Win–loss record 0–0 Role Baseball player Name Dick Wantz | Strikeouts 2 Earned run average 18.00 | |
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Died May 13, 1965, Inglewood, California, United States | ||
Richard Carter Wantz (April 11, 1940 – May 13, 1965) was a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the California Angels. He batted and threw right-handed.
Signed out of California State University, Los Angeles, Wantz worked his way through the Angels' minor league system over the years 1961-1964, beginning in Class D ball in 1961, and by the end of the 1964 season, was with the Angels' Triple-A affiliate in Hawaii.
Wantz made the Angels’ Opening Day roster in 1965. He made his Major League Baseball debut on April 13. In one inning of relief, he struck out two Cleveland Indians and allowed three hits and two earned runs.
He reported severe headaches afterward, only to be diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor shortly thereafter.
Wantz died exactly one month after making his first and only big league appearance, in Inglewood, California, at the age of only 25.