Don Heinkel

{{short description|American baseball player (born 1959)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|image=1986 Nashville Don Heinkel.jpg

|width=

|caption=Heinkel with the Nashville Sounds in 1986

|name=Don Heinkel

|position=Pitcher

|bats=Left

|throws=Right

|birth_date={{Birth date and age|1959|10|20}}

|birth_place=Racine, Wisconsin, U.S.

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=April 7

|debutyear=1988

|debutteam=Detroit Tigers

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=May 18

|finalyear=1989

|finalteam=St. Louis Cardinals

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Win–loss record

|stat1value=1–1

|stat2label=Earned run average

|stat2value=4.74

|stat3label=Strikeouts

|stat3value=46

|teams=

• Detroit Tigers ({{mlby|1988}})
• St. Louis Cardinals ({{mlby|1989}})

|highlights=

}}

Donald Elliott Heinkel (born October 20, 1959) is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He played during two seasons at the Major League level for the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals. Heinkel notched his lone major league save on April 29, 1988. He went 2 scoreless innings to preserve a 9–6 victory over the Mariners.{{Cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET198804290.shtml|title=Seattle Mariners at Detroit Tigers Box Score, April 29, 1988}} He was drafted by the Tigers in the 30th round of the 1982 amateur draft. Heinkel played his first professional season with their Rookie league Bristol Tigers, Class A-Advanced Lakeland Tigers, and Double-A Birmingham Barons in 1982, and his last with the San Diego Padres' Double-A Wichita Wranglers in 1993.

Heinkel now{{when|date=January 2020}} resides in Alabama with his wife and 11 children. He practices medicine in the Muscle Shoals, Alabama area.{{cn|date=January 2020}}{{Cite web|title=Healthgrades|url=https://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-don-heinkel-2sf6f|website=Healthgrades}}