That dictionary definition explains why “Bedrock” was an apt nickname for Steve Bedrosian. In his prime, he was a rock-solid relief pitcher and the foundation on which his teams built a bullpen.

Stephen Wayne Bedrosian was born in Methuen, Massachusetts, on December 6, 1957, to Michael (a materials and inventory specialist for Western Electric) and Jean Bedrosian (office manager for W.T. Grant Company)2 and is one of a handful of major leaguers of Armenian descent. He played baseball and soccer and wrestled for the Methuen High School Rangers, where his performance would (24 years later) earn him recognition by the North Andover Eagle-Tribune as the area’s “Top Athlete of the 20th Century.”3 After graduation in 1975, he played baseball for the Knights of  Northern Essex Community College in nearby Haverhill, Massachusetts, for two years before enrolling at the University of New Haven. In his only season there, he compiled a 13-3 record and three saves, helping Coach Frank “Porky” Viera’s 1978 Chargers to a third-place finish in the Division II College World Series.4 He was named to the Division II All-America First Team by ABCA/Rawlings and to The Sporting News’ All-American Second Team.5 He was one of only three Division II players (and the only pitcher) to be so recognized by The Sporting News.

Those All-American honors came on the heels of being selected by the Atlanta Braves in the third round of the 1978 amateur draft. He was the Braves’ third pick — after future Atlanta teammates Bob Horner and Matt Sinatro — and the 53rd overall pick. He quickly signed with the Braves and was assigned to the Kingsport (Tennessee) Braves of the Appalachian (Rookie) League. After starting six games and compiling a 2-2 record and a 3.08 ERA, Bedrosian was promoted to the Class-A Greenwood (South Carolina) Braves, for whom he started eight games, went 5-1, and lowered his ERA to 2.13.

Bedrosian progressed steadily upward through the Braves farm system. He spent the next two seasons as a starter for the Savannah (Georgia) Braves in the Double-A Southern League. Although one reporter dubbed him perhaps the hardest thrower in the league, Bedrosian himself said it was “the first league I’ve been in where I can’t just reach back and blow it by everyone.”6 He added: “I don’t have a curve or a change-up. I’m going to have to learn them if I’m going to move up.”7 In 1980 he was a Southern League All-Star8 and the workhorse of the Savannah staff, pitching 203 innings and completing nine of his 29 starts for a 14-10 record. That performance earned him a spot on Atlanta’s 40-man roster.9 After a season of winter baseball in the Dominican Republic,10 Bedrosian joined the Richmond (Virginia) Braves in the Triple-A International League, where he started 25 games and made his first relief appearance. He had a 10-10 record and a 2.69 ERA when he was called up to Atlanta.

Bedrosian made his major-league debut on August 14, 1981, at Dodger Stadium. He relieved John Montefusco in the fourth inning with one out and the bases loaded after the Dodgers had scored two runs to break a scoreless tie. Bill Russell, the first batter Bedrosian faced, drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Bedrosian then hit opposing pitcher Dave Goltz but got Davy Lopes to pop out to end the inning. He was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the inning, but he was in the big leagues to stay. He earned his first major-league victory the following night when he struck out two of the three Dodgers, he faced in the fifth inning to preserve a 1-1 tie before being removed for a pinch-hitter in the sixth, when the Braves scored an unearned run to take a lead they never relinquished.

One night later, the Dodgers avenged that loss with a 6-5 win, and Bedrosian was charged with the loss. He entered the game to start the seventh inning with the Braves leading 5-3 and walked two batters before yielding a two-out, two-RBI double to Steve Garvey and being replaced on the mound by Gene Garber, who allowed a RBI single that put the Dodgers ahead by the final score of 6-5.

Bedrosian’s next appearance was on August 22 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, when he made his home debut in his first major-league start in the first game of a doubleheader against the Montreal Expos. After five innings, he had yielded two hits and three walks, and the Braves led 3-0. He did not retire a batter in the sixth inning. He gave up an unearned run followed by John Milner’s three-run homer and left the game trailing 4-3 with two runners aboard. One of those runners scored another unearned run, and when the Braves could muster only one more run, Bedrosian was charged with his second loss. After four games, his record was 1-2. He appeared in 11 more games (17 innings) in relief without another decision or another save opportunity and ended the 1981 season with an ERA of 4.44 — his highest until his final season. In December Bedrosian became the first Brave who did not have a long-term contract to agree to terms for the 1982 season ($37,000) and was dubbed one of the club’s young pitchers “most difficult to pry away from the Braves.”11

Bedrosian returned to the Dominican Republic for another season of winter baseball and was pitching well for the Estrellas12 of San Pedro de Macoris (2.83 ERA) when he suffered minor injuries in an auto accident. At the time, he was called “one of the best pitching prospects since the Braves moved to Atlanta”13 and one of eight candidates to join the Braves’ starting rotation.14 In March he exacerbated his injury-plagued offseason by breaking his finger. Fortunately for the lanky (6-feet-3, 200 pounds) right-hander, it was on his left hand. A month later, he was one of seven rookies on Atlanta’s Opening Day roster.15 He had arrived with two nicknames — Bedrock (the one that lasted throughout his career) and Mr. Smoke (later Kid Smoke)16 — that attested to his two primary characteristics as a baseball player: a “fierce competitor” who “throws hard.”17

The Braves got off to a record-breaking start in 1982, winning their first 13 games. Bedrosian was the starter on April 10 against Houston in the 3-0 Braves’ second home game. The Braves staked him to an early 5-0 lead, but he gave up a walk and a two-run homer in the third inning and two more hits and a walk in the fourth before being lifted. Six days later, in Houston, he pitched three shutout innings to protect a 5-3 lead as the Braves improved to 9-0.  Back in Atlanta on April 20, he relieved Tommy Boggs with two out in the second inning. The bases were loaded, and the Reds had a 2-0 lead. Bedrock got a quick out and followed with four more scoreless innings. When he left the game, the Braves led 4-2, and that was the final score, so Bedrosian was credited with the win in the game that gave “Hotlanta’s Hotbraves”18 their record-breaking 12th consecutive victory to start a season. The team increased that record to 13 straight wins (which was tied five years later by the AL Milwaukee Brewers). Bedrosian’s fondest memory of that streak came at its end. After the Braves finally lost in Game 14, a fan displayed a sign that said: “161-1 Isn’t Bad!”19

For the rest of that season, Bedrosian was used mainly in relief and did an “awesome” job.20  Through July 27, his 1.46 ERA was the best on the team, and he had a 5-1 record and six saves in 34 games and was averaging 7.3 strikeouts per nine innings. He was deemed “among the hardest throwers ever to pitch for the Atlanta Braves.” He acknowledged that he had loved striking batters out since his days in Little League and admitted that he didn’t “try to nick corners.”21 Braves pitching coach Bob Gibson explained that Bedrosian was better suited for his relief role because starting gave him “too much time to think.”22

Although he cooled off a bit in the latter part of the season, Bedrosian ended his first full season with a record of 8-6, 11 saves (in 17 opportunities), a 2.42 ERA, and 123 strikeouts (more than any other NL relief pitcher) in 64 games (only three starts). He did not fare well in the National League Championship Series when the Cardinals swept the Braves and went on to win the World Series. In Game One, Bedrosian replaced Pascual Perez in the sixth inning with no outs, the Braves down 2-0 and two runners aboard. He gave up a walk and three hits, allowing both inherited runners to score, and gave up two added runs, increasing the Cardinals lead to 6-0, while recording only two outs. He was also one of six pitchers the Braves used in the decisive Game Three, facing one batter (Keith Hernandez) and striking him out with the bases loaded in the eighth inning.

Postseason awards are based only on regular-season performance, and Bedrosian was named the National League Rookie Pitcher of the Year by The Sporting News. Pitching coach Gibson obviously had seen something others had missed; Steve Bedrosian, who had been a starter throughout his minor-league career (81 starts in 82 games), was now a reliever, and the Braves believed that their bullpen was set for 1983 with him paired with Gene Garber.23 That duo plus Rick Camp, who contributed five saves, had been recognized by Rolaids as the “top team bullpen” in the majors.24

The Braves showed their confidence in Bedrosian with a pay raise from $37,000 to $155,000 — the highest percentage increase on the team25 — and he became the team’s closer, finishing 52 of his 69 relief appearances. Bedrosian’s work had him leading the race for the Rolaids Relief Pitcher Award in early August, but he struggled during the latter part of the season as his ERA rose from 3.00 to 3.74. At least one observer thought that these struggles were the result of his having been “shamefully overworked”26 while Gene Garber was on the disabled list in July. His lone start that year came in the Braves’ next-to-last game, on October 1 against the Padres in San Diego. He pitched seven strong innings and left the game in the eighth inning with a 2-1 lead, but lost the win when two relievers gave up two runs and the Braves then lost in the 10th. That game, his final appearance for the season, lowered his ERA to 3.60 but did not allow him to even his 9-10 record to .500. He did increase his strikeout rate to almost one per inning and his strikeout/walk ratio to 2.24, and recorded 19 saves (in 27 opportunities).

Early in 1984, there was some speculation that Bedrosian might move into the Braves’ starting rotation because Phil Niekro had been released and Pascual Perez had been arrested in the Dominican Republic.27 However, when the season started, Perez was a regular starter, and bullpen duties were distributed among Gene Garber (62 relief appearances/11 saves/42 closures), Donnie Moore (47/16/29), Jeff Dedmon (54/4/19), and Bedrosian (36/11/28).

Bedrosian got off to a fabulous start. By June 6, he had pitched 33⅓ innings in 19 games and had a 4-1 record plus eight saves with an ERA of 0.54. Then he struggled through a steak of four consecutive losses over an eight-day period in which he blew two ninth-inning leads on the road, gave up a 12th-inning walk-off single after walking the only other two batters he faced, and yielded back-to-back doubles to the first hitters he faced in the eighth inning of a tied home game. His ERA had tripled to 1.73. Those two blown-save opportunities were Bedrosian’s first and last of the season; his overall success rate (84.8 percent) led the team.

Bedrosian was the only member of the bullpen quartet who logged any starting assignments. While his record in four starts was 3-1, he needed and received lots of run support (4.8 runs per game compared with the team’s season average of 3.9); his ERA in those games was 3.86 (vs. 1.71 in his relief efforts). His overall ERA (2.37) was still lowest on the team among those who pitched in more than three games.

Bedrosian’s fourth start, on August 15, was his last game of the 1984 season. The Braves had planned to move him into Craig McMurtry’s slot in the rotation, but he was experiencing some pain in his right bicep that required attention and caution.28 While his season ended early, there was much to be celebrated. He had improved his ERA, his winning percentage (9-6/.600), and his strikeout rate while lowering his WHIP to 1.171 (1.138 in relief). Talk of moving him into the starting rotation continued into the offseason.29

This time the talk resulted in a change. In 1985, the Braves had a new manager (Eddie Haas) and a new pitching coach (Johnny Sain). With Bruce Sutter now available as closer, Bedrock joined the starting rotation30 — for the first and only time in his major-league career. It was a less than stellar experience. He started 37 games (second only to Rick Mahler) and finished none of them — a record for most unfinished starts in a season.31 He had the same number of losses (15) as Mahler, but 10 fewer wins (seven). Yet, compared to the rest of the starters, none of whom posted a winning record, his performance was admirable. His 3.83 ERA was second only to Mahler’s, and his 5.8 strikeouts per nine innings led all starters. Not bad for a season when he pitched more innings than in his previous two seasons combined and was “supported” by a team that ranked 10th in the National League in runs scored (3.9 per game) and ninth in fielding percentage (.976), committing more errors (159) than all but one other team.

Yet, on December 10, 1985, the Braves traded Bedrosian and outfielder Milt Thompson to Philadelphia for catcher Ozzie Virgil and young pitcher Pete Smith. New general manager Bobby Cox wanted Virgil’s power to “restore thunder”32 to the Braves’ anemic offense and risked giving up Bedrosian only after the Phillies turned down his offer of Jeff Dedmon. Phillies president Bill Giles made it clear that Bedrosian was the “plum” in the deal, seeing him as “the main short reliever in a really deep bullpen.”33

After working his way through a sore arm during spring training,34 Bedrosian started the 1986 season with his new team still trying to transition back into a reliever’s role after a full year as a starter, and he struggled for a while.35 He won in his Phillies debut, but it wasn’t easy. He entered a 1-1 game in the top of the 10th in Cincinnati and got three quick outs. The Phillies scored four times in the 11th, but Bedrosian gave up two runs in the bottom of that inning before retiring a batter. The Reds had the tying runs on base before he struck out two batters to preserve the 5-3 win. His home debut was less stressful; he threw a 1-2-3 inning as the fifth of eight Philadelphia pitchers in a 9-8 win over the Mets. In his next game, he again took the mound in the 10th inning of a 1-1 tie, gave up two runs to the Pirates, and was the losing pitcher when the Phillies failed to rally.

By the end of April, Bedrosian had appeared in eight games, and his record was still 1-1. He ended the month with his first three saves, but gave up runs in two of them. His ERA was 7.27, and he had become a favorite target of the Phillies’ notoriously noisy boo-birds.36 The turnaround began in May with three solid relief appearances, and really took hold (perhaps appropriately) in Atlanta, when he earned a save on May 9 and a win two days later. Bedrosian gave Phillies pitching coach Claude Osteen credit for his improved mechanics.37

Bedrosian continued to improve and eventually earned the respect of those finicky fans, and the trade that brought him to Philadelphia was being praised as one of the best of the year as Bedrock gave the Phillies “the best right-handed relief in years.”38 His fastball was consistently timed at 95 mph and he was having one of the best seasons of any NL reliever.39 He finished the season with 29 saves, tying the Phillies’ team record. His ERA (3.39) and home-run rate (1.2 per 9 innings) were higher than in his last year as a Braves reliever, but his won-lost record (8-6) and walk and strikeout rates were remarkably similar to that year. He was back at home in the bullpen.

The reward was a two-year contract worth $1.75 million, ensuring that he would not become a free agent after the 1987 season, and Bedrosian declared himself to be “much more relaxed and ready to pitch well from the start.”40 Others expected him to be the anchor of the Philadelphia bullpen.41 That optimism seemed unwarranted and certainly premature as Bedrock got off to another rocky start. In his first six games, he allowed 10 runs on 11 hits (including four home runs) and had an ERA of 11.05. Remarkably, he also had been credited with two victories and almost became the NL’s first three-game winner on April 18 in the final game of that stretch. After Bedrosian gave up four runs to the Pirates in the eighth inning to blow a three-run lead, Mike Schmidt put the Phils ahead in the top of the ninth with his 500th career home run. The official scorer awarded the victory to Kent Tekulve, who shut down the Pirates in the bottom of that frame.

On April 26, in his eighth appearance, Bedrosian recorded his first save of the season, at home against the Pirates. On May 10 he started a streak in which he earned 19 saves in 20 appearances including a then-major-league record of 13 consecutive saves. He explained his success by saying, “I’m not aiming or trying to hit the corners. I’m just reaching back and letting it fly.”42 By the All-Star break, he had 24 saves and three wins for a team with only 42 victories, and he was named to the All-Star team for the first (and only) time in his career. In that game, he played a pivotal role with a fielding play that made him a hero instead of a potential “goat.” He entered a scoreless game in the bottom of the ninth and sandwiched two walks around a successful sacrifice bunt, putting the potential winning run on second base. He then induced a grounder to first baseman Keith Hernandez, who threw to second for the force out. Hubie Brooks’ return throw to Bedrosian, who was covering first, was wild and it looked as though the winning run would score, but he dove and snagged the errant throw, scrambled to his feet, and threw home where Ozzie Virgil (!) applied the tag that completed the double play and ended the inning.43 The NL eventually won the game 2-0 in 13 innings.

Following his All-Star Game heroics, Bedrock continued to be rock-solid in relief. He eclipsed his previous season high in saves with his 30th on July 31 — the quickest in history to reach that milestone44 — and ended the season with a league-leading 40 saves, becoming the first Phillies pitcher to lead the league in that category since the save was adopted in 1969. That magical season was capped off when the BBWAA gave Bedrosian the Cy Young Award in the closest vote in the history of the award. Bedrosian (5-3; 2.83 ERA) edged Cubs starter Rick Sutcliffe (18-10; 3.68 ERA) by two points and Rick Reuschel (13-9; 3.09 ERA), who divided the season between the Giants and the Pirates, by three. Eight pitchers received votes, and no pitcher was named on all 24 ballots.45

Bedrosian’s selection was controversial. No NL pitcher had been dominant, so each front-runner’s fans could cite statistics that supported their man. His five wins and 40 saves meant that he had played a role in more than half of his fifth-place team’s 80 victories. He observed: “I’m not going to say that I backed into it. I’m not looking at what starting pitchers did or didn’t do this year. I’m looking at what I was able to accomplish.”46 The Phillies rewarded him with bonuses totaling $225,000 for his All-Star selection, Cy Young Award, and the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award. The latter, like The Sporting News’s designation as NL Fireman of the Year, was not controversial, and the Philadelphia Sportswriters Association named him the Pro Athlete of the Year.

