Don Mueller
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Donald Frederick Mueller (born April 14, 1927, St. Louis, Missouri, USA) is a retired outfielder who played 12 seasons in American Major League Baseball (1948-1959). The first ten of those years were spent with the New York Giants, for whom he batted over .300 for three consecutive seasons (1953-55) and led the National League in hits (212) in 1954. Mueller, who batted lefthanded and threw righthanded, never hit more than 16 home runs in a season, but was called "Mandrake the Magician" in tribute to his hitting skills. His lifetime batting average was .296.
Mueller played a central, but painful, role in the famous October 3, 1951 playoff game that won the NL pennant for the Giants. With New York trailing Brooklyn 4-1 in the ninth inning, Mueller singled Alvin Dark to third. With one out, Whitey Lockman doubled to score Dark, but Mueller broke his ankle sliding into third. He was carried from the field, and missed both Bobby Thomson's game-winning home run that followed Lockman's hit and the 1951 World Series. But in 1954 - when he finished second to teammate Willie Mays in the NL batting race – Mueller batted .389 in the 1954 Fall Classic to help lead the Giants to a four-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians.
Mueller finished his playing career with the 1958-59 Chicago White Sox. His father, Walter Mueller, and an uncle, Clarence "Heinie" Mueller, were major league outfielders.
