In 2003, then free-agent third baseman Bill Mueller signed with the Boston Red Sox and instantly became a vital player for the organization.
His first year with the team, at age 32, Mueller played 142 games for Boston and had a career-best batting average of .326. Not only that, but he also placed 12th in the MVP voting, and bested his single-season doubles and home run records with 45 and 19 respectively.
In 2004, Mueller’s numbers were consistent with 2003, but he only managed to play in 110 games due to injuries. However, when postseason play came, Mueller stepped up. In the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, Mueller stepped to the plate with no outs and a man on second with the score 4-3 New York Yankees. Mueller ripped a single up the middle off Mariano Rivera to tie the game at four. This RBI allowed pushed the game to extra innings where Boston eventually won in the 12th inning and then went on to complete the only 3-0 comeback in history.
Mueller played one more season with the Red Sox where his numbers were consistently good again. He batted .295 with 34 doubles and 10 home runs in 150 games. In 2006, he joined the Dodgers and played 30 games for them before he needed to get his third surgery, eventually retiring him from the game of baseball.
After 10 years of playing baseball, Mueller still hadn’t gotten enough.
The Maryland Heights, Missouri native is still involved in baseball as the assistant hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, but that wasn’t his first.
One year after hanging up the cleats, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced he would be the interim hitting coach after they fired Eddie Murray. The Dodgers later announced that the title “interim” would be removed and that he would be the hitting coach.
After the 2007 season, Mueller joined the front office as an assistant general manager for the Dodgers, a position he lasted in from 2008-2012, before he decided to become a scout. His scouting days didn’t last long as he was named the hitting coach of the Chicago Cubs the same year.
The Cubs job only lasted a year before he joined the St. Louis Cardinals where he is today.
Mueller is also married and has two kids.