There was understandable optimism heading into the 1988 season.47 Then Bedrosian experienced chest pains while running sprints during spring training. The initial diagnosis was an acute strain,48 but a later diagnosis was “walking pneumonia”49 that put him out of action. He started the season on the 21-day disabled list after logging only one inning in spring training.50 After a brief (five  games) rehab assignment with the Triple-A Maine Phillies, Bedrock finally took the mound on May 20 in San Diego and retired the only batter he faced in the sixth inning to strand two runners and preserve a 3-2 lead. He then returned to his role as the Phillies’ closer, finishing 49 games in 57 appearances and earning 28 saves. On September 25, his 95th career save for the Phillies broke Tug McGraw’s team record.51 After the season he was the only Phillies player offered a guaranteed multiyear contract, and he signed for three years at $1.45 million per year.52 

The rumor mills went into overdrive in December when the Phillies traded for Jeff Parrett, who had appeared in 61 games for the Expos in 1988. GM Lee Thomas insisted that he had “no intention of trading” Bedrosian, whom he called “the best closer in baseball.”53 Bedrock, who had already expressed frustration over the limited number of save opportunities he had in 1988, explained: “I need work to stay sharp.”54 He had a strong spring training, allowing only six hits and a single run in nine games and started the regular season without allowing a run in his first five appearances.55 By the end of April, however, he had been in 11 games and had a record of 1-2 with only two saves. On May 15 he earned his second win despite serving up two gopher balls and acknowledged: “I’m not throwing my slider the way I want. … I have to keep on battling.”56

On June 16, Bedrosian gave up four runs in two innings and was the loser in a 15-11 slugfest won by the Mets. Two days later, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants, whose manager (Roger Craig) was sure that Bedrock would “get back on track with more work.”57 Bedrosian left the Phillies with a record of 2-3 and six more saves, raising his team record to 103 (since eclipsed). He was on the mound in Candlestick Park the day after the trade and earned a save. He then earned saves in his next four appearances, and finished the season with 17 saves and a 2.65 ERA for the Giants, who were champions of the NL West. Bedrosian appeared in four of the five NLCS games against the Cubs and got saves in the final three games, helping the Giants to win the NL pennant. He saw limited action (2⅔ innings in two appearances) in the “Earthquake” World Series that followed as Oakland swept the Giants in four games. Even though he had joined the team in midseason, Bedrock was voted a full share ($83,529.96) of the Giants’ losing World Series earnings.58

Bedrosian entered the 1990 season as San Francisco’s perceived “stopper.” Craig Lefferts, who had lost his closer role when Bedrock joined the Giants, had been granted the free agency he requested59 and had quickly signed with the Padres. Throughout spring training, Bedrosian had been worried about his 3-year-old son, Cody, who had been quite ill for several months. He reluctantly accompanied the team to Atlanta for Opening Day, but quickly went home to California when his wife, Tammy, called to say that Cody had gotten worse. The devastating diagnosis was leukemia, and Steve stayed with his son, missing the Giants’ first five games. Tammy finally persuaded him to rejoin the team, and he went to Candlestick60 on Sunday, April 15. He was sent to the mound in the ninth inning to protect a 3-2 lead over the Padres. He gave up four hits, including a two-run homer (on an 0-and-2 count) and lost the game, 4-3. He then showed his “leadership and character” by granting postgame interviews.61 At the end of the season, those traits were officially acknowledged when Bedrosian received the Willie Mac “Spirit, Ability, and Leadership”62 Award which annually recognizes the Giants’ “most inspirational” player.

Bedrosian struggled off-and-on throughout 1990, but salvaged the season by finishing well.63 In the three games after that disappointing first effort, he earned two saves. Then, on April 25, after holding the Pirates scoreless in the 10th and 11th innings, he was battered for four runs in the 12th and suffered another home loss. By June 1 he had earned seven saves, but did not get another until August 17. After earning two more August saves, he closed the season with seven saves and three wins (vs. one loss) in his last 11 appearances. His 1.46 ERA during that stretch lowered his season ERA by half a run to 4.20, still his highest since his call-up year. For the first time since that same year, Bedrosian walked more batters than he fanned. He had managed to equal his save total (17) from the previous year, and he had proved in the closing months of the season that he was still capable of closing games.

In December, the Giants traded Bedrosian to Minnesota for a player to be named later, and some pundits thought that he would become the Twins’ closer, allowing Rick Aguilera to become a starter.64 The pundits were wrong; Aguilera was still the closer, but Bedrosian got plenty of work, appearing in 56 games (but in only seven save situations). He finished the regular season with decent numbers (5-3, 4.42 ERA; six saves) and pitched briefly (1⅓ innings, two hits, no earned runs) in two ALCS games as the Twins beat the Blue Jays four games to one. Their World Series opponents were the Atlanta Braves.

Bedrosian appeared in three games against his former team — all played in Atlanta, all won by the Braves. His first two appearances were brief; he faced seven hitters and retired them all. His final appearance was less routine. He entered Game Five in the seventh inning with the Twins already trailing 7-3 and two runners on base. When he finally retired the side, he had given up two singles and a triple, allowing the two inherited runners to score, and was responsible for two more runs of his own. The Braves now led 11-3, and Bedrock was one of the five Twins pitchers whom the Braves “bent, folded, stapled, and mutilated”65 that night. The Twins rebounded, winning the last two games at home, and Steve Bedrosian finally had earned a World Series ring.

Since June of that 1991 season, Bedrosian had been undergoing multiple medical examinations, tests, and treatments (including acupuncture) in an effort to determine why he was experiencing numbness in the index and middle fingers of his right (pitching) hand.66 His once-dominant fastball now clocked only in the high 80s. He became a free agent at the end of the season and decided to take the next season off — a depressing “forced retirement” because his cold fingers had earned him a cold shoulder.67 He later said: “I really thought I was done. Just out of the game for good.”68

During his “retirement” on his 120-acre farm in Senoia, Georgia, while the 1992 season went on without him, the strange numbness subsided “suddenly and mysteriously.”69 Bedrosian contacted the Braves and was invited to spring training, where his comeback became “one of the best stories” of the spring.70 Apparently, the numbness was related to tobacco and stress, so he gave up tobacco, and son Cody’s leukemia was in remission. Bedrock was now “healthy and stress-free.”71

When the 1993 season started, Steve Bedrosian was a Brave again, and now he was the second oldest pitcher on the team. He struggled in April, losing two games that were tied when he took the mound. He acknowledged that he no longer had manager Bobby Cox’s confidence.72 His performance improved as he adjusted to not being the closer. He appeared in 49 games (pitching only 49⅔ innings, none of them save opportunities). He did not lose another game, and earned five wins. His 1.63 ERA was lowest on the team and he struck out more than twice as many batters as he walked. He was no longer “Kid Smoke,” but he could still be as solid as bedrock.

After the season the Braves avoided salary arbitration with Bedrosian by releasing him, but they signed him to a new contract two days later.73 His role in the 1994 Braves bullpen was similar to the previous year. At 36, he was now the team’s oldest pitcher. He pitched 46 innings in 46 games and was charged with two losses; he blew both of his save opportunities and earned no wins. His ERA rose to 3.33, but was second lowest on the team behind Greg Maddux’s 1.56. Once again, he became a free agent at the end of the season, but was signed to a new contract within days.

Bedrock was back with the Braves to start the 1995 season. He announced that he had rediscovered his fastball thanks to acupuncture,74 but that wasn’t enough. In August, after appearing in only 29 of the Braves’ 96 games, Bedrosian abruptly announced his retirement.75  He left with a 1-2 record and a 6.11 ERA. He had blown his only two save opportunities, and in

his final game had retired only one of the six batters he faced, giving up four hits and an intentional walk. He wasn’t there when the Braves finally won a World Series later that year, but he did receive his second World Series ring and a partial share of the winning team’s earnings.76

There was not another comeback. Steve Bedrosian’s fine major-league playing career was over after 14 seasons in which he appeared in 732 regular-season games (only 46 as a starter), pitching 1,191 innings. He won 76 games, lost 79, saved 184 (representing a 76.3 percent success rate), and “held” 38 more. He struck out 921 batters (seven per nine innings) and walked approximately half that many (443) unintentionally.  Only half of the 52 players drafted ahead of Bedrock in 1978 made it to “The Show,” and only five (and just two pitchers) matched or exceeded his 14-year major-league career. One of those five was Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, who was drafted five slots before Bedrosian.

Bedrosian wasn’t through with baseball or the Braves. He agreed to participate in 1996 spring training and then join the Appalachian (Rookie) League Danville Braves as pitching coach.77

Steve Bedrosian wasn’t through with Georgia, either. The Massachusetts native stayed on the farm in Coweta County where he had settled during his first tour with the Braves. That’s where he and Tammy raised their five children (Stephen Kyle, Cody, Carson, Cameron, and Katelyn); that was now home. Bedrosian had been a bachelor when he joined the Braves in 1981.78 After he married singer79 Tammy Raye Blackwell in 198480 and later became a father, he brought to that role the same strength and determination that he showed on the diamond. The importance of his family is reflected in Steve’s choice of “the game of [his] life.” He didn’t choose a game in which he had excelled; he chose a game in which he gave up a tape-measure grand slam. He chose the May 10, 1994, game in which the Braves honored 6-year-old Cody Bedrosian, who was still battling leukemia. Cody got to throw out the first ball, and several Braves wore their pants knee-high and their sock stirrups high (Bedrosian style). Steve served up that homer and left the mound in the seventh inning with the Braves trailing 8-1 feeling that he “had let Cody down,” but the Braves tied the game with a seven-run rally in the ninth and won 9-8 in the 15th for “a storybook ending.”81 Cody recovered (thanks in large part to a bone-marrow transplant with brother Cam as the donor)82 and as of 2020 was doing well.

All four Bedrosian sons played baseball. Cody hung up his glove when he was 12.83 Kyle, Cameron, and Carson all played for the East Coweta High Indians, where their father often served as assistant pitching coach. Kyle, a lefty, went on to play for four years at Mercer University. In 2010, Cameron (Cam), whose middle name is “Rock,” was drafted out of high school in the first round by the Los Angeles Angels and made his major-league debut in 2014. He is a right-handed relief pitcher who averages more than a strikeout per inning and his nickname is “Bedrock.” Does that sound familiar?

Steve served on the Coweta County (Georgia) Board of Education for several years and was elected to the Coweta Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. He was already enshrined in the University of New Haven’s Athletics Hall of Fame (a 1996 inductee).

Last revised: February 12, 2021

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Almanac, the Baseball Cube, Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and the Sports Illustrated Vault.

Notes

1 www.dictionary.com.

2 Email from Steve Bedrosian, November 11, 2019.

3 eagletribune.com/sports/local_sports/eagle-tribune-athletes-of-the-century/article_35307211-902c-5f80-b368-fe56d94d3f2a.html.

4 University of New Haven Athletics,  newhavenchargers.com/hof.aspx?hof=69.

5 Lou Pavlovich, “Horner and Gibson Stand Out in Selections,” The Sporting News, July 8, 1978: 42.

6 “Southern League Report,” The Sporting News, June 2, 1979: 43.

7 “Southern League Report,” The Sporting News, June 2, 1979: 43.

8 “Balboni Heads All-Stars,” The Sporting News, July 12, 1980: 52.

9 Ken Picking, “Braves’ Biggest Gain Was Down the Middle,” The Sporting News, November 15, 1980: 53.

10 Picking, “Dayley Atlanta’s Hill Prize,” The Sporting News, December 13, 1980: 50.

11 Tim Tucker, “Braves Willing to Deal Pitcher,” The Sporting News, December 12, 1981: 50.

12  Email from Steve Bedrosian, November 11, 2019.

13 Tucker, “Bedrosian’s Injuries Believed to be Minor,” The Sporting News, February 13, 1982: 39.

14 Tucker, “Eight Pitchers Battle for Braves Berths,” The Sporting News, March 13, 1982: 40.

15 Tucker, “Braves Are Leaning on Horner, Murphy,” The Sporting News, April 24, 1982: 21.

16 “Player Biographies: Steve Bedrosian,” Braves Illustrated: 1982 Yearbook: 47.

17 Fan: 1984 Atlanta Braves Official Program (Vol. 19, No. 4), 27.

18  George Cunningham, “12-0! Hotlanta’s Hotbraves Rewrite Record Book,” Atlanta Constitution, April 21, 1982: 1.

19  Email from Steve Bedrosian, November 11, 2019.

20 Tucker, “Bedrosian Rates ‘Awesome’ Label,” The Sporting News, August 9, 1982: 17.

21 Tucker, “Bedrosian Rates ‘Awesome’ Label.”

22 Tucker, “Bedrosian Rates ‘Awesome’ Label.”

23 Earl Lawson, “Reds Setting Sights on Atlanta Slugger,” The Sporting News, December 13, 1982: 52.

24 Chris Mortensen, “Mr. Finesse and Kid Smoke,” Braves Illustrated: 1983 Yearbook: 23.

25 Tucker, “Braves Face Huge Payroll,” The Sporting News, March 28, 1983: 36.

26 Bill Conlin, “Phils Seek a Starting Pitcher,” The Sporting News, November 14, 1983: 48.

27 Tucker, “Braves Seek Perez’s Replacement,” The Sporting News, February 6, 1984: 49, 52.

28 Gerry Fraley. “Barker. McMurtry Out of Rotation,” The Sporting News, August 20, 1984: 19-20.

29 Fraley, “Do Braves Lead Chase of Sutter?” The Sporting News, December 10, 1984: 51.

30 Sandy Keenan, “10 Atlanta Braves,” Sports Illustrated, April 15, 1985.

31 “Steve Bedrosian,” Alchetron (alchetron.com/Steve-Bedrosian).

32Fraley, “Braves Gear Up for Slugfests,” The Sporting News, December 23, 1985: 44.

33 Peter Pascarelli, “Two Trades Have Ripple Effect,” The Sporting News, December 23, 1985: 41. 

34 Bill Conlin, “NL Beat,” The Sporting News, March 10, 1986: 40.

35 Conlin, “NL East,” The Sporting News, May 26, 1986: 18.

36 Pascarelli, “A Bullpen Bounce-Back by Phillies’ Bedrosian,” The Sporting News, September 8, 1986: 17.

37 Conlin, “NL East,” The Sporting News, May 26, 1986: 18.

38 Murray Chass, “Baseball’s Best Trades,” The Sporting News, August 25, 1986: 14.

39 Pascarelli, “A Bullpen Bounce-Back.”

40 “Notebook, NL East, Phils,” The Sporting News, February 2, 1987: 42.

41 Pascarelli, “N.L. East: Phillies,” The Sporting News, April 1, 1987: 24.

42 “N.L. East: Phillies,” The Sporting News, July 13, 1987: 27.

43 Dave Nightingale, “A Relapse by the Rabbit?” The Sporting News, July 27, 1987: 45; YouTube video Alchetron.

44 “NL East,” The Sporting News, August 17, 1987: 17.

45 Murray Chass, “Phillies’ Bedrosian Cy Young Winner,” New York Times, November 11, 1987.

46 Bill Brown, “Cy Young Award a Real Bonus,” The Sporting News, November 23, 1987: 45.

47 Brown, “Bedrock Digs for Solid Start,” The Sporting News, March 27, 1988: 24.

48 “Notebook: NL East: Phillies,” The Sporting News, March 21, 1988: 37.

49 “Notebook: NL East: Phillies,” The Sporting News, March 28, 1988: 33.

50 “Notebook: NL East: Phillies,” The Sporting News, April 11, 1988: 49.

51 “Notebook: NL East: Phillies,” The Sporting News, October 10, 1988: 23.

52 Chass, “Sax & Marshall Set Free,” The Sporting News, November 14, 1988: 44.   

53 “Notebook: NL East: Phillies,” The Sporting News, March 6, 1989: 17.

54  “Notebook,” The Sporting News, March 6, 1989: 19.

55 “Notebook: NL East: Phillies,” The Sporting News, May 15, 1989: 21.

56 “Notebook: NL East: Phillies,” The Sporting News, May 29, 1989: 23.

57 Brown, “Thomas Shakes Up Phillies,” The Sporting News, June 26, 1989: 22.

58 Chass, “A’s World Series Checks Set Record,” The Sporting News, November 11, 1989: 61.

59 “Notebook: NL West: Giants,” The Sporting News, January 1, 1990: 52.

60 Jack Wilkinson, “Steve Bedrosian,” The Game of My Life (Champaign, Illinois: Sports Publishing, 2007), 64.

61 Art Spander. “Cody Bedrosian Can Be Proud of His Father,” The Sporting News, May 7, 1990: 55.

62 “Willie Mac Award,” baseball-almanac.com/awards/willie_mac_award.shtml.

