Rollie Stiles

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Rollie Stiles bigraphy, stories - American baseball player

Rollie Stiles : biography

November 17, 1906 – July 22, 2007

Rolland Mays Stiles (November 17, 1906 – July 22, 2007) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the St. Louis Browns from to . Born in Ratcliff, Arkansas, he batted and threw right-handed, and was 9–14 with an earned run average of 5.92 in his three seasons. Rollie attended Southeastern State Teachers College. His first game in the major leagues was on June 19, , and his last game was October 1, . Stiles’ nicknames when playing baseball were "Leapin’ Lena", "Lena", and "Rollie", all typical of how he signed autographs for baseball fans.

He made an appearance and gave a speech at the St. Louis Browns Reunion dinner held at the Missouri Athletic Club on June 8, 2006 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Stiles died in his sleep at age 100 on July 22, 2007 at the Bethesda Southgate Nursing Home in St. Louis . He was the last living person to have pitched to baseball legend Babe Ruth. While Stiles was the oldest living major league ballplayer at the time of his death, he was not the oldest living professional baseball player, as that honor belonged to Emilio Navarro of the Negro Leagues, who turned 103 years old in 2008.