Don Schwall is remembered as the 1961 American League "Rookie of the Year" Red Sox right-hander who was a one-year wonder.

Schwall played baseball, basketball, and football earning a University of Oklahoma scholarship, where the All-Big Eight 1956-57 star led the Sooners over Wilt Chamberlain’s Kansas Jayhawks, averaging 15.1 points a game.

As a Sooner varsity pitcher, Schwall threw strike after strike and was signed by the Red Sox at age 22, joining the Red Sox farm system in 1958.

In 1959, in the Class-D League club in Alpine, Texas, Schwall finished 23-6, with 199 strikeouts. With the 1960 American Association Triple-A Minneapolis Millers, Don was 16-9 with a 3.59 earned run average and his teammate Carl Yastrzemski hit .339 to win the batting title.

In 1961, Schwall was promoted from Seattle of the Pacific Coast League, the Red Sox other Triple-A affiliate. He debuted in May for the Sox after Tom Brewer went on the DL, winning the second game of a doubleheader against the White Sox. He scattered six hits and won, 4 to 1,

His second start came in Baltimore, pitching his first shutout, getting his first hit and his first RBI, shutting out the Orioles, 5 to 0. Don won his third start against the Orioles again, 4-2, thanks to a ninth-inning walk-off homer by Vic Wertz. He had given up only three runs in 26 innings of pitching in the majors by the beginning of June.

On July 28th, Don won his 11th game, by beating the White Sox, 8 to 3. His record was 11-2, and he was named to the American League All-Star team.

Schwall threw three innings in the All-Star game which was held at Fenway. He was one of the few players to start a season in the minors and that same year, make a big-league All-Star team. He gave up five hits and the only run in the middle three innings, striking out Stan Musial in the process.

At the beginning of August, Schwall threw his second shutout of the season, a 4 to 0, three-hit win against the Angels. He won his 14th game by a 9 to 4 score over the Indians the first week of September. It was his 10th win without a loss at Fenway.

In his race with Roger Maris to break Babe Ruth's home run record, Mickey Mantle hit his 54th and final home run of the year against Schwall on September 23rd

It was quite a rookie year for Don Schwall. He won the A.L. "Rookie of the Year Award" finishing with a record of 15-7, with two shutouts and a 3.22 ERA.

1962 was a different story. On May 20th, Schwall pitched against Bo Belinsky, the rookie pitcher who had already thrown a no-hitter two weeks before. Belinsky gave up just two hits and won the game, 1 to 0.

By the end of May, Schwall only had pitched an average of five innings in 11 starts with an ERA of 5.34. He won only his second game of the season, 4-0, by beating the Orioles with a two-hitter on June 13th. His best outing came on September 3rd, when he allowed one lonesome single and no walks in a 3 to 1 decision over the A's.

The "sophomore jinx" seemed to affect the lanky righty. He had developed some bad habits in his delivery and his control problems made him trade bait by mid-season. At the end, his record fell to 9-15, his ERA ballooned to 4.94, and he gave up more walks (121) than strikeouts (89).

In the off-season, Don Schwall was traded to Pittsburgh and in return, the Sox got Dick Stuart.

After baseball, Schwall began his investment career as a stockbroker. Retiring in 2008, he started a company, Completion Capital Partners, with son Don Jr.