63 “Bedrosian Salvages ’90 with a Strong Finish,” The Sporting News, October 15, 1990: 17.

64 “Notebook: AL West: Will Bedrosian Make Aguilera a Starter?” The Sporting News, December 17, 1990: 35.

65 Nightingale, “Twins Star in the Late Show,” The Sporting News, November 4, 1991: 10.

66 Wilkinson, 62.

67 Sean Gavitan, “Life’s Highways;” Fan (Atlanta Braves magazine), 1993: 56.

68 Wilkinson, 63.

69 Wilkinson, 63.

70 Pascarelli, “Baseball Report: Around the Bases,” The Sporting News, March 15, 1993: 16.

71 Pascarelli, “Baseball Report: Around the Bases.”

72 Bill Zach, “Baseball: NL East/West: Atlanta Braves,” The Sporting News, May 31, 1993: 20.

73 Tim Luke, “AL/NL: Atlanta Braves: Bedrock’s Back,” The Sporting News, November 22, 1993: 43.

74  Zach, “NL East: Atlanta Braves,” The Sporting News, May 8, 1995: 18.

75  Zach, “NL East: Atlanta Braves,” The Sporting News, August 21, 1995: 16.

76  Telephone conversation with Steve Bedrosian. November 5, 2019.

77 Zach, “NL: Atlanta Braves,” The Sporting News, December 18, 1995: 44.

78 “Career Statistics: Steve Bedrosian,” Braves Illustrated; 1981 Yearbook: 66.

79  Email from Steve Bedrosian, November 11, 2019.

80 “Steve Bedrosian,” Atlanta Braves 1994 Team Yearbook: 25.

81 Wilkinson, 65.

82  Telephone conversation with Steve Bedrosian, November 5, 2019.

83 Wilkinson, 66.

Vida Rochelle Blue, Jr. was born on July 28, 1949, in Mansfield, Louisiana, a small town in the northern part of the state. He was the eldest of six children born to Vida Blue Sr. and Sallie Blue. His father was a laborer, and Blue remembered having everything he needed, although not everything that he wanted, as he grew up.1 He recalled Mansfield as a town that was still segregated, with a white high school and a black high school, DeSoto High, which Blue attended. As a youngster Blue played baseball and football with his peers. He was a good athlete, and could throw a baseball very hard when he was still quite young.

When he entered high school, the school did not have a baseball team. However, the principal recognized Blue’s talent and formed a school baseball team around him.2 Blue’s pitching prowess got the attention of scouts, including Kansas City A’s scout Ray Swallow. Despite Blue’s wildness – he once pitched a no-hitter and struck out 21 in a seven-inning game, but lost the game due to ten walks – his skill was evident. Blue was equally renowned as a high-school football player, starring as a quarterback. He was recruited by major colleges, including Notre Dame, Purdue, and Houston. Houston was recruiting Blue to play quarterback at a time when there were no African-Americans playing quarterback for major colleges. But Blue’s father died during his senior year in high school, and he decided that he needed to support his family. Baseball would provide that support sooner than football might. He was selected by the Kansas City Athletics in the second round of the 1967 draft and was offered a two-year contract a $12,500 per year. Although he later said he had a stronger desire to play football than baseball, Blue signed with the A’s.

Blue’s professional baseball career began in the Arizona winter instructional league in 1967. He pitched in nine games, striking out 26 batters while walking 22 in 34 innings. At age 18, he reported to spring training with the A’s for the 1968 season, then was assigned to the Burlington Bees of the Class A Midwest League. Blue started the season opener against the Quad City Angels and struck out 17 while giving up only three hits in eight innings. On June 19, in the first game of a doubleheader, Blue pitched a no-hitter in the seven-inning game. Throughout the season, Blue developed his curveball to go along with his dominant fastball, and improved his control. He finished with a record of 8-11 in 24 games, pitching 152 innings and striking out 231 while walking 80.3

For the 1969 season, Blue was assigned to Double-A Birmingham. He pitched in 15 Southern League games, going 10-3, with 112 strikeouts and 52 walks in 104 innings. Oakland A’s owner Charlie Finley was anxious to bring Blue up to the majors, seeing him as his next pitching star. Blue was called up in July, and made his major-league debut on July 20, starting against the California Angels. He lost the game, pitching into the sixth inning and giving up home runs to Aurelio Rodríguez and Jim Spencer. He started three more games, including a win on July 29 over the New York Yankees, before being sent to the bullpen for the rest of the season. In his first major-league season, he finished with a record of 1-1, pitched 42 innings, struck out 24 while walking 18, and finished with an earned-run average of 6.64. Joe DiMaggio, then a coach with the A’s, said of Blue, “It was a shame to bring up a kid like that when he hasn’t pitched two pro years. He throws as hard as anybody, but he hasn’t learned to pitch yet.”4

Blue was sent to the Triple-A Iowa Oaks (American Association) to start the 1970 season. There he crossed paths with fellow pitcher Juan Pizarro. Blue learned a great deal from the veteran Pizarro, and later said that “[Pizarro] helped me more than any single person in my career.”5 With Pizarro’s help, Blue made adjustments in his delivery that helped him to achieve greatness. He was rested for a few weeks in the middle of the season because of an injury, but came back to finish the season. In 17 games, Blue put together a record of 12-3 while striking out 165 in 133 innings.

He was called up to the A’s in September, and started the first game of a Labor Day doubleheader against the White Sox in Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Although he helped himself by hitting a three-run home run, he was knocked out of the game after giving up four runs in less than five innings. However, in his next outing he pitched a complete-game one-hitter against the Kansas City Royals, giving up a single to Pat Kelly with two outs in the eighth inning. After a lackluster start against the Milwaukee Brewers, Blue faced the division-leading Minnesota Twins on September 21. He was matched against Jim Perry, who would win 23 games and the Cy Young Award that season. Blue was the star that night, however, throwing a no-hitter and walking only one batter. Finley telephoned the locker room after the game to congratulate his new star pitcher and tell him he would receive a $2,000 bonus for the performance. Blue made two more starts that season and finished the season as one of the young star pitchers in baseball. Along with Catfish Hunter, Blue Moon Odom, and Rollie Fingers, the A’s pitching staff was one of the primary reasons the A’s would have high expectations for the next few seasons.

Although Blue made a spectacular splash in 1970, his 1971 season ranked among the great pitching seasons of all time. The A’s made the franchise’s first postseason appearance since 1931. It may have been their best season of the 1970s despite the fact that they won the World Series in the following three seasons, 1972-1974.

Blue pitched the 1971 season opener for the A’s in Washington against the Senators, and took the loss, pitching only into the second inning. He then won ten straight games, including nine complete games, and over the course of the season received the attention of the nation. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated and Time. As a hard-throwing left-hander, the press compared Blue favorably to Sandy Koufax. However, this comparison was clearly difficult for Blue as Koufax was one of the greatest pitchers ever, and his prowess was nearly impossible to match. Veteran player Tommy Davis was one of Blue’s best friends and a roommate that season. Davis helped him to navigate through the heavy load of press requests, as well other demands for his time. Anything Blue did drew the attention of the press. For example, it became known that he carried two dimes in his pocket when he pitched. Although it was likely a charm Blue used in his pursuit of winning 20 games, he would not verify that to the press, which drew even more attention.

Blue’s start on July 9 against the California Angels was perhaps his best performance of the season. Although he did not get a decision in the game (he was going for his 18th win), he went 11 innings, gave up seven hits, no walks, and no runs while striking out 17 batters. The A’s eventually won the game 1-0 in 20 innings. In his next appearance, Blue started the All-Star Game for the American League. Although he gave up home runs to Henry Aaron and Johnny Bench, he was the winning pitcher, the youngest in All-Star Game history. Blue’s performance declined slightly in the second half of the season. He won his 20th game on August 7, and won his next two starts, raising the question of whether he could win 30 games for the season. But after number 22, he won only two and lost four of his last nine starts of the season. Surely he tired as the season wore on. The previous season, between the minors and majors, Blue pitched only 171 innings. In 1971, he pitched 312 innings. He finished the season with a record of 24-8 and a league-leading ERA of 1.82, and allowed the fewest runners per inning in the American League.

In the American League Championship Series, Blue faced off against the defending champion Baltimore Orioles and pitcher Dave McNally in Game One in Baltimore. The Orioles matched the A’s in wins, with 101, and the opening game would be a test of Blue. He had a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the fourth inning, but gave up a run in that inning, and four more in the eighth to lose the game. The A’s were swept in three games, bringing an anticlimactic close to Blue’s magical season.

Despite his dominant regular-season performance, Blue had competition for the American League Cy Young Award. Detroit’s Mickey Lolich had surpassed Blue in wins with 25 to Blue’s 24, and in strikeouts, 308 to 301 (although Lolich pitched a staggering 376 innings). However, Blue edged out Lolich to win the Cy Young Award. Blue actually had an easier time winning the American League Most Valuable Player Award, finishing well ahead of teammate Sal Bando in the voting.

In 1971 Blue became involved in his first controversy with owner Charlie Finley. Finley offered Blue $2,000 to change his middle name legally to “True.” The always creative Finley saw the nickname as another way to market his pitching superstar. Blue declined the offer. He liked his name, thought it unique as it was, and had no desire to change it. Finley however would not let the idea rest. When Blue pitched, his name appeared on the scoreboard as “True Blue.” Finley instructed the A’s radio and television announcers to refer to Blue by the nickname. Blue asked them to stop, and also asked the team’s public-relations people not to refer to him as True Blue in press releases or to use the name on the scoreboard. This situation began the friction between Blue and Finley that blew up after the end of the season.

After his spectacular 1971 season, Blue demanded a pay raise. In 1971 he had made $14,750 in salary and $6,365.58 as his share of the postseason money, and also got a Cadillac as a bonus from Finley. Finley offered a raise, but not nearly what Blue wanted. Bob Gerst, an attorney representing Blue, presented an opening offer to Finley of $115,000. Later he told Finley that Blue would accept $85,000, which was a little less than the average salary paid to the top ten highest paid pitchers in baseball. Finley said he would pay Blue no more than $50,000.

Finley held firm, making the negotiations public and declaring that Blue would not be seeking so much if he had not hired a lawyer to represent him. Both sides made their case to the press and the public, and the acrimonious situation became referred to as “The Holdout.” The situation also served to elevate scrutiny of the reserve clause, which was under new attack by the players. Marvin Miller, director of the Players Association, was critical of Finley and the reserve system.

The holdout extended into spring training. On March 16 Blue and Gerst held a televised press conference to announce that Blue was withdrawing from baseball to take a position with the Dura Steel Products Company. While Blue actually did work for the company for a time, this was obviously an effort to combat Finley as it was clearly Blue’s desire to play baseball.

When the season started, Blue was placed on the restricted list, meaning he could not play for the first 30 days of the season. The major-league season was delayed ten days by a players strike in spring training, and opened on April 15 without Vida Blue. In late April Commissioner Bowie Kuhn organized a meeting between Finley, Blue, and Gerst. They reached an agreement on a $63,000 deal. However, Finley and Blue couldn’t agree on the wording of the announcement of the agreement. Finley did not want to appear as conceding anything, and insisted that he was paying Blue $50,000, an additional $5,000 signing bonus, plus $8,000 for Blue’s college fund. Blue wanted the deal to state what it was: payment of $63,000. Finally, on May 2, Blue signed for the package.6

Although Blue had missed only 18 playing days, he had not been conditioning and practicing as he would have during spring training and was not ready to pitch. He did not make his first appearance, which was only one inning long, until May 24. The 1972 season was tough for Blue. Although he did post a relatively good ERA of 2.80 and allowed only 165 baserunners in 151 innings, he finished with a disappointing record of 6-10.

His team, of course, won the American League West and faced the Detroit Tigers in the League Championship Series. Blue pitched exclusively out of the bullpen, pitching middle relief in Games One, Three, and Four. In each appearance, the games were in the balance, and Blue acquitted himself well. In the fifth and decisive game, Blue relieved Blue Moon Odom in the sixth inning of a 2-1 game, and pitched the final four innings for the save.

In the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, Blue pitched in relief in Game One, picking up the save, as well as in Games Three and Four. With the A’s leading three games to two, he started Game Six. He was not as sharp as a starter as he had been in relief, and allowed three runs, including a Johnny Bench home run, in 5⅔ innings, and took the loss. The A’s won Game Seven, 3-2.

In 1973 Blue returned to form as an All-Star-caliber pitcher. He went 20-9, with an ERA of 3.28. While he was not the power pitcher that he was in 1971, striking out 158 in 263⅔ innings, he was described by many as a smarter pitcher. A Sports Illustrated article quoted teammate Sal Bando as saying, “In the first part of 1971 Vida was overpowering everybody, now he is overmatching them.”7 The article described Blue’s pitching style: “He jogs out to his position and works with quick efficiency, throwing his left-handed darts out of a fluid, high-kicking motion.” Blue’s pitching repertoire included his highly regarded fastball as well as a good curveball and changeup.

For the first four months of the 1973 season, Blue pitched well, but was often inconsistent. He hit his stride in August, winning six straight starts, including four complete games. He put together another streak of five consecutive wins in September, helping to lead the A’s to a division win over the Kansas City Royals. In the American League Championship Series, Blue started Game One against the Baltimore Orioles’ ace, Jim Palmer. Blue did not make it out of the first inning, giving up three hits and two walks before being relieved by Horacio Piña. Baltimore got four runs in the inning, and won, 6-0.

Blue again faced Palmer in Game Four and pitched much better. Through six innings he shut out the Orioles, giving up only two hits as the A’s held a 4-0 lead. However, after getting one out in the seventh, Blue gave up a walk to Earl Williams, a single to Don Baylor, an RBI single to Brooks Robinson, and a three-run home run to Andy Etchebarren, tying the game, 4-4. He was relieved by Rollie Fingers, who went on to lose the game, 5-4.

In the World Series against the New York Mets, Blue’s postseason troubles continued. He started Games Two and Five, both against Jerry Koosman. In Game Two, a high-scoring affair, Blue gave up solo home runs to Cleon Jones and Wayne Garrett. He was relieved in the sixth inning after allowing two baserunners who would later score. The Mets went on to win the game 10-7 in 12 innings. In Game Five, Blue gave up two runs in 5⅔ innings and lost to Koosman who, with reliever Tug McGraw, shut out the A’s, 2-0. The A’s won the Series, softening the effects of Blue’s lackluster pitching.

In 1974, although his won-lost record was not as impressive as in 1973, Blue pitched equally well. He finished with a record of 17-15 and an ERA of 3.25. He was durable, making 40 starts, and struck out 174 batters in 282⅓ innings. The A’s faced off again against the Orioles in the AL Championship Series. With the series tied one game apiece, Blue started Game Three, matched up again against Jim Palmer. Unlike 1973, Blue pitched brilliantly. He pitched two-hit, no-walk shutout, striking out seven in the 1-0 win. In the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Blue started Games Two and Five, matched up against Don Sutton in both games. In Game Two he was bested by the Dodgers, giving up a run in the second and a two-run homer to Joe Ferguson in the sixth, taking the 3-2 loss. In Game Five Blue pitched five shutout innings before giving up two tying runs in the sixth. After allowing a walk in the seventh, Blue was relieved by Blue Moon Odom, who went on to win the game for the A’s.

The 1975 season was Vida Blue’s best since his masterful 1971 season. He started the All-Star Game and finished the season with a record of 22-11 and an ERA of 3.01. With the departure of Catfish Hunter to the Yankees, Blue and Ken Holtzman starred on the A’s pitching staff and helped to lead the A’s to their best record since 1971. Among his pitching highlights that season, Blue was the starter and one of four A’s pitchers to pitch a combined no-hitter against the California Angels on September 28, in the last game of the season. However, after three straight World Series championships, the A’s were swept in the AL Championship Series by the Boston Red Sox. Blue started Game Two against Reggie Cleveland. He gave up a two-run home run in the fourth inning to Carl Yastrzemski and two more hits before being relieved. Although he had ten more seasons in the major leagues, this was Blue’s last postseason appearance. Over his career, his postseason numbers were unexceptional, with a record of 1-5 and an ERA of 4.31 in 17 appearances.

