 31 games and posted an earned run average of 3.93.

Schmidt was 78 when he died in 2007.