Former A’s OF Tim Patzman to be Inducted into A’s Hall of Fame

Tim Patzman was a line drive machine whose sizzlers up the gaps made him one of the most respected hitters in the Wisconsin State Baseball League and the Northeastern Wisconsin Baseball League. They also led to a .344 career batting average and put him in the Sheboygan A’s Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Patzman set the A’s single-season record for doubles with 24 in 2008 and went on to hit 88 in his career. He hit 21 doubles in 2009 to join Lee Wetenkamp and Jason Bartelt as the only A’s players to hit 20 or more doubles in two seasons. His 6-season career ended with his name in the top 20 of 15 offensive categories. The “pop” in his bat led to those 88 doubles (8th all-time), 9 triples (16th) and 23 home runs (13th). He finished ninth in total bases, (516). It all added up to a .932 OPS.

Do to an injured shoulder sustained when he dove for a ball in the outfield, Patzman hit only .232 in 18 games in his first season with the A’s. After that he hit .358, .386, .368, .313 and .300 in his next five seasons. He played from 2006 to 2009, sat out 2010 with season-ending injury sustained in a UW-Milwaukee spring game, and returned to play in 2011 and 2012.

In State League play, Patzman hit .330, placing him 24th among players with more than 500 appearances. Not impressed by .330 and 24th? Bear in mind that most of those ranking ahead of Patzman did their hitting with an aluminum bat.

He was named to the All-Wisconsin State League team in five of his six years and on two occasions was runner-up in MVP voting. His Sheboygan A’s teammates voted him their most valuable player three times. Three times in his career he led the A’s in runs scored, hits, RBI, and doubles, and four times in home runs, total bases and slugging percentage.

Patzman is no stranger to accolades, on and off the field.

In high school, Patzman led Waukesha West to three straight WIAA State Tournament appearances, and was named all classic eight conference player of the year as a senior, hit well over .400 each of his last three seasons, was an all-league player each of those seasons. As a senior, he played in the WBCA All-Star classic and earned all-district and all-league honors in both his junior and senior seasons. The National Honor Society member earned scholar-athlete awards in baseball, basketball and football.

In his junior year at UWM, Patzman led the Panthers with a .389 average, 75 hits, 11 home runs, 44 runs batted in, a .674 slugging percentage and a .456 on-base percentage. He was a first team All-Horizon selection and All-Horizon academic pick.

As a senior, he again led the team with a .417 average, the highest in school history. He was named to the first team All-Horizon Leauge, was UWM’s first baseball academic All-American and an All-Academic Horizon League pick.

Chad Gehr, who managed Patzman for several seasons has nothing but praise for his outfielder and team leader.

“Tim Patzman is the definition of what it means to be a Sheboygan A. His dedication perseverance, intelligence and respect for the game is second to none and will never be questioned.”

“He was a student of the game and I considered him to be a player-coach. He was a mentor to many young players who would pick his brain about pitchers, pitch selection and positioning. He helped mold a lot of players,” Gehr said.

Patzman said the program helped him as well.

“I truly believe the time that I spent in Sheboygan in the summers when I was at the beginning of my college career helped develop me for success in my final two years at UWM. The repetition, at-bats, experience and competition gave me confidence to succeed at UWM which I did not have in my first two years.”

“I am more than honored to be elected to the A’s Hall of Fame. I honestly don’t know if there are enough words to describe how thankful I am for everything that the community of Sheboygan and the Sheboygan A’s organization provided for me,” Patzman said.

The son of Tom and Lori Patzman, Tim, his wife Lauren and Finley, their one-year-old Yellow Lab, reside in Mukwanago. He is employed as a physical therapist by Aurora St. Luke’s Hospital.

Patzman will be inducted between games of the July 22 doubleheader against Lombard. The first game begins at 5 p.m. The following day is Alumni Day when the club will honor the championship team of 1997, celebrating the 20th anniversary of that big season.