Tiefenthaler was a native of
Carroll, Iowa. In 1955, he was signed by the
New York Giants at age 17 and spent seven years in the Giants'
farm system before he was sent to Chicago on August 17, 1962, as the "player to be named later" to complete a trade that had been made almost nine months before—on November 30, 1961—when the
San Francisco Giants had obtained veteran left-hander
Billy Pierce from the White Sox in a six-player transaction. Two days after his trade from the Giants, on August 19, Tiefenthaler made his
MLB debut. In an afternoon game at
Comiskey Park against the
Detroit Tigers, Tiefenthaler
relieved Dom Zanni (coincidentally, one of the players also involved in the Pierce trade) in the fourth
inning and with the
bases loaded, with Detroit leading 2–1. Tiefenthaler got two quick
outs, but he
walked Chico Fernández to force in a run, then surrendered a
grand slam home run to
Bill Bruton. He then allowed a
single to
Al Kaline before, charged with two
earned runs, he left the game with the White Sox down 7–1. He made two more appearances out of the White Sox bullpen before the end of the 1962 campaign. In the majors, Tiefenthaler had a 0–0
record, with a 9.82
earned run average, in three games and 3
innings pitched. He allowed six
hits and seven bases on balls, recording one
strikeout. He pitched at
Triple-A for one more season, 1963, before leaving professional baseball. Tiefenthaler died on May 28, 2025, at the age of 87. ==References==