Maywood "Lefty" Belcher (1996) - Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame

Maywood "Lefty" Belcher

Induction:
1996
Class:
1934

His given named was Benjamin Maywood Belcher, but anyone who saw him throw a baseball knew immediately how he got the nickname "Lefty." For the 1932-33 school year, Marshall athletic director Roy Hawley led the Thundering Herd out of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and into the Buckeye Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Hawley also served as Marshall’s baseball coach and his teams immediately won the school’s first three titles in the new conference in 1933, 1934 and 1935, the first two thanks in large part to the Belcher's powerful left arm. The Chelyan, W.Va., native was named All-Buckeye Conference as he led the team to a 9-2 record in 1933, and repeated the honor in 1934 as he went 8-0 with a 0.68 earned run average and 68 strikeouts in 66 innings for a team that went 13-2. Belcher then signed a professional contract with the St. Louis Cardinals organization and pitched for five seasons in the minor leagues, logging a 53-53 career won-loss record and 2.74 ERA, posting a 20-8 record for the 1937 Asheville Tourists and rising as high as the Class AA Pacific Coast League. Belcher was inducted into the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.