The 1976 season was another controversial year in Blue’s career, although the controversy was not of his doing. Starting with the departure of Catfish Hunter to the Yankees before the 1975 season and the trade of Reggie Jackson and Ken Holtzman to the Orioles before the 1976 season, the dynastic A’s were being dismantled. Through mid-June, the A’s were in fifth place in the West Division, 11 games behind the Royals. Blue had a record of 6-6 in 15 starts, with an ERA of 3.09. Then, just a few hours before the June 15 trade deadline, Charlie Finley announced that he was selling Blue to the New York Yankees for $1.5 million, and Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers to the Red Sox for $2 million. However, the transactions were held up by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Kuhn and Finley had battled over a number of issues over the years, but this event brought their rancorous relationship to a breaking point. In retrospect, the attempted sale of these players was yet another step in the process of transitioning from the rule of the reserve system and moving toward free agency for players. It foreshadowed transactions in the years to come. Kuhn justified his concern with the transactions, stating: “The issue is whether the assignment of the contracts is appropriate or not under the circumstances. That’s the issue I have to wrestle with. I have to consider these transactions in the best interest of baseball.”8

On the 18th Kuhn announced that the sale of the three players would not be in the best interests of baseball, and disallowed them. Blue thus remained with the A’s. However, with all of the legal threats made by Finley after Kuhn’s ruling, Blue did not pitch again until July 2. Both he and the A’s improved over the remainder of the season. Blue finished 1976 with a record of 18-13 and an ERA of 2.35, and the A’s finished in second place, 2½ games behind the Royals.

In 1977 the team was truly dismantled, not by Finley’s actions, but by his inaction in signing his players who were now eligible for free agency. Joe Rudi, Rollie Fingers, and Sal Bando, who had all been with the team throughout the championship years, left the A’s via free agency. However, Blue had signed a three-year contract before the “trade” to the Yankees, and was ineligible for free agency. The 1977 season was a forgettable one for Blue. He led the league in losses with a record of 14-19, and had an ERA of 3.83. The A’s finished last in the American League West, behind even the expansion Seattle Mariners.

During 1978 spring training, Blue was traded to the San Francisco Giants, giving him a new opportunity. For Blue the A’s got seven players and $300,000. The new environment with the Giants and distance from Charlie Finley helped to restore his career as he became the ace of the Giants’ pitching staff. The Giants were a solid squad, and were in first place as late as August 15 before fading and finishing in third for the 1978 season. Blue started the All-Star Game for the National League, making him the first pitcher to start the game for both leagues. He had a very good year overall, going 18-10 with a 2.79 ERA. He finished third in the balloting for the NL Cy Young Award and was named The Sporting News National League Pitcher of the Year. Although he was only 28 years old and his career would extend on for several years, 1978 was Blue’s last great year. In 1979 he and the Giants saw a significant decline. Blue finished the season with a record of 14-14 and an ERA of 5.01 while the Giants finished 19½ games under .500 and in fourth place. In 1980 Blue rebounded a bit, with a record of 14-10 and an ERA of 2.97. In the strike-shortened 1981 season, he went 8-6 with a 2.45 ERA. It was the first full season in Blue’s career in which he did not win 14 or more games. He did pitch and get the win in the All-Star Game, becoming the only pitcher to win the game for each league.

On March 30, 1982, at the end of spring training, Blue was traded with another player to the Kansas City Royals for four players. He pitched pretty well for the Royals, with a record of 13-12 an ERA of 3.78, and led the pitching staff in strikeouts. He did fade at the end of the season. After throwing a one-hitter against the Mariners on September 13, Blue started four more games, losing his last three decisions while his ERA grew from 3.36 to 3.78. In 1983 Blue struggled mightily. After seven starts and a record of 0-3 he was relegated to the bullpen. He stayed in the pen and made spot starts, but did not pitch well in either role. With a record of 0-5 and an ERA of 6.01, he was released by the Royals on August 5.

At the time, Blue’s problems on the field paled in comparison with his problems off the field. Blue and Royals teammates Willie Wilson, Jerry Martin, and Willie Mays Aikens were implicated in buying cocaine. Blue pleaded guilty to cocaine possession and served 81 days in prison. On December 15, 1983, he was suspended for a year by Commissioner Kuhn. He was out for the 1984 season, then after being reinstated he signed with the Giants in the spring of 1985. Considering that he had missed a full season, Blue pitched respectably as both a starter and reliever, going 8-8 with a 4.47 ERA in 1985. In 1986, he returned to the Giants, pitching exclusively as a starter, and went 10-10 with an ERA of 3.27. Blue was a free agent after the season and signed with the A’s for 1987, but abruptly retired during spring training. It was rumored that he had tested positive for drugs and retired rather than face another possible drug suspension. In announcing his retirement, Blue suggested that he still struggled with drug addiction, stating, “I reached the point where I had to choose between baseball and life.”9 In an autobiography published in 2011, he indicated that he had struggled with substance abuse for much of his career: “Along with all the glory that I’d achieved, there was a growing darkness reaching for me. And the light began to dim as early as 1972.”10 It makes one wonder what his career might have been but for his struggle with drugs.

In 1992 Blue became eligible for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He received a modicum of support in the four years he was considered, with his highest vote total, 8.7 percent, occurring in 1993. He was automatically removed from the ballot in 1995 because of his low vote totals. Some have wondered why Blue did not receive more serious consideration for the Hall of Fame, considering that his career numbers are quite similar to those of his former teammate, Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter. Perhaps the negative impressions created by his drug problems led to his lack of consideration. Regardless of his worthiness for the Hall of Fame, Vida Blue was one of the top pitchers of his time. In his 2001 Historical Baseball Abstract, Bill James ranked Blue as the 86th best pitcher in the history of baseball. Blue finished his career with 209 wins and 161 losses, 2,175 strikeouts, three 20-win seasons, a Cy Young Award, and a Most Valuable Player Award in his 17-year major-league career.

After retirement Blue retained a close association with baseball. He played in the Senior Professional Baseball Association in 1989 and 1990. He became active in philanthropic work, and spoke to a number of audiences about his struggle with substance addiction. Most recently, Blue served as a television analyst for the San Francisco Giants.

Postscript

Vida Blue died at the age of 73 on May 6, 2023. The cause was complications stemming from cancer, according to a statement released by the Oakland Athletics.

Sources

Blue, Vida, as told to Marty Friedman, Vida Blue: A Life (Nashville, Indiana: Unlimited Publishing LLC, 2011).

Clark, Tom, Champagne and Baloney: The Rise and Fall of Finley’s A’s (New York: Harper and Row, 1976).

Clark, Tom, Baseball: The Figures (Berkeley, California: Serendipity Books, 1976).

Clark, Tom, Blue (Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1974).

Clark, Tom, Fan Poems (Plainfield, Vermont: North Atlantic Books, 1976).

James, Bill, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (New York: The Free Press, 2001).

James, Bill, and Rob Neyer, The Neyer/James Guide To Pitchers (New York: Fireside, 2004).

Kuhn, Bowie, Hardball: The Education of a Baseball Commissioner (New York: Times Books, 1987).

Libby, Bill, and Vida Blue. Vida: His Own Story (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1972).

Markusen, Bruce, A Baseball Dynasty: Charlie Finley’s Swingin’ A’s (Haworth, New Jersey: St. Johann Press, 2002).

Neyer, Rob, and Eddie Epstein, Baseball Dynasties (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2000).

baseball-reference.com

Notes

1. Bill Libby and Vida Blue, Vida: His Own Story, 16.
2. Libby, 20.
3. Libby, 43-45.
4. Libby, 49.
5. Libby, 51.
6. Libby, 231-248.
7. Ron Fimrite, “Vida’s Down With the Growing-Up Blues,” Sports Illustrated. September 10, 1973.
8. Ron Fimrite, “Bowie Stops Charlie’s Checks,” Sports Illustrated, June 28, 1976.
9. Ron Fimrite, “Oakland A’s Pitcher Vida Blue,” Sports Illustrated, May 19, 1997.
10. Vida Blue, as told to Marty Friedman, Vida Blue: A Life, 55.

Baseball is an apt metaphor for life. It’s incredibly complex, with many facets that make sense. And there are also plenty of maddening aspects that are excruciatingly difficult to wrap your head around. The one tendency that is most striking about the game is how unfair it can be at times. Just imagine that you were a participant in a simple trade to benefit both parties, one solid player for another. Yet, as the years go by, you wind up being another player on the bench, an answer to a trivia question in some seedy bar, and — the final touch — a footnote in history.

This must have been what Rick Wise felt if he watched television on the evening of October 21, 1980, as Steve Carlton was charged with the awesome responsibility of pitching the Philadelphia Phillies to their first-ever World Series title. The journey to the doorstep of immortality was an improbable one. The Phillies established themselves as the top club in the National League East from 1976 to 1978, only to lose in the NLCS all three years. In Game Five of the 1980 National League Championship Series, Philadelphia fought back from a 5-2 deficit to clinch the pennant in front of a raucous Houston Astrodome crowd. In Game Five of the 1980 World Series, the Phillies scored two runs off Kansas City Royals relief ace Dan Quisenberry in the top of the ninth inning to go up 4-3 and win the game, thus sending the Phillies back home up three games to two in the Series, with Carlton ready to go.

Where would the 1972 Phillies have been without Carlton? That question may have been answered on the night of October 21, 1980, when Carlton pitched seven solid innings and Phillies fans finally saw their team win its first World Series. Without Lefty the Philadelphia Phillies of his era would be somewhere between here and parts unknown.

Steve Norman Carlton was born on December 22, 1944, in Miami, Florida, the only son of Joe Carlton, an airline maintenance worker, and his wife, Anne. As a boy Steve liked to hunt. One time, while he was rabbit hunting in the Everglades, his rifle jammed so he picked up a rock and from 90 feet away hit a rabbit in the head. He was also known to knock off a line of birds hanging from telephone wires with just a handful of rocks. Once Carlton flung an ax toward a quail that had taken shelter between the branches of an oak tree. With incredible precision, he sliced the head off the bird.

During his teenage years, Carlton became a big believer of the teachings of Eastern philosophy, in particular the writings of Paramahansa Yogananda, who believed that greatness in life can be achieved through meditation. The teachings of the Yogananda and other philosophers played a crucial role in Carlton’s maturation process as a big-league pitcher.

At North Miami High School, Carlton played baseball and basketball. A basketball forward who could outjump most centers, he could also throw a football 75 yards. He had no plans beyond high school and had little to no interest in academia, nor did he have a desire to attend a major university. Even as a young baseball player he showed the signs of the enigmatic superstar that puzzled many throughout his career. His concentration swirled around what was in front of him rather what was around him. In his senior year of high school, Carlton was good enough on the pitching mound that he decided to quit the basketball team and focus solely on baseball.

In October 1963, while attending Miami Dade College, Carlton signed a $5,000 bonus contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. For Rock Hill of the Class-A Western Carolinas League in 1964, he compiled a record of 10-1 with an ERA of 1.03 and struck out 91 batters in 79 innings. In midseason Carlton was promoted to advanced Class-A Winnipeg (Northern League) and then to Double-A Tulsa. Overall, he won 15 games. In 1965 he made the Cardinals roster out of spring training and on April 12, 1965, Carlton made his major-league debut, against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, facing one batter in a relief role and walking him.

The young left-hander had a very introverted personality, but there was a tinge of brashness to it. One day as catcher Tim McCarver stood shaving in front of a mirror, Carlton walked up behind him, tapped him on the shoulder and said, “You need to call more breaking balls behind in the count.”1 With shaving cream halfway around his face, McCarver looked up at his new teammate and was incredulous as he felt that a young nobody would call him out in front of his teammates. “Who are you to tell me to call more breaking balls behind in the count?” McCarver said. “What kind of success have you had to tell me that?”2

The pairing of McCarver and Carlton was quite interesting. McCarver had a knack for getting close to pitchers, but Carlton was a very stubborn pitcher who would make up his mind beforehand. McCarver was also known to be very headstrong, and the two would often butt heads. McCarver would eventually become Carlton’s personal catcher for the Phillies during the late 1970s.

Carlton saw little action for the Cardinals in 1965 and spent the early part of the 1966 season at Triple-A Tulsa, going 9-5, with an ERA of 3.59. On July 25, the Cardinals summoned Carlton to pitch in an exhibition game during the Hall of Fame festivities in Cooperstown. Facing the defending American League champion Minnesota Twins, the 21-year-old impressed the Cardinals by pitching a complete game and striking out 10 as the Cardinals won, 7-5. Six days later, on July 31, he was in a Cardinals uniform, starting against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In four innings of work he struck out one, walked two, and gave up two runs. On August 5 Carlton started again and got his first major-league victory, over the New York Mets. He tossed a complete game, striking out one, walking three, and yielding only one run. By the end of the season he had made nine starts and won three games. The next season Carlton became a vital piece of the Cardinals rotation, winning 14 games, losing 9, and posting an ERA of 2.98. On September 20 Carlton struck out 16 batters and pitched a complete game but wound up the loser as St. Louis lost to Philadelphia, 3-1, at Connie Mack Stadium. The 1967 Cardinals won the pennant and the World Series, beating the Boston Red Sox in seven games. Carlton started Game Five, pitched six innings, giving up three hits and one unearned run, and took the 3-1 loss.

The most dominant force on the successful Cardinals teams of the 1960s was pitcher Bob Gibson. He was the most competitive and most feared pitcher of his era. He saw the battle between a pitcher and batter as a simple act of survival. Sandy Koufax was Picasso, but Bob Gibson was the Terminator. And Steve Carlton wanted to be just like him. Carlton watched Gibson go about his daily business. How he conducted himself on the mound. From Carlton’s point of view, the pitching mound was Bob Gibson’s office. No one dared to walk into his office. “Steve learned more from Gibson than he did from anybody,” said Tim McCarver. “The way he went about his independent selection of pitches. His refusal to listen to meetings because nobody could pitch like he could.”3

In 1968 Carlton won just 13 games (he lost 11) but was 8-4 at the end of June and was named to his first All-Star team. His mentor, on the other hand, dominated the league with a minuscule ERA of 1.12. In that year’s World Series, Carlton pitched four innings in relief, giving up three earned runs and seven hits as the Detroit Tigers came back from a three-games-to-one deficit to beat the Cardinals.

During an exhibition game in Japan after the season, Carlton decided to test the pitch that was an effective part of Gibson’s arsenal. He would do so against the greatest player in the history of Japanese baseball, Sadaharu Oh. “I had been fooling with a pitch in Japan, after Sadaharu Oh hit two home runs off me, I figured what the heck,” Carlton said. “I threw Oh, a left-handed hitter, the slider. When he backed away and the ball was a strike, I knew I had something.”4

With a new pitch added to his repertoire, Carlton’s 1969 season was his best so far. He won 17 games, losing 11. He had 210 strikeouts 236⅓ innings. Carlton lowered his ERA from 2.99 the previous season to 2.17. His WAR (Wins Above Replacement) was 6.8. He made his second All-Star team. On September 15 he set a major-league record by striking out 19 in a nine-inning game against the visiting New York Mets. Carlton, however, lost the game, 4-3. After the 1969 season, Carlton believed that he earned his way into the conversation as one of the game’s elite pitchers and wanted to be compensated fairly. He asked for a raise in his salary from $26,000 to $50,000 for 1970. The Cardinals had a different view and Carlton missed a significant part of spring training. Then he led the National League with 19 losses (he won 10 games) and his ERA jumped dramatically to 3.73. On May 21 in Philadelphia, he struck out 16 Phillies but lost the game, 4-3.

Carlton’s mechanics were off in 1970. He had taken a break from the slider, the pitch that brought him to the precipice of superstardom. There are conflicting tales as to why he stepped away from the pitch, but one story that sticks out is that the Cardinals cajoled Carlton into not throwing the slider for fear it might hurt his curveball.5

One of the most important people to enter Carlton’s life was a night watchman who was known to people as “Briggs.” During the 1970 season, he was sending Carlton four or five letters a week. Briggs was concerned that Carlton’s lackluster performance on the mound was due to poor concentration. So, he sent him letters that contained snippets of writings from Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. Carlton was aware of the work of the two philosophers but never applied their theories to baseball. One can suggest that for a fan to send his favorite player five letters a week is a strange individual, but Carlton viewed Briggs as anything but strange. He was a spiritual guide who understood that the key to solving the riddle that is a major-league hitter is to develop a mind free from distraction.

With a newfound concentration and focus, Carlton produced his first 20-win season in 1971. A look at the numbers, though, suggests that he had only slightly improved from his mediocre 1970 campaign:

1970: 10-19, 3.73 ERA, 193 strikeouts, 109 walks, 4.2 WAR, 1.372 WHIP, 13 CG

1971: 20-9, 3.56 ERA, 172 strikeouts, 98 walks, 4.1 WAR, 1.365 WHIP, 18 CG

In 1971 Carlton made his third All-Star team. A notable highlight of the season was a 12-strikeout performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 22. Eleven days later he walked 10 batters in a start against the San Francisco Giants. After the season, he again asked for a raise. This time the asking price was for $65,000 per year. Gussie Busch, the Cardinals owner, offered $60,000. Carlton decided to hold out. His holdout, combined with teammate Curt Flood’s refusal to accept a trade to the Philadelphia Phillies after the 1969 season, and the ensuing litigation deeply angered Busch, who felt he had no other alternative but to defend his principle — that he was the owner of the club and had the final say on policy, no matter how unpopular it might be. Thus, he ordered that Carlton be traded.

