How A Spartan Revolutionized Baseball

With more than 3,300 inventions on record, Spartans are known for being forward-thinking problem solvers who innovate to make the world better.

Some of those inventions come from an unlikely place. Former Michigan State University Baseball Coach Danny Litwhiler, who led the Spartans for nearly two decades, is credited with developing more than 100 inventions and innovations that improved the game — including the pitch speed radar gun.

Litwhiler’s story is a reminder that Spartan innovation doesn’t only happen in labs. Sometimes, it starts on the field.

Before his streak of innovations, Litwhiler (1916–2011) spent 11 years as a player in Major League Baseball, MLB, from 1940–51. He played with the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds. Litwhiler was a member of the Cardinals’ 1944 World Championship team, as well as with St. Louis when it lost the 1943 World Series to the New York Yankees.

After a successful playing career, Litwhiler spent 28 years coaching baseball at Florida State University and MSU. During his 19 seasons at MSU, Litwhiler had a record of 489-362-8 (wins-loses-ties) including Big Ten Championships in 1971 and 1979, as well as NCAA Tournament appearances in 1971, 1978 and 1979. Thirteen of Litwhiler’s players went on to play in the MLB, including Steve Garvey, Kirk Gibson and Rick Miller.

At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Litwhiler won a gold medal in an exhibition tournament as coach of Team USA. Baseball was a demonstration sport during the Olympics from 1912–88 before becoming an official medal sport in 1992. After retiring from coaching, Litwhiler became the international president of the U.S. Baseball Federation, today USA Baseball.

Even with all those accolades, Litwhiler may be best known for his creativity and forward-thinking in the game he loved.

Litwhiler’s innovative mindset began as a player. According to the Michigan Baseball Hall of Fame, he was one of the first players to tie the fingers of his glove together to better receive and secure the baseball. This resulted in him playing the 1942 season without committing an error, eventually playing 187 consecutive error-free games and being named an all-star in the 1942 season.

But perhaps the most well-known invention, and possibly the most significant, is the pitch speed radar gun he developed while coaching at MSU.

Today, pitch speeds are displayed on ballpark scoreboards and television broadcasts almost immediately. Crowds often cheer for a triple-digit pitch speed. It is also one of the many statistics available for wagers in sports betting.

Pitch speeds are recognized as a key metric in evaluating a pitcher’s progression and effectiveness. In an article published in the Society for American Baseball Research, or SABR, Spring 2022 Baseball Research Journal, author Douglas Jordan says “…one of the most important data (in baseball) is the speed of a pitch.” Jordan is a professor emeritus at Sonoma State University in Northern California.

Among the reasons cited by Jordan is how pitch speed gun data can assist a player with power development and help coaching staff monitor the intensity of training. The article also references the evolution of valuable data from the pitch speed radar gun to include exit velocity of a ball coming off the bat as well as launch and spray angles.

But before Litwhiler, none of that data existed.

According to media reports from the time, in 1974 Litwhiler read an article in the State News, MSU’s student newspaper, about the university’s police department purchasing radar guns to identify speeding vehicles. He became curious and contacted the department.

"We didn’t have an external battery to power the radar gun, so I drove the police car onto the baseball field,” says George Groll, who retired in 1998 after more than 28 years with MSU police. “That allowed me to clock the pitch. The young pitcher was amazed at the speed, and then several other pitchers had to try, too."

The successful experiment with police equipment led to Litwhiler developing a prototype radar speed gun specifically for baseball. The original is now featured in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

To further support pitchers, Litwhiler developed the Unbreakable Mirror. Pitchers could throw directly at the mirror and not break the glass. This allowed them to view their form while pitching. Among his other well-known inventions are Diamond Dust, the original method to help dry balls and fields after rain, as well as the Bunting Bat used to teach players proper bunting techniques.

Decades later, Litwhiler’s innovations still shape the game — and many of them can be traced back to his time as a Spartan.

In 1959, distinguished MSU alumnus Lyman J. Briggs (1874–1963) stepped up to the plate to settle a long-standing baseball debate: Does the curveball pitch really curve? Answer: Yes, it does!

Briggs earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture in 1893 from MSU, then named Michigan Agricultural College, before attending the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins University for advanced degrees in physics. During his life, Briggs held several positions with the United States government, including as the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST. In 1967, MSU’s Lyman Briggs College was named in his honor.