Eastern athletics will retire the No. 19 jersey of former Eastern pitcher Marty Pattin during the April 18 and 19 baseball series against Jacksonville State.

What most people don’t know about Marty Pattin is the fact that his impact on Eastern extends further than the baseball field.

Marty’s was actually named after Pattin. But Pattin’s prescence was mostly known on the field.

Pattin was a member of the Eastern baseball team from 1961-1965.

Pattin received second team Little All-America honors in 1964 for leading the Panthers to the 1964 NAIA World Series during his time.

Pattin finished the season with a record of 10-1 with a 1.99 ERA and also led the nation in strikeouts. Pattin is currently the career Eastern record holder for strikeouts with 278, while also placing third in the Eastern career wins list with 20.

Not to mention 22 of those 278 career strikeouts came in one game.

After finishing college baseball, Pattin signed with the California Angels. Pattin would spend much of his professional baseball career on the move.

He played only one season for California before going to the Seattle Pilots (1969), which soon became the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970.

Pattin then played for the Boston Red Sox and later became well known for his time with the Kansas City Royals, where he played six seasons.

During his time with the Royals, Pattin helped the club appear in four American League Divisional playoff appearances.

Pattin was also selected to the 1971 American League All-Star game.

Pattin’s last appearance in the MLB came during the 1980 World Series, where he struck out Greg Luzinski and Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt to finish his final inning.

During his 13-season career, Pattin achieved a record of 114-109 with 1,179 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.62. He finished with a total of 2,038-2/3 innings pitched, including 14 shutouts, 60 saves and 64 complete games.

The Charleston-born Pattin graduated Eastern with both a bachelors and masters degree in industrial arts.

In 1972, Pattin was inducted into the NAIA Baseball Hall of Fame and 10 years later Pattin was inducted into the Eastern Athletic Hall of Fame.

After retiring from professional baseball, Pattin stayed involved with the sport by accepting the head-coaching job of the Kansas baseball team from 1982-1987.

When Pattin’s No. 19 is retired on April 18, it will serve as a reminder to all small town baseball players that good things come to those who work for it.

Neil Schneider can be reached at 581-7944 or at jnschneider@eiu.edu.