Carlton was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for right-handed pitcher Rick Wise on February 25, 1972. The trade didn’t cause an earthquake around the league. Wise had won 75 games to that point in his big-league career while Carlton had won 77. Wise walked fewer batters while Carlton struck out more. Carlton held the major-league record for strikeouts in a nine-inning affair but Wise also had a notable historic performance on June 23, 1971, when he pitched a no-hitter and slugged two home runs against the Cincinnati Reds. McCarver remarked that the deal was “a real good one for a real good one.”6 However, Carlton was incensed that the Cardinals would trade him to Philadelphia. He was so angry that he called the head of the Players Association, Marvin Miller, and asked him what could be done about the deal. Miller gave Carlton two options — accept the deal or retire. Carlton decided to accept the trade.

Carlton set a personal goal of 25 victories that year. He began to throw the slider again. In his second start of the 1972 season, in a battle between student and teacher, Carlton got the best of his former mentor, Bob Gibson, by tossing a three-hit shutout against the Cardinals. He began the season 3-0. On April 25 he had a 14-strikeout performance against the San Francisco Giants, and on May 7 he struck out 13 Giants and upped his record to 5-1. But he then lost five games in a row and on May 30 his record was 5-6. Then Carlton went on a tear, pitching in 19 games with 15 wins and four no-decisions, and on August 17 his record was 20-6. In this stretch, he posted a WHIP of 0.932, and struck out 8.2 batters per nine innings. He hurled five shutouts and tossed 15 complete games.

On October 3 Carlton’s complete-game victory against the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field made his season record 27-10. The Phillies finished with a record of 59-97, which made them the cellar dwellers in the National League East. Carlton’s ERA for his remarkable campaign was 1.97. He tossed 30 complete games and hurled eight shutouts. Carlton struck out 310 batters and walked 87 in 346⅓ innings. His WHIP was 0.993 and his WAR was 12.1. Teammate Don Money, a third baseman, posted the second highest WAR on the club, a paltry 1.9.

The most impressive stat from Carlton’s 1972 season was 46 percent — he accounted for 46 percent of the Phillies victories. Carlton was a one-man wrecking crew for the Phillies. Not only was he a maestro on the mound, but he was pretty handy with the stick as well. On April 19 he had two hits off his mentor and former teammate Bob Gibson, as the Phillies beat the Cardinals, 1-0. On July 23 the Phillies beat the Dodgers 2-0 on a two-run triple by Carlton. And on September 28 Carlton had a single and an RBI double as the Phillies defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1.

Carlton was the unanimous choice for the 1972 NL Cy Young Award, and he also finished fifth in the MVP voting behind Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Bench.

Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Willie Stargell offered the best metaphor to describe Carlton in 1972: “Sometimes I hit him like I used to hit Koufax, and that’s like drinking coffee with a fork.”7

Historic pitching seasons typically come in the context of a club soaring to championship heights. Lefty Grove, Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax, and Greg Maddux all had such seasons. Carlton’s incredible season was remarkable for many reasons, but the most extraordinary aspect was that while the Phillies were an abysmal failure on a daily basis, he succeeded whenever he got the opportunity. Baseball is a sport centered on the psychology of how players handle failure. Steve Carlton was surrounded by a disastrous Phillies team but he managed extremely well by establishing himself as the best pitcher in the game. He took the ideas put forth by Bob Gibson and turned them into poetry during the summer of ’72.

There was hope that Carlton would deliver an encore performance of his record-breaking 1972 campaign. He started the 1973 season 4-2, but by August 26 he was 11-16 with an ERA of 3.90. There were no memorable highlights to speak of in 1973, but there were a number of lowlights. His best game was a four-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts against the San Diego Padres on May 26. Carlton probably was suffering a tired arm. In ’72 he pitched in 346⅓ innings, the most in his career. After a mediocre 1973, some wondered if he had been a one-season wonder.

Carlton stopped talking to reporters in 1973. Later he would say that speaking to reporters disrupted his concentration and it affected his performance. He never stopped talking to the Philadelphia radio crew, but when he spoke it was only about subjects other than baseball. The silence was so deafening that Braves announcer Ernie Johnson remarked, “The two best pitchers in the National League don’t speak English: Fernando Valenzuela and Steve Carlton.”8

In 1976, Carlton finally found the right mental balance on the mound and won 20 games for a Phillies team that won its first of three straight division titles. He collaborated with trainer Gus Hoefling, who believed in the philosophy that your body is your temple. Under Hoefling’s guidance, Carlton incorporated a grueling training regimen that included martial arts, meditation, and stretching his left arm in a container of rice. Carlton sought to become devoid of emotion. He believed that emotion was subjective and the training was designed to remove any form of distraction that could disrupt his concentration on the mound. The Phillies organization went so far as to build him a $15,000 “mood behavior” room next to the clubhouse. Carlton would sit in this soundproof room and sit on an easy chair staring at a painting for hours. On days off, his teammates would catch Carlton performing martial arts exercises to keep up with his strength training.

On October 9, 1976, Carlton pitched in his first postseason game since the sixth game of the 1968 World Series, as he took the mound for Game One of the NLCS against the Cincinnati Reds. He gave up five runs, four of them earned, struck out six, and walked five in seven innings of work as the Phillies lost 6-3 to Cincinnati. The Reds swept all three games.

In 1977 Carlton won 23 games, made his sixth All-Star team, and won his second Cy Young Award. On August 21, 1977, he struck out 14 as the Phillies beat the Houston Astros, 7-3. Four starts later, Carlton again struck out 14 as the Phillies defeated the Cardinals, 11-4. However, in the 1977 NLCS he was anything but super. In 11⅔ innings of work, including the loss that clinched it for the Dodgers in Game Four, Carlton gave up nine earned runs and had an ERA of 6.94.

In 1978, Carlton produced a 16-13 record for a Phillies team that won its third straight division crown. In 1979, the Phillies fell to fourth place in a tough National League East, but Carlton had a good year. He posted an 18-11 record and made the All-Star team for the seventh time. He pitched two one-hitters. The second was against the Mets on the Fourth of July. The next start, he struck out 14 in a complete-game victory over the Giants.

In 1980 Carlton finally established himself as one the great pitchers in the game. In a year that saw the Phillies fight their way to a World Series title, Carlton produced many incredible highlights. In his fourth start of the year, he pitched a one-hitter against the Cardinals. In his two consecutive starts against the San Diego Padres he struck out 22 in 16 innings. In the 1980 postseason, Carlton went 3-0 with a 2.30 ERA. In the second game of the World Series, against the Kansas City Royals, he gave up 10 hits but struck out 10 and got the win. Carlton returned for Game Six and handcuffed the Royals, 4-1, to help seal the Phillies’ first World Series title.

In the strike-shortened 1981 season Carlton finished third in the Cy Young Award voting behind Dodgers rookie left-hander Fernando Valenzuela.

The next season, 1982, was another banner year for Carlton as he became the first pitcher to win a fourth Cy Young Award. He led all major-league pitchers with 23 wins. He was the leader in strikeouts with 286. He tossed six shutouts and completed 19 games.

In 1983 Carlton posted a record of 15-16 and led the National League in strikeouts with 275 as the Phillies won the National League pennant. In his only World Series appearance, Carlton struck out seven in 6⅔ innings as the Phillies lost Game Three to the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2.

From 1982 to 1984, Carlton competed with Nolan Ryan for the top spot on the all-time strikeout list. The mark to beat was the 3,509 strikeouts of Walter Johnson. Ryan tied the mark on April 27, 1983. With his 3,526th strikeout on June 7, 1983, Carlton surpassed Ryan as the strikeout king. The 1983 season ended with Carlton at the head of the list with 3,709 strikeouts to Ryan’s 3,677. (Eventually Ryan caught up to Carlton and took over as the all-time strikeout king by a considerable margin.)

On September 23, 1983, Carlton went eight innings and got victory number 300, defeating the Cardinals, 6-2. He struck out 12 and picked up his 15th win of the season. By 1985, his skills had diminished considerably. He found himself on the disabled list for the first time in his career with a strain in his rotator cuff. When Carlton was released by the Phillies on June 24, 1986, he was 18 strikeouts short of 4,000. Ten days later he signed with the San Francisco Giants. On August 5 Carlton became the second pitcher to record 4,000 strikeouts as he fanned Eric Davis of the Cincinnati Reds. But his brief tenure with the Giants was mostly unsuccessful, and he was released on August 7, two days after the record strikeout. He went 1-3 with the Giants with a 5.10 ERA. In his only win, he pitched seven shutout innings against the Pirates.

Carlton announced his retirement but it was short-lived. He finished the 1986 season with the Chicago White Sox, going 4-3 with a 3.69 ERA. The White Sox did not offer him a contract for 1987, so he signed on with the Cleveland Indians, where he made history with teammate Phil Niekro as they became the first teammates with 300 wins each to appear in the same game.

The combination was broken up on July 31, 1987, when the Indians traded Carlton to the Minnesota Twins. On August 8, 1987, he got his 329th and final victory as the Twins defeated the Oakland A’s, 9-2. When the Twins won the World Series that year, the team made a customary visit to the White House to receive congratulations from President Reagan. In the photo that was taken of the occasion, all of Carlton’s teammates were listed by name but he was listed as an unidentified Secret Service agent.9

Carlton pitched his final major-league game against the Indians on April 23, 1988. He allowed eight earned runs in five innings of work and was the losing pitcher. Carlton was released by the Twins on April 28 after four games (0-1, 16.76 ERA).

Carlton sought work from another team but found no takers. No one wanted to take a chance on a pitcher who was beyond the twilight of his career. The New York Yankees offered him the use of their training facilities but no spot on their spring-training roster for 1989. He believed that there was a conspiracy by the Twins organization to prevent from ever pitching again. “The Twins set me up to release me by not pitching me and other owners were told to keep their hands off. Other teams wouldn’t even talk to me. I don’t understand it,” Carlton said in a 1994 interview.10 There was no conspiracy. No collusion between teams. Big-league GMs saw what everybody else had seen. Steve Carlton was done.

Carlton retreated to Durango, Colorado, with his wife, Beverly, whom he married in 1965, and spent time riding motorcycles and dirt bikes. He was an avid skier, and devoted hours to poring over his Eastern metaphysical books. His sons Steven and Scott were already grown and living in different states.

And yet, Lefty believed he could still pitch on a major-league level.

In 1994 Carlton was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility with 96 percent of the vote. For a man who refused to entertain reporters’ questions for many years, he called a press conference on the day he was elected. For 45 minutes Carlton spoke at great length on numerous subjects including fear. Prior to his formal enshrinement, Carlton made some controversial comments to writer Pat Jordan in which he declared that the last eight US presidents up to that point were guilty of treason, that AIDS was created by the government to eradicate society of gays and blacks, and that the world was being ruled by the Elders of Zion and Jewish bankers. Carlton’s teammate and closest friend Tim McCarver defended him against charges that he was an anti-Semite. “He is a very complicated person and has a hard time being human,” said McCarver.11

The psychology of Steve Carlton the big-league pitcher was one of pure determination to perfect his craft. He turned a simple game of toss between catcher and pitcher into a mental game of chess within himself. When Carlton finally ended his freeze-out of the press, many were confused by the bizarre nature of his comments, but it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Because of the flawed nature of his introverted personality, Carlton gave the press what he thought they wanted to hear instead of chatting with them on a more personable level. To the press he was a goofy former big-league pitcher content with living a life of isolation in the mountains. To many baseball fans, he was an artist. No one knew the real Steve Carlton.

Nevertheless, when he delivered his Hall of Fame acceptance speech on July 31, 1994, he was greeted enthusiastically by many Phillies fans who had come to pay homage to a man who had provided them with endless amounts of joy during their summers.

In 1998 Carlton and his wife, Beverly, were divorced after 33 years of marriage. That year he was ranked number 30 by The Sporting News among the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. The next year he was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. With his jersey number 32 already retired by the Phillies in 1989, Carlton received another honor as the club unveiled a statue of him outside Citizens Bank Park in 2004.

As of 2017 Carlton was living in Durango. He had reduced his public appearances to charity golf outings and taking part in ceremonial first pitches at Phillies games, the most notable being in 2008, when he tossed out the traditional first pitch prior to Game Three of the World Series between the Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays.

In his 24 years as a major-league pitcher, Carlton finished with a record of 329-244. His career ERA was 3.22. He struck out 4,136 batters, good enough for fourth place on the all-time list. Carlton is the major-league record holder (as of 2017) for pickoffs with 144. He pitched six one-hitters, and started 69 consecutive games in which he pitched at least six innings.

In an interview with Roy Firestone, Carlton was asked, “Why do you think you were put on this earth?”

“To teach the world how to throw a slider,” Carlton replied.12

He was pretty darn good at it.

Last revised: September 1, 2017

This biography is included in “20-Game Losers” (SABR, 2017), edited by Bill Nowlin and Emmet R. Nowlin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted Baseball-reference.com, Stevecarlton.com, and the following:

Fimrite, Ron. “Eliminator of the Variables,” Sports Illustrated, April 9, 1973: 82-89.

Notes

Chris Carpenter spent 15 seasons in major-league baseball, first with the Toronto Blue Jays and then with the St. Louis Cardinals .His won-lost record was 144-94 with an earned-run average of 3.76, and in 2005, his 21-5 season and 2.83 ERA won him the National League’s Cy Young Award. But statistics alone don’t tell the story of Carpenter’s career. His determination to play, despite serious injuries that nearly ended his career on several occasions, impressed both the fans and the writers who covered him. As one columnist said of the right-hander, he was “the epitome of persistence — he won three separate Comeback Player of the Year awards in two seasons — as he missed nearly five full seasons with major arm injuries. He had three surgeries on his elbow and two on his shoulder, and had a rib removed in hopes of making a return from thoracic outlet syndrome, which caused weakness in his pitching shoulder.”1 Few pitchers overcame as many obstacles as Carpenter, and yet there was a time in 2003 when he doubted he’d ever throw a baseball again.2

Christopher John Carpenter was born on April 27, 1975, in Exeter, New Hampshire, the son of Bob and Penny Carpenter.3 Raised in nearby Raymond, he developed a love of sports at a young age: Mentored by his father, whom he credited with teaching him the fundamentals of baseball, he began playing that sport before he was 8, getting involved in Little League and then Babe Ruth League.4 (He also followed the Boston Red Sox faithfully; his favorite players were Roger Clemens and Carlton Fisk.)5 Carpenter attended Trinity High School in Manchester, where he continued to excel at baseball. But he also enjoyed playing hockey: despite being 6-feet-6 (or 6-feet-9 on skates, as his dad jokingly recalled), he was a three-time all-state defenseman, and both the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins scouted him for a possible professional career.6

However, Carpenter’s first choice was baseball. A versatile athlete who could both play the outfield and pitch, he was one of the star players on the Trinity High Pioneers team. By his senior year, baseball scouts rated him in the top 10 among high-school pitchers,7 and local newspapers were predicting that he would be drafted.8 But taking nothing for granted, Chris had signed a letter of intent to attend Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, on a baseball scholarship. As it turned out, going to Nebraska would not be necessary: The Blue Jays drafted him in the first round, as the 15th overall pick. Local sports reporters who had followed his high-school career noted that Carpenter was the first New Hampshire baseball player ever selected in the first round of the amateur draft.9

The 18-year-old right-hander received a signing bonus of more than $500,000 from the Jays, and the team also promised to pay for his education if he decided to go to college.10 As he prepared to report to Dunedin, Florida, home of Toronto’s rookie and Class-A teams, his future looked bright. Ted Lekas, the Jays’ scouting supervisor, said he believed Carpenter had all the tools to be on a major-league team, and the young pitcher agreed with that assessment; in fact, he predicted he’d be in the majors within four years.11

In 1994 Carpenter made his professional debut, pitching for the Medicine Hat (Alberta) Blue Jays in the rookie-level Pioneer League; he won six and lost three, with a 2.76 earned-run average. The following year, he began the season with the Dunedin Blue Jays in the Florida State League; he went 3-5, with an ERA of 2.17, and opposing teams batted only .229 against him. This earned Carpenter a midseason promotion to the Knoxville Smokies of the Double-A Southern League.12 His record there was just 3-7, with a 5.18 ERA. When he returned to Knoxville for the 1996 season, Carpenter was determined to improve, and he did. His record was 7-9 with a 3.94 ERA.

