RIP Bill Hepler, 1945-2025

[G-Fafif]

Bill Hepler, 1966 Met reliever, died at the age of 79, on August 12. He was living in Dade City, Fla.

https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/43957034/william-lewis-hepler

[MFS62]

When I first saw his name, I thought it was a typo for helper.

That's all I remember.

RIP

Later

[Edgy MD]

Rule V'd away from the Senators in 1965, and thus was forced to be carried by the Mets all through the 1966 season. He did modestly well for a 20-year-old who went from A-ball straight to the big leagues, but that first MLB season was his last.

You get an idea of just what sort of manner the Mets used him in when you see that team had an amazing record of 4–33 (.108) in games in which he appeared. And he got the win in three of those four.

The quintessential Bill Hepler game may be August 17, 1965. Jack Fisher put the Mets in an early 7-1 hole to the Pirates. The Mets saw the writing on the wall and sent Hepler out to eat up as many innings as he could, and then the team shocked everybody by showing enough heart to come back for an 8-7 win as Billy threw four shutout innings and former Pirate Bob Friend finished up the last three innings for the save.

[MFS62]

I just looked at his record and noticed that in 69 innings, he struck out 25 but walked 51!!

Wow!

Later

[Cowtipper]

69, lol