Danny Litwhiler

The winningest baseball coach in Michigan State program history, Danny “Skip” Litwhiler matched innovation with success. As a Major League ballplayer, he was one of the first to tie the fingers of his glove together to facilitate receiving and securing the baseball. It worked; he played the entire 1942 season without committing an error, eventually playing 187 consecutive error-free games, landing his famous glove in Cooperstown. That career lasted 11 seasons, from 1940-1951, with an All-Star nod in 1942 and a break in 1945 to serve in the military during World War II, undergoing basic training at Fort Lewis in Washington, where he was named the recreation director after the softball games that he put together were so well received by the troops. Three years later, shortly after he was traded from Boston to Cincinnati, Litwhiler posed for a photo with Jackie Robinson as part of the mayor of Cincinnati’s efforts to publicly combat racism in anticipation of Robinson and Dodgers arriving in town to play the Reds.

When his Major League career ended, Litwhiler leaned upon his leadership qualities and became a player-manager, steering Fargo-Moorhead in the Northern League in 1952, Wilkes-Barre in the Eastern League in 1953, and Jamestown in the PONY League and Duluth in the Northern League in 1954. But when Florida State University came calling in search of someone to build up its baseball program, Litwhiler was recommended by Commissioner Ford C. Frick and embarked on what would become a storied college coaching career.

He spent nine seasons in Tallahassee before coming to East Lansing in 1964, winning 489 games and two Big Ten championships, in 1971 and 1979, and making three NCAA Tournament appearances during his 19 years at Michigan State University, with his uniform No. 1 retired by the athletics department in 2003. 13 of Litwhiler’s Spartans made it to the Major Leagues, foremost among them Kirk Gibson, Rick Miller, and Steve Garvey. In addition, Litwhiler introduced the radar gun to gauge pitching velocity, Diamond Grit to dry wet field, and a special bat to hone bunting technique among over 100 inventions and innovations introduced to aid in coaching and development. He further impacted baseball by conducting clinics in ten different countries, growing the game as the International President of the U.S. Baseball Federation. His coaching theory still resonates: Teach baseball and then win.