New Ulm HALL OF FAME Member

Eric Wilner

Infielder-Pitcher

Selected 1998

Lifetime Baseball Batting Stats Page

Lifetime Baseball Pitching Stats Page

            A model of consistency, Eric Wilner began playing for the Brewers in 1980 and batted .299, the first and last time he ever batted under .300 in a season for his entire career.

            An excellent fielder with a good arm, Eric played second or shortstop and also did some pitching in relief. As a pitcher, he averaged a strikeout per inning for his career.

            Wilner had a .330 career batting average over six years and rarely struck out when compared to the times he stepped up to the plate. He averaged better than a hit per game for his career, and  one-third of his hits went for extra bases.

            Eric had three four-hit games in his career: 1980 vs. Searles, 1982 vs. Sleepy Eye, and 1982 at Searles. He knocked in the winning run with a 10^th inning double at Madelia in 1981.

            As a relief pitcher, Wilner saved a playoff win at top-ranked Leavenworth in 1983.

            Eric played two years of junior college ball in Kansas and two more years at Witchita State. He also played semi-pro baseball in Alaska.

            During his college playing days, the Brewers always had a poor record during the month of May. The team improved greatly when Eric returned to stabilize the infield.

            Eric was one of three Wilner brothers to play amateur baseball for New Ulm in the 1980’s. His older brother Kevin was inducted into the New Ulm Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996, and his younger brother David joined the two brothers in the Hall in 2001.