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His name is John Coulson.

Well, that鈥檚 the man鈥檚 name.

You may not know the Cardinals鈥� name, either.

That鈥檚 the point of this.

鈥淗e鈥檚 a forgotten Cardinal,鈥� Coulson said. 鈥淚 just felt the story needed to be told to a whole new generation.鈥�

Since the Cardinals franchise was founded in 1882, there have been hundreds and hundreds of hurlers.

Well, no left-handed pitcher won more games for the Cardinals than Bill Sherdel did.

The St. Louis southpaw Sherdel, nicknamed 鈥淲ee Willie,鈥� totaled 153 wins from 1918-30 with a 3.64 ERA. Only right-handers Bob Gibson (251 wins), Jesse Haines (250), Adam Wainwright (200) and Bob Forsch (163) won more games for the Cardinals.

鈥淚 think the biggest problem is that he played so long ago that nobody remembers him anymore,鈥� Coulson said. 鈥淣obody has any real true idea of his value to the Cardinals team. Rogers Hornsby said (of Sherdel鈥檚 change-up), 鈥楬is slow ball is poison to sluggers.鈥欌��

And so, in a Pennsylvania area known for manufacturing potato chips, Coulson tries to manufacture momentum. The 74-year-old Coulson wrote a biography of Sherdel in 2018 and, a decade prior, a book on local baseball that included Sherdel. Coulson proudly gives presentations about Sherdel 鈥� in 2024, he went to Cooperstown and spoke at a symposium at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Coulson has delivered his address at the Gettysburg Library, as well as at libraries and luncheons in numerous Pennsylvania towns (he was even on ABC 27鈥檚 鈥淕ood Day PA.鈥�). If you鈥檝e got a ear and a minute, he鈥檒l tell you about Sherdel. And, as I can confirm, he passionately emails certain St. Louis sportswriters. His dream is that Sherdel one day is enshrined in the Cardinals Hall of Fame.

But Coulson is not related to Sherdel. In fact, Coulson never got to meet Sherdel before Sherdel鈥檚 death in 1968. So, just why does he care this much about Bill Sherdel?

Coulson laughed in response over the phone Wednesday.

鈥淥K, so first of all, there was the connection to our area, because it was a local celebrity that nobody knew about,鈥� said Coulson, who previously worked a career in banking technology. 鈥淎nd the second piece of this, I just felt the story was lost because it happened so long ago. There are very few people around, if any, that remember him at all.鈥�

Coulson has connected with Sherdel鈥檚 family to help share the family鈥檚 story. Sherdel鈥檚 daughter-in-law is still living at 102, Coulson said. Sherdel鈥檚 great-grandson still lives in Sherdel鈥檚 home in McSherrystown, which is 1.8 miles from Hanover (incidentally, Sherdel was born in a town called Midway, which was, sure enough, midway from Hanover to McSherrystown 鈥� as Hanover grew it essentially took over Midway).

And Sherdel鈥檚 grandson sometimes joins Coulson during his presentations and sets up, Coulson said, 鈥渕aybe five to seven long tables鈥� with memorabilia 鈥� old gloves, letters from Cardinals executive Branch Rickey and, yep, Sherdel鈥檚 1926 World Series championship ring.

Indeed, Sherdel went 16-12 with a 3.49 ERA for the Cardinals鈥� first-ever title team. And in 1928, the Cards won the pennant again 鈥� and Sherdel had the team鈥檚 highest WAR, along with a 21-10 record and 2.86 ERA.

The Cardinals鈥� winningest lefty is also third in games pitched (465) and fifth in innings (2,450 2/3). Incidentally, he also has the fourth-most homers hit by a Cardinals pitcher, not bad for a fellow nicknamed 鈥淲ee Willie.鈥�

鈥淚f you look at the baseball almanac, it says he was 5 foot 10, 160 pounds,鈥� Coulson said. 鈥淏ut if you look at his draft card, he was listed as 5 foot 8. I think that was probably more realistic when you look at these pictures.鈥�

Coulson has seen seemingly every picture of the pitcher 鈥� and read, literally, thousands of articles. Coulson is a baseball fanatic 鈥� 鈥淚 held a bat before I held a pencil鈥� 鈥� and his father was a local coach.

Coulson takes pride in researching and sharing Sherdel鈥檚 story. Before getting access to digitized newspapers online, 鈥淚鈥檇 go to Guthrie Memorial Library here in Hanover, and at that time, they had all these microfilmed newspaper pages. That鈥檚 the way I started, you know? I鈥檇 take my little roll of dimes along so I could print off all these pages and have this big tub with folders each year from all the pages that I printed out.鈥�

In June of 1930, Sherdel was traded, along with Fred Frankhouse, to the Boston Braves for Burleigh Grimes. But in 1932, he rejoined the Cards, for three games, at age 35. After his retirement, Sherdel lived a quiet life in McSherrystown.

鈥淚n 1962,鈥� Coulson said, 鈥渉e received the St. Louis Baseball Writers Association nostalgic award. This was a huge event in St. Louis at that time. If I ever made a feature film, this would be one of the highlight scenes. Bill Sherdel came to that with his son, and he was on crutches because he had one leg amputated because of some problems with his circulation. He was never much of a speaker, but when he got up and started walking to the podium, he just broke down in tears.

鈥淎ll he could say was 鈥楾hank you,鈥� and everybody stood up and gave him a standing ovation. It included people like Warren Spahn and Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial. And they all followed him into a back room after the event ended, and they鈥檙e all sitting around him and asking him questions about his time as a pitcher for the Cardinals. That鈥檚 how well thought of he was at that period of time.鈥