Al Closter, the left-handed pitcher who won a gold medal with the United States baseball team at the 1964 Olympics before reaching the major leagues, has died at the age of 82. He passed away on June 11, 2026, in Morattico, Virginia.
Born Alan Edward Closter in Creighton, Nebraska on June 15, 1943, he developed into a standout left-hander at Iowa State University. In 1964, he earned one of the proudest distinctions of his career, representing the United States as one of seven pitchers on the national baseball team at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, where the sport was featured as a demonstration event and the Americans took the gold.
His talent caught the eye of the New York Yankees, who signed him as an amateur free agent ahead of the 1965 season. What followed was a career defined by persistence, as Closter spent years shuttling between the high minors and the big leagues. His finest minor-league stretch came in 1967 with the Double-A Binghamton Triplets, where he went 4–0 with a sparkling 1.74 ERA, and over the years he became a fixture with the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs, appearing in 249 games for the club.
His path to the majors was a winding one. After being selected by Cleveland in the Rule 5 Draft and then purchased by the Washington Senators, he made his MLB debut on April 19, 1966, pitching a third of an inning against the Baltimore Orioles before being reacquired by the Yankees weeks later. He would not appear in the majors again until 1971, when he returned to make relief appearances for New York. In September 1973 he was traded to the Atlanta Braves as the player to be named later in a deal involving pitcher Pat Dobson, closing out his big-league career that season.
Across parts of four MLB seasons, Closter pitched in 21 games for the Senators, Yankees, and Braves, recording a 2–2 mark with 26 strikeouts.
After hanging up his glove, Closter built a long second career in business, working for Philip Morris International for 30 years with a focus on product development in Latin America, and settling in Richmond, Virginia. His contributions to the game were not forgotten. In 2006, he was elected to the Syracuse Baseball Wall of Fame, honoring the years he gave to one of the minors’ most storied franchises.
Al Closter was 82.