In 1997 Carpenter was in Triple A, pitching for the Syracuse Sky Chiefs. But prior to reporting, he had the chance to meet one of his childhood heroes, Roger Clemens, who was now with the Blue Jays; when Carpenter arrived early at the Jays training camp in Dunedin in early February, there was Clemens, the man he had emulated even as a Little Leaguer. Carpenter was just 11 when Clemens won his first Cy Young Award in 1986, and he wanted to be as good a pitcher as the Red Sox ace. “When I thought of baseball, I thought of Roger Clemens,” Carpenter recalled. He also remembered how he would pretend to be Clemens when pitching in an important Little League game.13 Now, more than a decade later, the two were at spring training together; and in the future, they might be major-league teammates.

But there was no plan to hurry Carpenter along: the Blue Jays, while impressed with his potential, felt he still needed more time in the minor leagues. At Syracuse, Carpenter’s fastball continued to impress, but he was still learning to improve command of his curveball and changeup. He was only 1-4, with a 3.88 ERA in early May, when something unexpected happened: Toronto pitcher Erik Hanson developed shoulder trouble, and after his replacement, Robert Person, also got a sore shoulder,14 Carpenter was suddenly on his way to Toronto to make his major-league debut.15

It did not go well. Pitching against the Minnesota Twins on May 12, 1997, he lasted only three innings, giving up seven runs (five earned) and eight hits, as the Jays lost to the Twins 12-2. Carpenter was the losing pitcher.16 In his brief time with the Jays, he was 0-2, with a less-than-impressive 12.71 ERA.17 When Person was able to come off the disabled list, Carpenter was optioned back to Syracuse.18 On the other hand, reporters observed that the 21-year-old pitcher had good stuff, and with some more experience, he would undoubtedly do much better the next time he was called up.

In late July Carpenter’s record with Syracuse was 4-9, with a 4.50 ERA, but local baseball writers noted that his record was deceptive — the Sky Chiefs’ poor defense and lack of timely hitting had cost him several games, yet despite that, he had shown steady improvement.19 The writers believed Carpenter would get called up again soon, and Chris was confident that this time things would go better.

On July 29 Carpenter was recalled by the Blue Jays, but it would take a few more starts (and several more losses) before he finally got his first major-league win, on August 19, when the Jays defeated the Chicago White Sox 6-5. Carpenter gave up four runs in six innings, but a win was a win, and he was happy to get one. As the season progressed, he used every available moment to soak up additional information about the art of pitching from the team’s veterans,20 and gradually he began to show improvement. On September 9 he gave his best major-league performance, beating the Anaheim Angels, 2-0. It was his first shutout and his first complete game, and he gave up just three hits; only two runners reached second base.21

Carpenter finished the season with an overall record of 3-7 and an ERA of 5.09, much of that the result of his early outings. When the Jays began the 1998 season, he was in the starting rotation, eager to build on what he had learned during his rookie year. He made 24 starts that year, compiling a record of 12-7, with a 4.37 ERA. Most of those wins came in the second half of the year; he went 6-1 over a period from July through September. His manager, Tim Johnson, stated that Carpenter was showing an ability to use all of his pitches consistently; Johnson also stated with certainty, “He’ll be a quality pitcher for years.”22

As the 1999 season approached, Carpenter seemed poised to have a breakout season. He was about to be part of a rotation that featured Roy Halladay, Kelvim Escobar, Pat Hentgen and David Wells. Although Chris had a couple of minor health problems in 1998 (including several weeks during spring training when he had some tightness in his shoulder,23 and a time in the late summer when he saw an asthma specialist after experiencing some breathing problems),24 neither situation caused any lasting effects. During April and May of 1999, Carpenter led all Jays pitchers in innings pitched and complete games and was the only starter with an ERA under five — his was 3.63.25 Then, without warning, in early June he suddenly began to experience soreness in his elbow. He ended up on the 15-day disabled list, then did a rehab start at Class-A St. Catharine’s (Ontario), and prepared to rejoin the Jays.26

But although he said he felt good, his pitching was once again inconsistent, and he was having problems with control.27 As it turned out, his elbow was not 100 percent after all. He decided to see a specialist to find out why he continued to experience recurring pain. The Jays’ trainer thought it might be a bone spur, and that meant surgery would be needed.28 Carpenter finished 1999 with a record of 9-8 and a 4.38 ERA. In the offseason, he had elbow surgery, after which he worked on strengthening his arm, and said he would be ready for the 2000 season.29 But just like before, he pitched inconsistently; in early May, he was 3-3 with a 4.50 ERA. He insisted he was fine, but some players who knew him suspected he was in more pain than he wanted to admit.30 Carpenter soldiered on throughout 2000, but he rarely was the dominant pitcher everyone hoped for. He was in and out of the starting rotation, and he finished up with a losing record, 10-12 with an unimpressive 6.26 ERA. By this point, fans and baseball writers alike were wondering why he continued to underachieve. Said one reporter, Carpenter was one of several pitchers on the Jays who were “long on potential but short on performance.”31 No one, including Chris Carpenter himself, had a good explanation.

In fairness, Carpenter was playing for a team that had endured quite a bit of management turmoil. By spring training of 2001, the Jays were on their fourth manager and coaching staff since Carpenter’s major-league debut, and along the way, several of the coaches insisted on changing his mechanics in hopes of addressing his inconsistency.32 But Carpenter refused to make excuses. He was now 25, had plenty of major-league experience under his belt, and he wanted to step up and become the team’s ace. At times during the early part of the season, he seemed ready to do just that, like when he overpowered the White Sox in late May, pitching a six-hit shutout and boosting his record to 5-2.33 But then the inconsistency and loss of control recurred and he began losing (and giving up too many runs). In early August, Carpenter’s record was 7-9 with a 4.33 ERA, he hadn’t won a game since late June, and he admitted he had lost command of his curveball.34 Carpenter was unable to turn things around until late August, when he finally won a game, pitching seven shutout innings in the Jays’ 5-0 victory over Baltimore — his first win in 11 starts. For the remainder of the season, Carpenter once again pitched well, and brought his record up to 11-11, with a 4.09 ERA; he also pitched a career-high 215⅔ innings.

In the offseason, with his three-year contract up, Carpenter found that the Jays’ new management (general manager Gord Ash was gone, replaced by J.P. Ricciardi) was not as accommodating as the previous management had been. The Jays refused to give him a multiyear deal, nor did they offer him the kind of money he had hoped to make. In fact, his agent believed Carpenter’s days with Toronto were numbered.35 In the end, the Jays and Carpenter avoided salary arbitration, but he was signed to only a one-year contract, worth $3.45 million, less than the $4.5 million he wanted.36

And yet again, it was a difficult year for Carpenter. In early April, after a game in which he gave up four home runs in less than three innings, he was put on the disabled list with shoulder tendinitis (which he admitted had begun during spring training).37 He returned, but ended up on the DL again — in fact, he was on it a total of three times, as his shoulder continued to bother him throughout the season. By early September, Chris had a record of 4-5 and a 5.28 ERA, and he had pitched only 73⅓ innings for the Jays. The team announced that the hard-luck pitcher would need surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder, and even if everything went well, he would not be able to pitch for at least nine months. But few of the beat reporters in Toronto expected to see Carpenter in a Jays uniform again. With his contract up again, the consensus was that Carpenter’s time with the Blue Jays was over.38 In his six years with the Jays, he had compiled a record of 49-50, with a 4.83 ERA. Few people thought that was all he was capable of. Perhaps a new start would be for the best.

As it turned out, those who predicted Carpenter’s time with Toronto had ended were correct. When the Jays wanted to assign him to Triple-A Syracuse, Carpenter instead decided to test the free-agent market. It was a good decision: The day after he severed ties with the Jays, the St. Louis Cardinals made him an offer. Even though he would be unable to pitch till at least July of 2003, the Cardinals guaranteed $300,000, which would grow to $500,000 as soon as he was put on the active roster that year.39 There was also a $2 million option for 2004.40 Best of all, he would not have to go to the minors and work his way back to the big leagues. Carpenter expressed frustration at the previous couple of seasons, and especially at his inability to improve his won-lost record. And while he and his wife loved Toronto, he agreed that it was time for a change.

Things did not go the way either Carpenter or his new team planned. Instead of being able to come back to the Cardinals in July, there were unexpected complications. The team had sent him to do a quick rehab stint in late June, first for the Class-A Palm Beach Cardinals, and then at the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds. When he took the mound for the Redbirds, Carpenter gave up three runs and four hits in the first inning, and he definitely did not look ready for the majors. Rather than rush him, it was decided he needed more time in the minors.41 But when Carpenter did not pitch any better in a subsequent rehab appearance, the Cardinals grew concerned. They had good reason. Not only was he giving up a lot of runs, he was once again feeling discomfort in his surgically repaired shoulder. He was sent to St. Louis to get an MRI, and Cardinals manager Tony La Russa acknowledged that it was unlikely Carpenter would pitch for the team in 2003.42

The test results confirmed La Russa’s assessment. Carpenter needed additional surgery, this time to remove scar tissue from his shoulder. The operation took place in late July, and the Cardinals said that once this was taken care of, he would be ready for spring training in 2004.43 Of course, this was not what St. Louis fans had hoped for. The Cardinals needed pitching, and Carpenter had been expected to help the team in 2003. Now, everyone would have to wait and see, and some fans were skeptical about whether the team had made the right decision to sign him. But showing they still believed Carpenter would come back and contribute positively, the Cardinals gave him another one-year contract, with terms similar to the last year’s, and additional incentives once he had reached 10 starts. GM Walt Jocketty expressed confidence that in 2004 Carpenter would be one of the team’s starters.44

And after living through so many disappointments and setbacks, Carpenter was eager to get some results. He was also confident that this surgery had worked: Back home in New Hampshire, he was pitching to some college players, and noticed that his pitches had the kind of movement they used to have before his arm trouble. His location was back, and he could even throw his changeup for strikes.45 Before this most recent surgery, he had considered retiring, concerned that the constant pain would never go away and he would never be able to pitch effectively again.46 It was his wife, Alyson, who encouraged him and persuaded him not to quit,47 and now, finally, he was pain-free. He was optimistic again, and he couldn’t wait to get to spring training. And when Cardinals players saw how good Carpenter’s stuff was, they were optimistic too.

In fact, 2004 turned out to be the kind of year people had long believed Carpenter was capable of. His velocity and command were back, and he pitched 182 innings, going 15-5, with a 3.46 ERA. The Cardinals were heading for the playoffs, and everyone was excited to see what Carpenter would do. But once again there was a roadblock. In late September Carpenter began feeling pain in the biceps in his throwing arm. Resting it did not help; there was some kind of nerve irritation in the arm, and neither the team doctor nor the specialist could predict when it would get better.48 The Cardinals waited to see if Carpenter would be available during the playoffs, but he never was. The team subsequently lost the World Series to the Red Sox, much to the frustration of the fans, who had been excited by Carpenter’s 2004 comeback and disappointed that he couldn’t pitch in the postseason.

No one was more frustrated and disappointed than Carpenter. While Red Sox fans rejoiced in their first World Series win in 86 years, Cardinals fans wondered if he would ever stay healthy for a full season. Meanwhile, Carpenter won The Sporting News’ Comeback Player of the Year award for 2004, a year before a similar award was given by Major League Baseball.49 But better than winning an award was the fact that resting his arm had allowed the nerve disorder to heal; Carpenter returned to the Cardinals once again able to throw without pain.50 He looked so good in spring training that manager LaRussa named him the Cardinals’ Opening Day starter. He did not disappoint, pitching seven innings of four-hit, one-run baseball in a 7-3 victory over Houston.51

It was a preview of things to come. By the All-Star break Carpenter had 128 strikeouts and 13 wins, one of which was against his former team, the Blue Jays; he overpowered them, throwing a one-hitter in an interleague game the Cardinals won 7-0.52 When players were named for the All-Star Game, Carpenter was selected It was his first time, and La Russa chose him as the National League’s starting pitcher. He gave up two hits, induced a double play, and pitched a scoreless inning.

Throughout the rest of 2005, Carpenter’s pitching was outstanding; no one used words like “mediocre” or “underachiever” any more. Now, he was “brilliant” and “dominant and his teammates praised his focus, his intensity, and his desire to win. He was so overpowering that he did not lose a game in 16 starts from June 14 to September 8; during that period, he went 13-0 with a 1.36 earned-run average.53 His final four outings were subpar, but he still ended the season with a record of 21-5 and a personal best 2.83 ERA. Carpenter’s peers voted him the winner of a Players Choice Award, as the National League’s Outstanding Pitcher.54 Carpenter also won the Cy Young Award; he beat out Florida Marlins left-hander Dontrelle Willis in a close vote. His career had totally turned around — from a time in 2003 when he thought he would never play again to being honored as the National League’s best pitcher in 2005. He was now making $13 million (a far cry from the $500,000 he had signed for), but many reporters noted that compared with some other star pitchers, he was quite underpaid. Carpenter said he didn’t mind; he was healthy, he was winning, and he felt he was with the right team.55

In May 2006 Carpenter made another sudden trip to the disabled list, but this time it wasn’t his arm. He had experienced back spasms in April, and they had never improved; he now had some stiffness in the shoulder area, and was finally diagnosed with bursitis. It was affecting his mechanics, and some time on the DL seemed prudent, given his history.56 When he returned in June, he felt better, and he gave the Cardinals some quality starts; but at several points during the season, he had to leave games with painful cramping in his arms or legs, said to be caused by dehydration.57 And while he didn’t put up Cy Young numbers, he still finished with a solid record: 15-8 and a 3.09 ERA in 221⅔ innings; more importantly, whenever the Cardinals needed a big win from him, he usually produced, including during the playoffs. For example, although the Cards barely made it into the postseason, Carpenter gave them 6⅓ innings of clutch pitching in Game One of the NLDS versus San Diego; he was the winning pitcher, allowing five hits and one run in the Cardinals’ 5-1 victory. That win improved Carpenter’s lifetime playoff record to 3-0, with an ERA of 1.98. Meanwhile, the Cardinals began to play like champs, defeating the Detroit Tigers in five games in the World Series. And one of the Cardinals’ wins came from Chris Carpenter, who pitched eight shutout innings in Game Three, giving up only three hits as the Cardinals won 5-0.

But nothing ever was simple in Chris Carpenter’s career. When he came to spring training in 2007, he soon began to experience elbow stiffness, soreness, and inflammation. He was diagnosed with arthritis and an MRI showed bone spurs. It was hoped that a cortisone shot and some rest would be all that was needed.58 But the elbow did not improve, and by May it became obvious that Carpenter would need surgery to remove the bone spurs. The hope was that he would return to the Cardinals in about three months.59 But in July management admitted that its original optimistic report was inaccurate. In fact, not only was Carpenter not coming back in August; he needed additional elbow surgery, to replace his medial collateral ligament, better known as Tommy John surgery. He would probably miss much of 2008.60 This was a major disappointment for the fans, the team, and of course, for Carpenter, who had hoped his arm troubles were behind him.

By mid-July of 2008 Carpenter was far enough along in his recovery to begin an injury rehab assignment; he pitched four pain-free innings for the Double-A Springfield (Missouri) Cardinals, and while he did not have his command back yet, the outing was encouraging. In fact, Cardinals said he would return to the team at the end of the month. He made several appearances with the Cardinals, and all seemed to be going well; but then, in mid-August, Carpenter experienced soreness in his triceps area. Again, he had to go see the specialists. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the diagnosis was just a mild muscle strain on the back side of his right shoulder. But it still meant another trip to the DL, certainly not what Carpenter had hoped. And there was worse news: Tests showed nerve irritation in his shoulder, and he was told not to pitch any more in 2008.61 He also required one more surgery, to reduce pressure on a compressed nerve in his shoulder. It was becoming increasingly difficult for Carpenter to remain positive. All he wanted to do was pitch, but it seemed there was one obstacle after another.

