Hall of Fame
STL METRO LEAGUE
HALL OF FAME
 

Scott Bailes

Bill Mueller

William Richard Mueller

Positions: Third Baseman and Second Baseman
Bats: Both, Throws: Right
Height: 5' 11", Weight: 175 lb.

Debut: April 18, 1996
Drafted By: San Francisco Giants in the 15th round of the 1993 amateur draft
Pro Teams: Giants / RedSox / Cubs / Dodgers
Status: Retired

Born: March 17, 1971 in Maryland Heights, MO
High School: De Smet Jesuit HS (Creve Coeur, MO)
Schools:
Missouri State University (Springfield, MO)

Mueller was born in Maryland Heights, Missouri and attended De Smet Jesuit High School and Southwest Missouri State University. He was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 15th round of the 1993 MLB Draft.

Mueller made his professional debut with the Giants low A team, the Everett Giants, in 1993 and quickly rose through the Giants farm system, with stops in San Jose, Shreveport, and Phoenix before making his major league debut with the Giants as a pinch hitter on April 18, 1996 against the Chicago Cubs. He got his first career hit the following day, also as a pinch hitter, against Terry Adams.

He played third base for the Giants fairly regularly for five seasons, until he was traded to the Chicago Cubs before the 2001 season for pitcher Tim Worrell. (Given that Mueller had by then settled into the Bay Area year-round, the Giants, out of respect for Mueller, delayed the trade several days so that Mueller could attend the Cal-Stanford football game one last time as a local star.) He returned to San Francisco in September 2002 in a trade for pitcher Jeff Verplancke. Before the 2003 season, Mueller was signed by the Boston Red Sox as a free agent. In his first year in Boston, he won the American League batting title with a .326 average. He also set career highs in the power department that season, belting out 45 doubles and 19 home runs. He had never previously hit more than 10 home runs or 29 doubles in any season.

He contributed nearly half of his career home runs during his three years with the Red Sox. Mueller developed a reputation for consistency throughout the major leagues. In fact, for five of his ten years in the major leagues, his batting average was between .290 and .295. His minor league numbers were very much the same, consistently between .290 and .310.

Mueller joined the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 2006 season and was reunited with Nomar Garciaparra, but played only 32 games before undergoing his third knee surgery, which would prove to be career-ending. Doctors have ruled out all known procedures to repair the deteriorating condition in his right knee.

On November 17, 2006, the Dodgers announced that Mueller was retiring from baseball and had been hired as a special assistant to the GM.

On June 15, 2007, Mueller was named Los Angeles Dodgers interim hitting coach when Eddie Murray was fired. After a month on the job, manager Grady Little announced that the Dodgers would be removing the "interim" tag and that Mueller would remain the teams's hitting coach through the end of the season.

After the season, it was announced that Mueller would be giving up his role as hitting coach to return to a front office position.

Mueller served as a Special Assistant to General Manager Ned Colletti through the 2012 season, when he left that position to become a full-time scout.

On November 22, 2013, Mueller was named Hitting Coach of the Chicago Cubs under new manager Rick Renteria.