Major League Baseball Player. For fifteen seasons (1953 to 1967), he was a pitcher with the Milwaukee Braves, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies. Born Robert Ray Buhl, he was a three-sport athlete during his years at Saginaw High School in Michigan, where he excelled in baseball, football and basketball. Signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent in 1946, he ended up with the Boston Braves' organization two years later. He served for two years as a paratrooper with the United States Army during the Korean War and made his Major League debut following the Braves' relocation to Milwaukee on April 17, 1953. He yielded thirteen wins with a highly-respectable ERA of 2.97 in 30 games-pitched that season. For several years, Buhl held the third starter spot within the Braves' starting rotation behind Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette and produced back-to- back eighteen win seasons (1956 and 1957). He contributed to the Braves' capturing of the National League Pennant in 1957 and 1958, including the world championship in 1957. In 1960, he achieved All-Star status. He was traded to the Cubs early in the 1962 season and remained a part of their starting rotation until he was dealt to the Phillies during the beginning of the 1966 season. The trade for which sent Buhl and Larry Jackson to the Phillies in exchange for Ferguson Jenkins in time became a highly-ridiculed transaction, as Jenkins would go on to forge a Hall of Fame. Known for his futility as a batter, he produced a putrid .089 lifetime batting average in 857 at bats. In 457 career regular season games, he compiled a 166 win, 132 loss record, with a lifetime 3.55 ERA, in 2,587 innings-pitched. After retiring from baseball, he worked as a high school baseball coach in his native Michigan. Buhl was on hand for the closing ceremonies of Milwaukee County Stadium in September 2000. He died of complications from pneumonia and emphysema two days prior to the death of his former teammate and roommate Eddie Mathews.