The Harrisburg Alumni Association

Ray Mueller with the Reds (Cincinnati Post photo)

Onetime Harrisburg Senators catcher Ray Mueller, among baseball’s best defensive players in his era, has his contract sold 84 years ago today by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the St. Louis Cardinals’ Pacific Coast League affiliate in Sacramento.

Turns out Mueller never plays for the Cardinals, who stash the longtime Steelton, Pa., resident in the minors since they already have All-Star Walker Cooper as their everyday catcher in the majors.

Mueller finds himself sold again near the end of the 1942 season to Cincinnati, where he throws out a stunning 52 percent of would-be base stealers in 491 games over six seasons.

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