Inductees

Bill Mueller was a standout baseball player for nearly a decade in Missouri, starting at De Smet Jesuit High School in Creve Coeur and then spending four years at Missouri State University in Springfield.

The accolades achieved in Missouri paved the way for an 11-year career in Major League Baseball, which included winning a World Series, and that’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Mueller with the Class of 2026.

Mueller played for the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. He helped the Red Sox win the 2004 World Series, breaking the curse of Babe Ruth that haunted the franchise for decades. That same season, the third baseman won the American League batting title, with an .326 average.

Overall, he hit .290 or better in seven of his 11 years in the big leagues.

Hit acumen for hitting and being on base a lot was evident during his tenure under Missouri State University coach Keith Guttin, a 2015 Missouri Sport Hall of Fame inductee.

Mueller led the school as the all-time leader in runs (234), hits (289), singles (222), total bases (398), walks (154) and stolen bases (65), and was in the top five in games, at-bats, doubles, triples, on base percentage, extra-base hits, hit by pitch, sacrifice hits, assists, total chances and double plays.

He played third base the first two years and then shifted to shortstop the final two years. As a senior, he was the Missouri Valley Conference MVP and was a second-team All-American on the American Baseball Coaches Association team.

As a senior, he had 18 doubles, 11 homers and batted .371 for the Bears.

He was picked for the USA National Team and was part of the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1992.

Mueller hit .376 for his college career, with 15 home runs and 108 RBI in his career for the Bears, all spent playing at Meador Park.

The Giants drafted him in the 15th round of the 1993 first-year player draft. He made his Major League debut on April 18, 1996, against the Cubs.

At the time, he was the third Missouri State player to reach the big leagues, following in the footsteps of Scott Bailes and Mark Bailey – both Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductees. Now, there have been 24 Bears who have played in MLB.

Mueller became the answer to a trivia question on July 29, 2003, in Texas. He became the first player in Major League history to hit grand slam home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game. He also had a solo home run and finished with nine RBI in a 14-7 win against the Rangers.

He retired in 2006. Mueller collected 1,229 hits and hit .291 over his tenure. He became the first Missouri State player to win a World Series title.

Post-playing career, he was a special assistant to the general manager for the Los Angeles Dodgers and was later named hitting coach in 2007.

He became a scout in 2012 and joined the Cubs as a hitting coach in 2013. He later joined his hometown team, the St. Louis Cardinals, as an assistant hitting coach and later first-base coach.

Mueller later joined the college ranks, coaching at Arizona State as a hitting coach under Willie Bloomquist.

“Bill Mueller is a treasure to the game of baseball and the young players who want to improve their skills while also using the game to help them grow into the young men they hope to be,” former Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said in the Devils’ press release to announce the hiring. “The game of baseball is rich in tradition and history, but the special people who pass on the wisdom of the game and can teach the character to succeed in life are rare.”

Mueller is in the Missouri State Hall of Fame, Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame, St. Louis Metro Hall of Fame and was on the Summit League’s Top 30 Distinguished Contributors during the league’s 30th anniversary in the 2011-12 season.

His impact at Missouri State still resonates today with the Bill Rowe Training Facility at Hammons Field. In a 2015 story in the Springfield News-Leader, Mueller talked about his donation to help fund a majority of the project.

“(Missouri State) gave me so many great tools that impacted my baseball career, and I was happy that I was able to turn that around and help the program in some other way as well,” Mueller told the local paper.