Hilgendorf just completed his second season as a Big Leaguer, appearing in 23 games for the Cards and posting a record of 0-4 with an earned run average of 3.92, all out of the bullpen.
He’d spend the 1971 season in the Kansas City Royals Minor League system before making it back to a Big League mound in 1972 as a member of the Cleveland Indians.
For the ‘72 season Hilgendorf appeared in 19 games, five of which were starts, while posting a 3-1 record with a nice 2.68 earned run average over 47 innings pitched.
Those three wins would be the first of his career after starting off 0-4 while with ther St. Louis Cardinals in 1969/1970, and he would go on to collect 16 more wins before his brief career was up after the 1975 season with the Philadelphia Phillies.
All told Hilgendorf finished with a 19-14 record, with a 3.04 ERA and 173 strikeouts in 184 appearances and 313.2 innings, with 14 saves thrown in, very nice numbers for the short amount of time he had in the big leagues.