Vintage Fridays: Dyar Miller, 1975 SSPC #379

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Exhibit A in the case of Why Baseball Players Wear Caps: Mr. Dyar Miller. Is that a combover? His hair doesn't look particularly thin. Is he just in dire need of a haircut, a brush, a mirror, or all of the above?

I joke, but Dyar Miller is perseverance personified. The Phillies signed him as a catcher in 1968, but he quickly converted to the mound and showed quite a bit of talent. Still, he found it incredibly difficult to break through the glass ceiling that was the Oriole pitching staff. For instance, his 12-10 record with a 3.23 ERA (and 149 hits allowed in 170 innings) at AA Dallas-Fort Worth in 1970 earned him...another season at AA in 1971! Dyar was 29 years old and in the midst of his third straight season at AAA Rochester when the O's finally came calling for him in 1975. In 30 games as a rookie reliever, he went 6-3 with a team-leading 8 saves and a 2.72 ERA. He would go on to pitch seven seasons in the big leagues with a 3.23 career ERA.

Even though Dyar Miller didn't know the meaning of the word "manscaping", he also didn't know the meaning of the word "quit".