Wayne Twitchell - Baseball

In 1966, Wayne Twitchell was selected by the Houston Astros as the 3rd player overall in the draft. That was the beginning of a prosperous career in the Major Leagues that spanned 10 years, spending the majority of his time with the Philadelphia Phillies. In September of 1970 he made his first MLB appearance, striking out the side against Minnesota. He faced Rod Carew, Tony Loiva and Harmon Killebrew in order. In 1973, he pitched five complete game shutouts, was twice named the National League Pitcher of the Week and appeared in the Major League All-Star game. He retired with a career ERA of 3.98.

After retiring, he returned to Portland and began a career as a commercial real estate broker. But baseball was still in his blood and he served his alma mater, Wilson High School, as a pitching coach, working with up-and-coming pitchers. In 1982, Wilson retired his jersey, #36. He also served several years as the Treasurer for the Active and Oldtimers Baseball Association.

He was an outstanding athlete in high school, earning nine varsity letters in 3 sports. In addition to his accomplishments on the baseball field, he also was selected 1st team all-city, PIL MVP, 2nd team all-state in football and was selected to play in the Shrine game. He was also named 2nd team all-city in Basketball.

Wayne was inducted into the PIL Hall of Fame in 1990 and received the Order of the Golden W from Wilson High School in 2001 for his year of service to the school.