Mike Buddie

Michael Joseph Buddie was born in 1970 in Berea, Ohio. He was drafted by the New York Yankees in the fourth round of the 1992 MLB Amateur Draft. During his first five seasons in the minors, Buddie won 43 games as a starter. He was converted to a reliever in 1997 and finally made his big-league debut in 1998 with New York. Buddie pitched parts of two seasons with the Yankees and was released in June 2000. He was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.

The right-hander pitched in five games with Milwaukee in 2000. He began the 2001 season with Triple-A Indianapolis before getting called up to the big club in June. Other than missing three weeks with a sprained left ankle, Buddie finished the season in Milwaukee, appearing in 31 games, while saving two of them.

Buddie began the 2002 season with the Brewers but after struggling in 25 relief appearances (4.85 FIP, 1.689 WHIP, and two blown saves), he was DFA’d in early June. The Montreal Expos signed him two weeks later and after a half-season at Triple-A Ottawa, he was released. The Brewers re-signed Buddie in early 2003 and after another season at Indy, he was released again. He retired after the season.

Although he had a modest five-year big-league career, appearing in 87 games with five wins and two saves, Buddie went on to have an exemplary post-playing career. He spent nearly a decade in various positions within the Wake Forest athletic department. In 2015, he was named the athletic director at Furman University. After four successful years at Furman, he was named the athletic director for the United States Military Academy in 2019.      

• Prepared Kevin Costner for his pitching role in For Love of the Game (1999)
• While at Furman, negotiated a multi-year deal with Nike
• His teams won 26 Southern Conference championships at Furman (2015-2019)