Known for his ability to make important decisions under pressure, a young man from Oklahoma played for the Little Rock Travelers during World War II while also serving as a flight instructor in the Army Air Forces.
Willis Hudlin was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame (ASHOF) in 1977 as part of the 19th class, along with Johnie Burnett, Leon “Muscles” Campbell, Bobby Mitchell and Tom Pickell.
Born in 1906 in Wagoner, Oklahoma, Hudlin grew up on his family farm with eight siblings. He was a standout athlete at Wagoner High School, playing football, basketball and baseball, which was his favorite. His boyhood hero was Boston Red Sox pitcher Babe Ruth.
A big right-handed pitcher, Hudlin was 6 feet tall and weighed 180 pounds. He signed a minor league contract out of high school, and his talent was immediately noticed. In 1926, he made his major league debut with the Cleveland Indians at the age of 20. Three years later, he came face-to-face with his hero. On Aug. 11, 1929, Babe Ruth, now a slugger with the New York Yankees, became the first player in major league baseball history to hit 500 home runs. Hudlin was the pitcher who gave up that milestone homer, but he still won the game as Cleveland prevailed 6-5.
In 1940, Hudlin became one of only a handful of MLB players in history to appear on four different teams in the same season. He began the year with the Indians, then moved to the Washington Senators, then to the New York Giants, and finally to the St. Louis Browns. That was so long ago that all those teams have either changed mascots or relocated to new cities.
Hudlin finished his major league career with a record of 158–156, with 155 complete games. He accumulated 11 shutouts and 31 saves. His 158 wins currently rank 234th in MLB history. He was a good-hitting pitcher, recording a .201 batting average with 180 hits, 76 runs, five home runs, 69 RBI and 52 walks. Hudlin also helped himself as an excellent fielder, leading American League pitchers once in putouts, twice in assists, and four times in double plays turned. His 54 career double plays turned by a pitcher rank 24th in major league history. Hudlin was selected as one of the Indians’ top 100 all-time players as part of the team’s 100th anniversary celebration in 2001. He retired after that 1940 season and moved to Hot Springs to run a chicken ranch and a set of tourist cottages on Lake Hamilton. But baseball drew him back in, and he served in a variety of roles throughout the decade with the Little Rock Travelers, now the Arkansas Travelers. After pitching for the team in 1941, Hudlin added managerial duties the following season, leading the Travs to the 1942 Southern Association pennant as a player-manager.
His leadership and talents extended beyond the diamond. A licensed pilot, Hudlin served as a flight instructor in the Army Air Forces during World War II. During the 1943 baseball season, he would come home on the weekends to pitch for the Travelers. That year, he also became a part-owner of the club. In 1944, he was still pitching, and pitching well, for the Travelers at the age of 38. Late in the season, the St. Louis Browns (now the Baltimore Orioles) bought Hudlin’s contract, and he made one final big-league appearance…