Graduated 1988
Inducted 2018
Chuck Pittman helped lead the baseball Cardinals to their first ever Final Four appearance as a senior in 1988. Sharing pitching duties with fellow Hall of Fame member Mark Baker, the Cardinals finished the season at 18-8.
As a junior, Pittman finished with a perfect 6-0 record, tossing back to back no hitters during the season. He finished with a 0.43 ERA, a number that is still best in Cardinal history.
As a senior, he led the team in innings pitched (94), still the team record and the second best in MSHSAA records. He also holds the team record for strike-outs in a season with 148, including 18 in a single game. The season total would currently rank #8 in the state record books. He was named All-Conference during his senior year.
Chuck also played basketball for Webb City, earning 1st team All Conference honors his senior year.
He continued his pitching career at MSSU, where he helped the team to reach the NCAA Division II College World Series in both 1991 and 1992, finishing second in 1991. He holds the record for career wins with 29.
A 10 game winner in 1992, he finished his career with a 29-11 record, ranking 4thin career winning percentage at .725.
Tied for the team lead with 14 starts in both 1991 and 92, he still ranks 3rd in career starts with 45 and 9thall time in pitching appearances with 49.
In 1991, he completed 7 of his 14 starts, throwing 87 2/3 innnings. For his career, he completed 15 games, ranking 4thall time and threw 255 1/3 innings which stands at number 3 all time.
Chuck recorded 12 strikeouts against SIU-Edwardsville as a senior and his 203 career strikeouts rank him 4th.
And he still holds the third spot with career shut-outs with (5) five
Following college, he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals, joining the Johnson City affiliate, coached by ‘the Professor” George Kissell, a long time Cardinal coach. Whitey Herzog once said of Kissell, “He is one of those baseball lifers that loves to talk baseball ... George Kissell is the only man I know who can talk for 15 minutes about a ground ball.”
Earning a double major with marketing and management degrees, he returned to Webb City in 1993 and began his career with Cardinal Scale Manufacturing, where he is currently the transportation and shipping supervisor.
He and his wife Allison, a teacher in Joplin, have two children. Chloe, a 2018 graduate from Crowder College and Chase, a current senior at Webb City.