Still, Carpenter persevered. He was back at spring training in 2009, and early indications were that his velocity had returned. He returned to the Cardinals’ rotation, determined to win games and not worry about his arm. The season brought him some much-needed good news: he threw well, and looked like the dominant pitcher everyone saw in 2005. In fact, from early July through mid-August of 2009, he was 7-0 in eight starts, with an ERA of 1.67.62 And at season’s end, he had an impressive 17-4 record, with a league-leading ERA of 2.24. And there was one other interesting note: In early October, on the last day of the season, Carpenter (a .105 lifetime hitter as of 2009) hit a grand slam and knocked in six runs in a game the Cardinals won 13-0 against the Cincinnati Reds.63 In early October Carpenter was voted the National League’s Comeback Player of the Year. Some of the baseball writers also expected Chris to win another Cy Young, but he lost out to San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum. The vote was very close, and not everyone agreed with the decision.64 But Carpenter’s amazing season also earned him other accolades: In January 2010 the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America announced it had unanimously chosen him for the 20th annual Tony Conigliaro Award, given to “a Major League player who has overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination and courage.”65

The 2010 season saw Carpenter continuing to put up good numbers. He was 35 now, but just as his injuries hadn’t stopped him, neither did his age. He made a league-leading 35 starts, finishing at 16-9 and a 3.22 ERA. But he pitched one complete game, and said that at times he felt uncomfortable with his mechanics.66 In 2011 he was once again the Cardinals’ Opening Day pitcher, the fifth time he had been chosen.67 During the season, he was sometimes inconsistent, but he came up big when the Cardinals needed him to. And he was still a workhorse: Carpenter led the National League with 237⅓ innings pitched. His record was 11-9, with a 3.45 earned-run average. But he was especially dominant during the Cardinals’ pennant drive late in the season. Then, in Game Five of the NLDS, Carpenter outpitched his friend and former Blue Jays teammate Roy Halladay, throwing a three-hitter and winning, 1-0. Throughout the playoffs, he continued to win big games, including giving the Cards six-plus innings on only three days’ rest in Game Seven of the World Series, helping his team to defeat the Texas Rangers and win the Series again. Carpenter’s hometown newspaper, the Manchester (New Hampshire) Union Leader, editorialized that he was the epitome of good sportsmanship, competitiveness, and character, someone that every young athlete could emulate.68

In 2012, however, Carpenter was injured again, this time with a nerve problem that affected his rotator cuff. Determined to continue pitching, he agreed to another surgical procedure, but he made only three starts that year, and was winless. Things did not improve for him in 2013, when he experienced periods of numbness in his pitching hand. He was unsuccessful in completing a rehab assignment. Finally, Carpenter decided there was no point in living with continued pain that made it impossible for him to be effective. In November 2013 he announced his retirement. In spite of all the injuries, he compiled an impressive record during his major-league career: 144 wins and 94 losses (he went 95-44 with the Cardinals), with an ERA of 3.76 and 1,697 strikeouts. He had won a Cy Young Award, been named Comeback Player of the Year, played on three All-Star teams, and was on two championship World Series teams.69 Not bad for a young man from Raymond, New Hampshire, who almost became a hockey player. After his playing days ended, the popular Carpenter was given a job in the Cardinals’ front office, but he left that position after only a year; he told reporters he had been going through some personal changes (including getting divorced, and ultimately remarrying), and did not feel he was able to focus on what the organization needed. He hoped to come back to the Cardinals in some capacity in the future.70 In 2016 he was voted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.

Last revised: March 1, 2017

Notes

1 Jim Connell, “Carpenter at Home on the Sidelines,” Springfield (Missouri) News-Leader, January 24, 2015:D1.

2 Lori Shontz, “Pitching on Wife Support.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 30, 2004: D1.

3 Joe Strauss, “That’s a Winner,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 16, 2005: D1.

4 Ronald Blum, “American League Stars Shine Bright in Detroit,” Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Herald, July 13, 2005: B1-2.

5 “Chris Carpenter, Toronto Blue Jays Pitcher,” Hamilton (Ontario) Spectator, July 2, 1999: E6.

6 Joe Strauss, “That’s a Winner,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 16, 2005: D1.

7 Tom King, “Welch Now a Met,” Nashua (New Hampshire) Telegraph, June 4, 1993: 23.

8 “Area High Schools: Baseball,” Nashua Telegraph, April 17, 1993: 18.

9 “Trinity’s Carpenter Signs With the Jays,” Nashua Telegraph, August 12, 1993: 27.

10 Ibid.

11 “Jays Come to Terms With NH Prospect,” Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun, August 12, 1993: 26.

12 “A Walk Through the Parks,” Toronto Globe and Mail, June 27, 1995: C4.

13 Matt Michael, “SkyChief Prospect Idolizes Clemens,” Syracuse (New York) Post-Standard, March 27, 1997: C1.

14 S.P. Services, “Expos Mighty Pleased with 5-4 Coast Record,” Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) Star-Phoenix, May 12, 1997: C4.

15 John Benson, “New Faces Offer Rotisserie Risks and Opportunities,” Stamford (Connecticut) Daily Advocate, May 18, 1997: C2.

16 “Twins Get Back on Victory Lane,” Aberdeen (South Dakota) Daily News, May 13, 1997: 4C.

17 Matt Michael, “Struggling Syracuse Gets Help,” Syracuse Herald-Journal, May 28, 1997: C3.

18 “Transactions,” Stamford Daily Advocate, May 28, 1997: C5.

19 Matt Michael, “Carpenter Twirls a Dandy, But SkyChiefs Fall,” Syracuse Herald-American, July 13, 1997: C8.

20 Richard Griffin, “Rookie Pitcher Carpenter Could Be the Real Deal,” Toronto Star, August 21, 1997: D6.

21 “Toronto Led by Young Lineup,” Lawrence (Kansas) Journal-World, September 10, 1997: 4C.

22 Scot Gregor, “Blue Jays Carpenter Silences Belle, Rest of White Sox,” Daily Herald (Arlington Heights Illinois), July 17, 1998: Section 2, p. 3.

23 Tom Maloney, “Guzman’s the Wild Card in Jays’ Rotation,” Kitchener (Ontario) Record, February 18, 1998: E5.

24 “Carpenter Works on Control — Of His Mind,” Toronto Star, August 12, 1998: 1.

25 “Baseball: Hurting Jays Lose Top Starter,” Kingston (Ontario) Whig-Standard, June 7, 1999: 19.

26 Chris Jones, “It Was Only Class-A, but It Was a Game Worth Catching,” The National Post (Don Mills, Ontario), June 24, 1999: B16.

27 Robert MacLeod, “Texas Hitters Hammer Carpenter,” Toronto Globe and Mail, August 28, 1999: A21.

28 “Carpenter Sees Specialist,” Toronto Star, September 14, 1999: 1.

29 “Blue Jays Starting Rotation on the Mend,” Alaska Highway News (Fort St. John, British Columbia), February 21, 2000: 8.

30 Geoff Baker, “Walking Wounded Straddle a Fine Line,” Toronto Star, May 30, 2000: C7.

31Bob Matthews, “Indians Will Return to Prominence,” Rockford (Illinois) Register Star, March 31, 2001: 6C.

32 Mark Zwolinski, “Carpenter Out to Rebuild Reputation,” Guelph (Ontario) Daily Mercury, February 27, 2001: B4.

33 “Carpenter Whitewashes Sox,” Chatham (Ontario) Daily News, May 30, 2001: 11.

34 “Carpenter Needs Work,” Timmins (Ontario) Daily Press, August 3, 2001: 9.

35 Allan Ryan, “Blue Jays’ Carpenter Feels Chill in Post-Ash Era,” Toronto Star, January 19, 2002: E4.

36 Richard Griffin, “Who Loves Ya, Chris? Not the Blue Jays,” Toronto Star, February 14, 2002: C18.

37 “Blue Jays: Carpenter Placed on Disabled List,” Kingston Whig-Standard, April 8, 2002: 18.

38 Richard Griffin, “Carpenter’s Cut Leaves Jays in a Quandary,” Toronto Star, September 5, 2002: D2.

39 “Carpenter Signs With Cardinals,” Barrie (Ontario) Examiner, December 14, 2002: B1.

40 Drew Olson, “Job One: Keeping Your Own,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 14, 2002: 6C.

41 Joe Strauss, “Knee Pain Again Gives Drew Cause for Concern,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 6, 2003: F9.

42 Joe Strauss, “Jocketty Won’t Deal for Pitcher Right Now,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 24, 2003: D5.

43 “Cards Pitcher Carpenter’s Season Is Over Following More Surgery,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 6, 2003: D5.

44 Joe Strauss, “Cards Still Like Carpenter’s Tools,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 2, 2003: D2.

45 Dan O’Neill. “Cards Hitters Say This Carpenter Is Electric,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 28, 2004:OT5.

46 Tom D’Angelo, “Carpenter Retools,” Palm Beach Post, March 2, 2004: 8C.

47 Lori Shontz, “Pitching on Wife Support,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 30, 2004: D1.

48 Derrick Goold, “Pitchers’ Injuries Strike Raw Nerve,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 8, 2004: C4.

49 Gary Gillette and Pete Palmer, eds., ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia (New York: Sterling Publishing, 2007), 1769.

50 Joe Strauss, “Carpenter Bounces Back,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 21, 2005: D1.

51 Derrick Goold, “Carpenter’s Opening Effort Draws Accolades,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 6, 2005: B5.

52 “Carpenter, the Ace That Got Away, Rips Apart Blue Jays,” Peace River Daily News (Dawson Creek, British Columbia), June 15, 2005: 6.

53 Pat Borzi, “Cardinals’ Top Starters Not Strong to Finish,” New York Times, October 4, 2005: D4.

54 Derrick Goold, “Players Honor Cards’ Carpenter,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 4, 2005: D3.

55 Joe Strauss, “No-Brainer for Carpenter,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 19, 2006: D1.

56 Joe Strauss, “Cards Will Put Carpenter on DL,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 29, 2006: D5.

57 Derrick Goold, “Muscles Cramp Carpenter’s Style,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 27, 2006: D5.

58 Derrick Goold, “To Help Heal His Aching Elbow, Carpenter Must Rest,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 14, 2007: B7.

59 “Cards’ Ace May Be Out Until August,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 6, 2007: D12.

60 Joe Strauss, “Season Ends for Cards Pitcher,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 20, 2007: D1.

61 “Cards Drop in Wild-Card Race,” Toronto Globe and Mail, September 13, 2008: S3.

62 “Pujols, Holliday Back Carpenter to Topple Reds,” Fort Wayne (Indiana) Journal-Gazette, August 13, 2009: B4.

63 Rick Hummel, “Carp Uses His Hammer” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 2, 2009, C1.

64 Joe Strauss, “Sigh! It’s Lincecum’s Cy; Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright Finish Second and Third in Cy Young Voting,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 20, 2009: C1.

65 Neil Keefe, “Chris Carpenter Wins 2009 Tony Conigliaro Award,” Online at nesn.com/2010/01/chris-carpenter-wins-2009-tony-conigliaro-award/.

66 Joe Strauss, “Mad on the Mound,” St Louis Post-Dispatch, March 13, 2011: C1.

67 Derrick Goold, “Carpenter Set to Go First,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 31, 2011: C5.

68 “Cheering Carpenter: Elite Talent, Elite Ethic,” Manchester Union Leader, October 23, 2011. Online at unionleader.com/article/20111023/OPINION01/710239971/0/.

69 Derrick Goold, “End of an Era as Carpenter Retires,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 21, 2013. Online at stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/end-of-an-era-as-carpenter-retires/article_fa898878-d869-59d8-9207-94b978f26642.html.

70 Rich Hummel, “Hall of Fame Induction Special for Carpenter,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 28, 2016: C9.

The pitcher who made the great Mickey Mantle reluctant to step into the batter’s box was the one and only Dean Chance. Mantle uttered his memorable quote during Chance’s remarkable 1964 season. As sportswriter Phil Pepe wrote that year, “It’s Chance, not CBS, who owns the New York Yankees. Lock, stock and barrel.”2 Chance pitched 50 innings against the Yankees that year, allowing only 14 hits and one run, a homer by Mantle. In five starts he threw four complete games and three shutouts, going 4-0 with a 0.18 ERA. In his only no decision, on Saturday, June 6 at Chavez Ravine, Chance was matched up against Jim Bouton. The two aces matched zeros for 13 innings, before Bouton was removed. Chance pitched one more inning before departing after the 14th inning. The Yankees scored twice against the Angels bullpen in the 15th and won 2-0.

For the record, Mantle went 13-53 against Chance over his career, a .245 average with a .403 on base percentage and a .415 slugging average, though he did homer three times. Chance’s years of stardom were few, but he had many memorable moments while they lasted.

Wilmer Dean Chance was born on June 1, 1941 in the farming community of Wooster, Ohio, where his family owned a 166-acre dairy farm. When he wasn’t milking cows, Chance was playing sports — as a gangly pitcher and basketball forward, he made his name at Northwestern High School. One report said that Chance pitched 18 no-hit games during high school and lost only once. He was also an all-state basketball player who received 100 college offers.3 The Baltimore Orioles were building up their farm system in those days, and in 1959 they signed Chance out of high school for $30,000.

Chance pitched for two seasons in the Orioles farm system, for the 1959 Bluefield Orioles of the Class D Appalachian League, and in 1960 for the Fox Cities Foxes of the Class B Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League, winning 22 games in total. After the 1960 season American League teams had to make decisions on which players to expose in an expansion draft, hastily put together to stock the two new teams being formed in Washington and Los Angeles. The Orioles considered Chance too brash, and they ultimately chose to protect fellow pitcher Arne Thorsland instead of Chance. On December 14, 1960, the new Washington Senators selected Chance with the 48th pick in the draft. Chance did not have long to get comfortable with his new team, as that same day the Senators traded Chance to their fellow expansion team, the Los Angeles Angels, for outfielder Joe Hicks.

Soon after the draft he married Judy Larson on January 14, 19614, with Thorsland serving as his best man. (Thorsland hurt his arm the next spring and did not win another professional game.5) Dean and Judy had a son Brett Dean, born in 1962. The couple later divorced.

Chance was a big man at 6’3” and weighed 204 pounds, with striking blue eyes and brown hair. On the mound, Chance threw a sinking fastball, a sweeping curve, and a slider. He had a good fastball and could also throw a changeup screwball.6 During his delivery he turned his back to the hitter. Over his career, right-handed batters hit .223 and left-handed batters hit .248 against him. He had particularly wonderful control against the Yankees. Author Arnold Hano said that Mickey Mantle had a hard time hitting him because Chance threw pitches low and outside at the knee. At that point in his career, Mantle could not get under the ball. Chance had a swing arm motion, a three-quarters delivery. He never threw pitches above the waist. He was able to pitch like a smaller man, pitched with a bent body.7

Chance began the 1961 season with the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers in the Triple-A American Association, posting a 9-12 record with a 3.66 ERA. The team included Jim Fregosi and Bob Rodgers, and all three of them were called up to the Angels later that season. Chance pitched five games, losing his two decisions and recording a 6.87 ERA in just 18 1/3 innings.

Dean Chance met Bo Belinsky for the first time in spring training in Clearwater, Florida, in 1959. Chance had a car and he let Belinsky use it. When the Angels selected Belinsky from the Orioles in the Rule 5 Draft on November 27, 1961, and the two subsequently made the Angels in 1962, they became teammates and then roomed together during the 1963 and 1964 seasons.

Belinsky grew up poor in Trenton, New Jersey, and became a pool hustler at a young age, but his strong left arm eventually got him into organized baseball. At 6’2” and 191 pounds, Belinsky was movie star handsome, with a winning personality and charm that made him quite successful with the opposite sex.

Belinsky, with zero big league experience, immediately made a splash by holding out for more money, an announcement he made at a poolside press conference. He settled, and won his first five starts, including a no-hitter against the Orioles on May 5. He was soon big news, pushing Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale off the front pages of the Los Angeles sports section. He made the acquaintance of gossip columnist Walter Winchell, who attended the no-hitter, and soon got to know much of the Hollywood jet set.

Belinsky and Chance were often seen driving around town in Belinsky’s candy-apple-red Cadillac, a gift from a car dealership after his no-hitter. Bo soon slumped and finished with a 10-11 record. “Dean and I were a marriage made in heaven or hell,” Belinsky later said. “I saw Chance in spring training in 1962 with a wife and kid. Some guys belong with a wife and kid. Dean and me just didn’t belong with a wife and kid, especially in Hollywood.”8 Chance said of Belinsky, “Nobody made it with girls the way Bo did. I never learned his secret, but I enjoyed trying.”9

Belinsky made the rounds in Hollywood, dating stars like Ann-Margret, Tina Louise, Juliet Prowse, and Connie Stevens, among others. He had a much-publicized engagement with Mamie Van Doren, then broke it off. He married Jo Collins, Playboy’s Playmate of the Year for 1965, and later paper heiress Janie Weyerhauser.10 In the meantime, his career never lived up to the success he enjoyed over his first five big league starts.

On the other hand, Dean Chance, the other half of the playboy twosome, became a star. Chance was a workhorse starter, who pitched over 200 innings a season for seven straight years beginning in 1962, twice leading the American League in most innings pitched. In their maiden season of 1961 the Angels finishing a surprisingly strong 70-91, finishing 8th in a 10-team league. The Angels played in hitter-friendly Wrigley Field in Los Angeles and swatted out 189 homers.

When Dodger Stadium opened in 1962, the Angels became tenants of the Dodgers and played their home games there through the 1965 season. When the Angels played their home games the park was referred to as Chavez Ravine.

The season of 1962 was a great one for both Chance and the Angels. At the end of August, the Angels were in third place, only three and a half games behind the league-leading New York Yankees. The Angles remained in third, winning 86 games and finishing 10 games behind, a remarkable season for a second year expansion team. Several expansion franchises have experienced many losing seasons before becoming competitive but the Angles bucked that trend and Chance was one of the main reasons why. He led the team in victories with 14 and posted a 2.96 ERA. He pitched in 50 games and started 24. He finished third in the American League’s Rookie of the Year balloting.

