Mark Mulder   [1977]

 

Mark Mulder is the other Dutch American baseball pitcher of note. He can be viewed as the pitcher of the 21st century, whereas Bert Blijleven was the Dutch American baseball pitcher of the 20th century. Both pitchers are and were well above the average baseball players plying their expertise in American baseball. Mulder, in 2001, only the second year of his pitching career, playing for the Oakland Athletics, became a dominant pitcher and led the American league with 21 wins versus only 8 losses that year. Mulder continued to pitch well in 2002, his third professional year, with 19 wins and only 7 losses. During the first six years of his professional pitching career he managed to log at least 200 innings for four of the six years with a high of 229 innings in 2001. The two years he missed making the 200 inning mark was in the first year, in 2000, of his professional career, and in 2003 when he was injured for part of the season.

Mark Mulder was born in South Holland, Illinois, a Dutch American enclave in the Chicago land area. His lineage is clearly Dutch American, at least through his father’s side. He attended high school in South Holland and at age 18 was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 55th round of the 1995 amateur draft. He decided not to sign up then and entered Michigan State University, where he played collegiate base ball. In 1998, he was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the first round. He was the overall second pick of the baseball draft that year. He signed on with the Oakland Athletics on October 9, 1998. Mulder was placed on the fast track to the major leagues and he made his major league debut on April 18, 2000, when he was only 22 years old and had had only two years of minor league experience.

On December 18, 2004, Mulder was traded by the Oakland Athletics to the St. Louis Cardinals for three other players. The previous year, in the 2004 season, his pitching for Oakland had been quite reasonable; his pitching had produced 17 wins versus 8 losses. But apparently it was time for Oakland to change their pitching staff. His pitching performance in St. Louis, in 2005, produced 16 wins versus 8 losses, a performance nearly as good as the one the year before.

Mulder’s best years, playing for Oakland, were clearly in the 2001 and 2002 seasons, when he had 21 and 19 wins versus only 8 and 7 losses respectively. In the subsequent three years, in 2003, 2004 and 2005, he performed at a somewhat lower level, but still above average. His pitching statistics for those three years were 15, 16 and 17 wins versus 9, 8 and 8 losses. His earned run average [ERA] for his professional playing years, starting with the year 2000 and ending with the year 2005 were: 5.44, 3.45, 3.47, 3.13, 4.43, and 3.64 respectively.

Mulder’s accomplishments during his baseball pitching career can also be measured by his accomplishments in terms of league standings. In 2002 he led the American League with 21 wins. He also led the American League pitchers in complete games with 9 games in 2003 and 5 games in 2004. In shutouts he led the American League with 4 shutouts in 2001 and with two shutouts in 2003, the year in which he was injured. And finally he was an American League All-Star in 2003 and again in 2004.

In terms of earnings there is quite a range during Mulder’s professional career. Whereas his first year salary was under a quarter million dollars, it had increased to over 2.5 million dollars per year in 2003, and to over 6 million dollars per year in 2005. During the 2006 season it was approaching 8 million dollars per year. Baseball players are well paid, that is the better ones.

As is the case with most professional players, especially with the younger ones, there is not much known about their private lives. Hence there is not much to report. Keep in mind, as of 2006, Mulder still had not reached the age of 30. But based on Mulder’s performance as a baseball pitcher up to and including the year 2006, he deserves to be mentioned as one of the prominent Dutch Americans.

 

REFERENCE

Biography,ms, Mark Mulder, mark-mulder.biography.ms (link no longer active)

Baseball Prospective Player Card for Mark Mulder, www.baseballprospectus.com/dt/muldema01.shtml

Fast Facts, http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=muldema01

Mark Mulder, www.baseball-reference.com/m/muldema01.

 

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