Editor’s note: This is the latest story in an occasional series about former professional baseball players living in the suburbs.

If you were to spot 71-year-old Tim Stoddard lining up a shot at the Bolingbrook Golf Club or the Bridges of Poplar Creek Country Club, you might guess the tall, burly Rolling Meadows resident played some organized ball in his younger days.

But Stoddard wasn’t just a 6-foot-7 forward on the North Carolina State basketball team that won the NCAA championship in 1974.

After college he chose professional baseball over basketball and spent more than a decade as a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball, finding the most success — and a World Series title — with the Baltimore Orioles.

In fact, Stoddard is the only man to win both an NCAA basketball championship and a World Series ring.

Stoddard remains active in athletics as the pitching coach for the North Central College Cardinals’ Division III baseball team in Naperville.

“It’s been a joy for me,” he said. “I get to basically share my life with guys and teach them what I learned … and how to be a better ballplayer.”

Path to the big leagues

Born and raised in East Chicago, Indiana, Stoddard initially was drafted by the Texas Rangers in June 1974 but stayed at North Carolina State to finish his degree.

The following January, he was drafted by the White Sox and signed with the team. He started out in Double-A ball but jumped to the big club that September after major-league rosters expanded for the end of the season.

He made one appearance for the Sox and then spent 1976 back in the minors.

Orioles ‘felt like home’

Stoddard signed with the Orioles in 1977 after being released by the White Sox. He spent that season and most of the next in the minors but made the Orioles roster in 1979 and never went back, pitching in Baltimore for five seasons.

“I would have to say that the Orioles felt like home,” Stoddard said. “(I) stayed in Baltimore year-round and made plenty of friendships off the field.”

It was a heck of a time to be an Oriole. The team reached the World Series in 1979 for the third time in the decade. Stoddard pitched in four World Series games against the Pittsburgh Pirates and won Game 4, even knocking in a run to help his cause.

Unfortunately for the O’s, the Pirates took the title with a Game 7 victory.

Stoddard and the Orioles were back in the Series in 1983 and defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in five games. Stoddard, however, never made an appearance.

“It would have been nice, but the pitching staff we had was very good,” Stoddard said. “Tippy Martinez and I shared a lot of the late work and he got in some of the games.”

Traded to the Cubs

That December, Stoddard was traded to the Oakland A’s and then was traded again during spring training to the Cubs. The second trade was fortuitous for Stoddard, as he joined a Cubs team that won 96 games and the National League East Division title and made the postseason for the first time since 1945.

Stoddard went 10-6 with 7 saves in 1984 in 58 appearances, the second most of his career.

“Wrigley and the Cubs were so much fun,” Stoddard said. “We had a great season, and my family and friends got to see me play throughout the entire season.”

Stoddard’s time in Chicago was once again short-lived. He signed as a free agent in the off-season with the San Diego Padres — the same team that defeated the Cubs for the National League title in 1984.

Stoddard pitched for the Padres in 1985 and half of 1986 before being traded to the New York Yankees. He was there through 1988 and then played half the 1989 season with the Cleveland Indians before being released and retiring.

“Eventually you have to hang up the spikes,” Stoddard said. “I thought I had a pretty decent career, so (it was) time to move on.”

Move to coaching

Stoddard was hired as the pitching coach for the Northwestern Wildcats in 1994 and stayed with the school until 2015. During his tenure in Evanston, Stoddard guided several pitchers — including Niles West High alum George Kontos — to major-league careers.

Stoddard has coached North Central’s pitching staff since 2016. He doesn’t seem to mind the early-morning practices and other rigors of college baseball.

“It’s our own little fraternity,” he said.

Stoddard considers himself semiretired, saving plenty of time for grandchildren and golf. There’s also the occasional Cubs convention or charity golf outing with other ex-athletes.

“The fans think it’s all about them,” Stoddard said with a conspiratorial smile. “But I love it because I get to see (my) former teammates.”

Tim Stoddard, with arms crossed in center, shares a laugh with then-Cubs manager Joe Maddon and fellow Cubs and alumni during the 2019 Chicago Cubs Convention.
Daily Herald File Photo, 2019

‘I have truly lived the dream’: Dan Schatzeder went from major-league pitcher to suburban teacher and coach

From homers to healing: Ex-Sox slugger Soderholm helping people through Willowbrook wellness center

If you mail them, they will come (back): A baseball card collector’s adventure in autograph hunting