Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

Feb. 19, 2016 – North Central College head baseball coach Ed Mathey would like to announce the addition of 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) veteran and former Chicago Cubs pitcher Tim Stoddard to his coaching staff, taking over the pitching coach duties this season.
 
"We are very excited to have Tim Stoddard join our coaching staff," said Mathey.  "His experience competing on the big stage, having won a World Series championship and a NCAA Division I basketball championship, will benefit our program immensely."
 
Stoddard is one of only two men to have played in a World Series and NCAA Division I men's basketball championship, joining fellow East Chicago Washington High School (Indiana) alum Kenny Lofton, but is the only one to have won both.
 
He was the starting forward on the 1974 North Carolina State University basketball team that ended University of California, Los Angeles' run of seven-straight NCAA Division I men's basketball titles, but chose to pursue his baseball career after college and was selected in the second round of the winter draft by the Chicago White Sox, making his MLB debut in September of 1975.
 
Stoddard went on to play with five other MLB team over his career, appearing in two World Series with the Baltimore Orioles in 1979 and 1983, defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in 1983.  He was the winning pitcher in game four and drove in a run with an eighth-inning single, becoming the first player in World Series history to drive in a run in his first at-bat.  He went on to win a Division Championship with the Cubs in 1984, played with the San Diego Padres from 1985-1986, the New York Yankees from 1986-1988 and finished his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1989.  
 
Since retiring from Major League Baseball, Stoddard has been actively coaching, including a 22-year stint as the pitching coach at Division I Northwestern University.
 
"Having been the pitching coach at Northwestern for 22 years, he understands what it takes both academically and athletically to be successful," said Mathey.
 
If any pitcher is looking for a college baseball program, with a proven track record of teaching and developing pitchers, they would be hard pressed to find a better place than North Central.  With over 30 former student-athletes having pitched professionally, two coaches with professional playing backgrounds and over 40 years of collective experience coaching pitchers, North Central offers a wonderful opportunity for pitchers to develop to wherever their ceiling may take them."
 
Stoddard has had 25 MLB draft picks under his tutelage, including three currently playing in MLB in Toronto Blue Jays left-hander J.A. Happ and right-hander Bo Schultz, as well as San Francisco Giants right-hander George Kontos.
 
Stoddard will primarily be working with the pitching staff, but his vast knowledge and experience will be greatly beneficial to the team as a whole, learning from the best at baseball's highest level.
 
The Cardinals begin the 2016 season with three games in two days in Jacksonville, Ill. at Lenz Field, opening the season against Lawrence University on Mar. 5 at 11 a.m., followed by a doubleheader the next morning against Carleton College slated for 11 a.m.