Helmut Oppelt

Helmut Oppelt was on the first German baseball champion, FC Bayern. He debuted for the German national team in the 1960 European Championship. Claus Helmig pitched two of Germany's three games that year, while Oppelt faced the champion Dutch national team. In eight innings, he allowed six hits and walked 11 while fanning five in a 12-1 loss; only one of the runs was earned. He was 1 for 4 with their lone RBI. In the 1962 European Championship, he went 2 for 8 with three runs, two RBI, a walk and three steals. On the hill, he was 1-1 with a 5.06 ERA.

When Germany won Bronze in the 1967 European Championship, he fanned 14 in 13 innings and had a 2.08 ERA and a win (stats are incomplete and don't show who took Germany's losses), splitting the pitching with Peter Budny. He again hit well - 4 for 9, a triple, a walk, a steal, two runs and a RBI. He also appeared in the 1972 Amateur World Series, going 0-1 with a 12.91 ERA and 0 for 3 at the plate. A John Oppelt is listed with Germany in the next year's Amateur World Series and is presumably related.

Overall, he hit .292/.321/.375 with four steals and five runs in thirteen games. On the mound, he was 2-3 with a 4.84 ERA. Through 2010, he was among the national team leaders in ERA (14th, between Michael Wäller and Dirk Fries), strikeouts (31, tied Frank Stattler for 12th), wins (tied for 10th), losses (tied for 8th), innings (44 2/3, 9th, between Jürgen Helmig and Stattler) and walks (29, tied for 7th with Wäller and Martin Almstetter).

Sources: German Baseball and Softball Federation, Haar Disciples