Vern Ruhle

Vernon Gerald Ruhle (January 25 1951 - January 20 2007) was an American right-handed pitcher and coach in Major League Baseball who played thirteen seasons from 1974 to 1986, primarily with the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros.

Ruhle was born in Coleman, Michigan, and attended Olivet College, while there he was a member of the Fraternity, Kappa Sigma Alpha. He will always be remembered by the practice pitching mound he had built in the side yard of the house. He was selected by the Tigers in the 17th round of the 1972 amateur draft, and made his debut with the club in September 1974. He joined the Tigers' starting rotation the following year, posting a respectable record of 11 wins and 12 losses on a team which finished 57-102. After a 9-12 season in 1976, he struggled in 1977 with a 5.70 earned run average in only 66 innings pitched. He was released by Detroit toward the end of spring training in 1978, but was signed by the Astros the following day. He made sporadic appearances for Houston over the next two years before resurging with a 12-4 mark in 1980, and started Game 4 of the 1980 National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies; he left the game with a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning, with Houston needing only one last victory to reach their first World Series, but Philadelphia came back to win 5-3 in 10 innings and took the series in five games. He later started Game 4 of the 1981 National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, losing a complete game 2-1 pitchers' duel with Fernando Valenzuela as Houston again wasted a 2-1 series advantage to lose in five games.

Ruhle continued to start less regularly before primarily shifting to relief work in 1983-84. He signed with the Cleveland Indians as a free agent after the 1984 season, and made 16 starts and 26 relief appearances for the club in 1985. He joined the California Angels in June 1986 and closed his career that year working mainly out of the bullpen. His last appearance was in Game 4 of the 1986 American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox, entering with the Angels trailing 1-0 with two out in the seventh inning; he surrendered two more runs in the eighth inning, but the Angels won in 11 innings after tying the game with three runs in the ninth.

In his 13-year career, Ruhle posted a record of 67-88 with 582 strikeouts and a 3.73 ERA in 327 games and 1411-1/3 innings. He later became a pitching coach with the Astros, Phillies and New York Mets, and finally the Cincinnati Reds from 2004 to 2006.

Ruhle died in Houston, Texas after a yearlong battle with multiple myeloma [http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=2738222] .

External links

*baseball-reference|id=r/ruhleve01
* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/R/Ruhle_Vern.stm BaseballLibrary] - career highlights