The 1963 season was one of growing pains for both the Angels and Chance. The team won 70 games and dropped to 9th place in the 10-team league. Chance finished 13-18 with a 3.19 ERA. He pitched in 45 games with 35 starts, one behind team leader Ken McBride.

Chance put it all together for the 1964 Angels, who won 82 games and moved up to fifth place. Due partly to a blister on his pitching hand, Chance started slowly, starting only three games as of May 15 and he sported a 5-5 record on July 1st. Beginning on July 11, he pitched three consecutive complete game shutouts and never looked back, finishing 15-4 over the remainder of the year. His first half ERA was an excellent 2.18, but he topped that with an astonishing 1.29 in the second half.11 Of his 20 victories, 11 were shutouts, including five games by a 1-0 score. He finished 11-3 at home with a 1.07 ERA. After the season Chance was rewarded with the Cy Young Award, at the time given out to only one pitcher in baseball.

After the 1964 season the Angels traded Belinsky to the Phillies, partly due to his fight with a Los Angeles Times reporter. Full of promise two years earlier, the Angels decided that his performance did not justify all the off-field problems. The Angels slipped to 75 wins and 7th place in 1965, and Chance dropped to a respectable 15-10 with a 3.15 ERA in 226 innings. In 1966 the Angels moved into their own ballpark, Anaheim Stadium, and led the league with an attendance of 1.4 million. In their new digs the Angels won 80 games, while Chance finished 12-17 with a 3.08 ERA.

Chance remarked after the season, “I think it is only natural for any man who has enjoyed a great year in any business to attempt to come back to it. However, it is not until the breaks start going against you that you begin to press. Sure, I’ve been pressing but I wasn’t at the start.” Angels pitching coach Marv Grissom said, “I still believe Dean is capable of throwing a shutout every time he starts. If I knew why he doesn’t, I’d retire a millionaire.” Chance earned an annual salary of $47,000 in 1965 and 1966. The Angels offered a cut of 23% to $36,000 for 1967. He reflected, “I deserve and expect to be cut the full amount. All I’ve done this season is qualify for comeback-of-the-year honors. Maybe a salary cut will give me a greater incentive.”12

On December 2, 1966, the Angels traded Chance and shortstop Jackie Hernandez to the Minnesota Twins for pitcher Pete Cimino, outfielder Jimmie Hall and first baseman Don Mincher. Angels Manager Bill Rigney said of the trade: “I’m not sure we’ll find another arm like Dean’s, but we had to do something about our first-base situation and overall hitting.” Chance allowed, “I’m not surprised to be traded, but I am shocked that the Angels would trade me to an AL club. I’m shocked that they’d run the risk of letting me come back to haunt them.”13

In 1967, as he had prophesied, Chance was named the American League’s Comeback Player of the Year.14 Chance finished 20-14 with a 2.73 ERA and led the league in starts, complete games and innings pitched. He started his second All-Star Game (he had also started the 1964 game). Pitching on the familiar mound of Anaheim Stadium, Chance pitched three strong innings, allowing only a home run to Dick Allen in the second inning. The National League won the game 2-1 on a home run by Tony Perez in the top of the 15th inning off Catfish Hunter. Chance also pitched two no-hitters, a rain-shortened five-inning perfect game against Boston on August 6, and a nine-inning gem against Cleveland on August 25.

The Twins were one of four teams involved in an historic pennant race, and Chance was on the mound for the final game of the 1967 season, matched against the Boston Red Sox and Jim Lonborg, with a chance to at least clinch a tie for the pennant. The Twins led the Red Sox 2-0 heading into the bottom of the 6th inning, but the Red Sox rallied for five runs to drive Chance from the game and ultimately won the contest and the pennant.

Chance had another excellent year in 1968 but with less luck, winning 16 and losing 16 while pitching 292 innings with a 2.53 ERA. Prior to the 1969 season, Chance hurt his back rushing himself into shape and never pitched as well again. Chance spent 54 days on the disabled list15 and finished 5-4 with a 2.95 ERA. He did make it into his first post-season, as the Twins won the new AL West and faced off against the Baltimore Orioles in the playoffs. The Orioles swept the series, and Chance was ineffective in his two innings, allowing four hits and three runs.

After three seasons as a Twin, Chance was traded to the Cleveland Indians on December 10, 1969 with Bob Miller, Graig Nettles and Ted Uhlaender for Luis Tiant and Stan Williams. Chance grew up 50 miles from Cleveland and he and his parents were all Indians fans. “Just say that I couldn’t be happier, and say that I have been trying to get to Cleveland for six years, and say that I hope that this is my last move. I want to finish out my career here.” Indians manager Alvin Dark was elated. “Dean is a winner,” he said. “I’ve always liked him. I’m sure he can help us plenty.” Dean’s mother said after the trade “Now I can root for the Indians all the time.” Dean’s parents were frequent visitors to Municipal Stadium.16

In his first start of the 1970 season, Chance faced New York in Yankee Stadium on Saturday, April 11 and pitched seven innings of shutout baseball to earn the win. Relievers Mike Paul and Dennis Higgins completed the shutout, with the Indians winning 3-0. But the season proved to be a struggle, as Chance finished 9-8 with a 4.24 ERA. On September 18 Chance was sold to the New York Mets, who were locked in a division race. He pitched only two innings, and the Mets finished third.

Prior to the 1971 season Mets manager Gil Hodges said, “I’m thinking now of trying him in the bullpen and using him as an occasional starter. But it will depend on how the rest of the staff shapes up.”17 Instead, in late March Chance was traded to the Detroit Tigers. He pitched in 31 games in 1971 and started 14, finishing 4-6 with a 3.51 ERA. Chance won his final game on July 28 when Al Kaline hit a game-ending homer to make Chance the winner in relief. Chance pitched his final game in Boston’s Fenway Park on Monday, August 9th. He relieved starter Les Cain, allowed singles to Luis Aparicio and Reggie Smith and was replaced by Fred Scherman. The Tigers released him on October 6, 1971.

For all his pitching success, including 128 wins and a stellar 2.92 ERA, not everything came easily. Four times he led his league in pitcher errors. He was also a very unproductive hitter. For players with at least 500 plate appearances during their career, Chance has the lowest batting average at .066. In 662 at bats, he struck out 420 times. Allowed Chance, “I am a horrible hitter.”18

How did Chance do overall against the Yankees? He finished 18-11 with a 2.34 ERA against, comparing favorably to notable Yankee killer Frank Lary of the Tigers, who was 28-13 with a 3.32 ERA against the Bronx Bombers.

Since his retirement from baseball, Chance has tended to his real estate holdings, worked for a carnival, worked with a poster company and managed boxer Ernie Shavers. He is president of the International Boxing Association. He is also a world-class gin player.19 He works with former Angels clubhouse assistant Bob Case. His hobbies are bowling and basketball.20

Belinsky and Chance remained lifelong friends. Chance refused to attend an autograph show unless Belinsky was also invited. In a 1991 interview, Belinsky said that he was at a benefit with Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton when two kids came up and asked for an autograph. Carlton reached out to sign and one of the kids says, “No, my dad said to get Mr. Belinsky’s autograph.” Belinsky remarked: “I told Steve that he did it the easy way, by winning 300 games. You just try to get all this notoriety on 28 victories. Now that takes a lot of work.”21

Through the years, both Chance and Belinsky made peace with God. Belinsky remarked a year before his death: “Can you imagine? I had to come to Las Vegas to discover Jesus Christ.” After Belinsky’s death in 2001, Chance observed, “We made mistakes, tried not to hurt anyone. We were kids in a different time, pitching in a great city. It was like feeling that you had the world at your feet, like it would never end and I think about those good times a lot and often talked with Bo about them. I can also tell you that if I had a dollar for every time somebody asked me where Bo was and what he was doing, I’d be a wealthy man. Everybody remembered him and I’m just glad he got his life straightened out and he knew in his last year where he was going.”22

Chance arranged a memorial service for Belinsky in Dodger Stadium. He also handled the arrangements for his burial in Las Vegas. “Bo was a one-of-a-kind guy and there won’t be another one like him,” said Chance. “He was full of cancer, his heart was bad and his hip was hurting him terribly at the end. He had slipped and fallen and it was really tough on him. But he made his peace with the Lord and he is probably better off today than he was last week. He’s not suffering terribly any more.”23

As Chance told author Robert Goldman, “Everybody, by the time they’re 50, they’re selfish as hell. Everybody thinks only of himself or herself. Then, when they hit 60, they want to return to religion and want to forgive everybody. They want to go to heaven, and that’s the stage I’m in.”24

Chance died at age 74 on October 11, 2015, in Wooster, Ohio. 

• Related link: Read “Bo and Dean: A Lifetime of Fun and Friendship”, by Tom Nahigian, in The National Pastime: Endless Seasons (2011)

Sources

For statistics, the author used Retrosheet.org and Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

In spite of the abrupt end to Clemens’ evening and career, as he left the mound, it seemed a certainty that he would be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, as soon as he passed the five-year waiting period for eligibility. Few pitchers in the history of baseball could boast anything near to his accomplishments: a record seven Cy Young Awards, 354 victories, 4,672 strikeouts, seven-time ERA leader with a career 3.12 ERA, six-time 20-game winner, five-time strikeout leader, 46 shutouts in the era of relief specialists and closers, and two-time World Series champion. He was too much of a polarizing figure in his career to exceed Tom Seaver’s record of being named on 98.8 percent of the Hall of Fame ballots, but he seemed certain to be a first-ballot selectee.

On December 13, 2007, little more than two months after Clemens’ final Yankees start, doubt was cast over his future enshrinement among baseball’s immortals when he was mentioned repeatedly in the Mitchell Report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. In the years following the report, Clemens spent almost as much time in courtrooms as he spent on pitcher’s mounds during his career. By the time his first year of eligibility for the Hall of Fame arrived in January 2013, he was named on only 37.6 percent of the ballots and, in his second year, that number declined to 35.4 percent while two of his contemporaries and fellow members of the 300-win club, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, were elected.

Clemens’ life is the tale of a fanatically driven man who worked hard to achieve his dream of stardom and attained the pinnacle of success. Jorge Posada, Clemens’ catcher with the Yankees, was complimentary when he said, “The only thing he wants to do is just win.”1 Cito Gaston, Clemens’ manager with the Toronto Blue Jays until he was fired toward the end of the 1997 season, intended no such praise when he commented, “It’s all about him, nobody else but him.”2 Clemens’ ambition gained him both fans and detractors, helped him to achieve massive success, and ultimately contributed to his fall from grace.

William Roger Clemens was born on August 4, 1962, in Dayton, Ohio, the fifth child of Bill and Bess Clemens. He was only 5 months old when his mother took her children and left his father, with whom he claims to have spoken only once in his life, when he was 10 years old. Less than two years later, Bess married Woody Booher, whom Roger looked up to as a real father. But he became fatherless again at the age of 8 when Booher died of a heart attack.

While his mother provided Roger with an example of the work ethic he would adopt by laboring at several jobs to support her children, he came under the tutelage of his older brother Randy, whom he idolized. In high school Randy was a shortstop on the baseball team, the star shooting guard for the basketball team, and the king of his senior prom, leading Clemens to admit, “While I was growing up, Randy was the star as far as I was concerned.”3 Though the two brothers have become estranged, Randy’s influence was immense as he “instill[ed] in his brother a simple philosophy: Either you’re a winner or you’re a failure.”4 It was a mantra that caused Clemens to question at times whether he was good enough to become the star athlete that both of them wanted him to be.

While Clemens’ baseball career dwarfs his brother Randy’s high-school athletic exploits, his initial attempts to emulate his elder sibling were less than encouraging. He played baseball, basketball, and football, but distinguished himself in none of these sports. In fact, the only notable event from his youth baseball exploits was that he split starts for his 1977 squad with Kelly Krzan, who was the first girl in Ohio to play on a boys’ Little League team.

By the time Clemens was 15 and a high-school sophomore, Randy had married and moved to Sugar Land, Texas, a suburb 20 miles southwest of downtown Houston. Randy had failed to achieve athletic stardom of his own largely due to the development of a substance-abuse problem, but he now wanted to guide his younger brother’s athletic career. After the two brothers received their mother’s permission, Ohio-born-and-raised Roger Clemens made the sojourn to Texas, the state with which he has become identified.

Clemens enjoyed initial success by amassing a 12-1 record and helping Sugar Land’s Dulles High School win a district title, but Randy was plotting a move to more competitive fields. After watching a tournament game between two of the Houston area’s premier high-school teams, Bellaire and Spring Woods, Clemens decided that he wanted to play for the latter team. Bess Clemens had moved to Houston now as well, and she made sure that her son’s wish was granted.

The time spent at Spring Woods High School was a mixed blessing: Clemens played for a coach, Charlie Maiorana, whom he credits for much of his knowledge about mechanics and conditioning, but he spent his junior year seeing little action on a team with two of the state’s best pitching prospects. His determination showed as he became known for his workout regimen, especially his running, and he had his turn as Spring Woods’ number one starting pitcher during his senior year. Still, at that point in his life, the player who came to sit at number three on the major-league strikeout list still threw too softly to draw any notice from either professional or college scouts.

As a favor to Clemens, Maiorana called a colleague, Wayne Graham, the new coach at San Jacinto Junior College, to ask if he could pull any strings to get Clemens to his desired destination, the University of Texas in Austin. Graham could not accomplish that feat, but he did offer Clemens a scholarship to San Jacinto, which is where Clemens’ fortunes were reversed. The failure to achieve high-school stardom resulted in the season that launched Clemens on the path to professional greatness.

The year 1981 was Wayne Graham’s first season to coach at any college level, but he has become a legend by guiding San Jacinto to five national junior-college championships in six years (1985-1990) – a feat that earned him Collegiate Baseball Magazine’s Junior College Coach of the Century Award – and leading Houston’s Rice University to the NCAA College World Series Championship in 2003. What Graham did with Clemens – turning a soft-tossing youth into a flamethrower – was an equally impressive accomplishment. He preached to Clemens that he needed to finish hard on his pitches or he would never have a chance to realize his dream of pitching in the major leagues, a message Clemens took to heart as he finished his sole season at San Jacinto with a 9-2 record while the college won the Texas Junior College Athletic Association championship. His coach’s assessment was that “Roger began the year as one of the guys, and he ended it as an ace.”5

Graham anticipated that Clemens would remain at San Jacinto for a second year, an expectation that was buoyed when Clemens turned down an offer from the New York Mets, who had selected him in the 12th round of the 1981 draft. Clemens went through the motions of throwing for Mets manager Joe Torre and pitching coach/legend Bob Gibson at Houston’s Astrodome, but he had other plans in mind. He had been contacted by University of Texas Longhorns coach Cliff Gustafson, who was now interested in the improved pitcher. The opportunity to play at Texas had been Clemens’ dream, and he pounced on it; however, he failed to contact Graham about his decision and alienated the man who had placed him on the road to stardom.

Clemens fulfilled expectations at Texas, although there were some hiccups along the way. The 1982 Longhorns began their season with a 33-game winning streak that was one win shy of tying the NCAA record. Clemens, who had begun the campaign 7-0, pitched in game number 34 but lost 4-3 to the University of Houston. It was later revealed that he had bursitis while pitching that game, and he missed the next two weeks of the season. He finished 12-2 with a 1.99 ERA, but Texas was eliminated from the College World Series by Wichita State.

The Longhorns suffered under the burden of high expectations in 1983 and plodded through an up-and down season. At one point, the driven Clemens became so frustrated by his personal mound setbacks that he was ready to quit the team, an example of the toll that the insecurity caused by Randy Clemens’ “winner or failure” mentality took on him. While he was not yet a polished pitcher, he still demonstrated great potential. Houston Astros scout Gordon Lakey reported that Clemens’ delivery was not compact enough, but he believed it could be helped and that Clemens would develop more leg drive and become a power pitcher.6 Chicago White Sox scout Larry Monroe’s report echoed that of Lakey as he wrote of Clemens: “Delivery is fluid but does not use body at all. Should be easily improved and no reason why he shouldn’t be in low 90’s. I’m surprised he doesn’t have shoulder problems from standing up and just throwing. Some bend in legs and drive to plate would help velocity, life, and location.”7 Both scouts projected Clemens as a likely second-round draft pick. Owing to rare encouragement from the usually gruff Gustafson, Clemens persevered – he went 13-5 with a 3.04 ERA – and the Longhorns survived their inconsistency to make a return trip to the College World Series.

Before Clemens took the mound for his start against Oklahoma State in the College World Series on June 6, the Boston Red Sox selected him as the 19th player chosen in the major-league draft, a circumstance about which he said, “I was completely surprised. As far as I was concerned, Boston was a foreign country.”8 Five days after defeating Oklahoma State, Clemens capped his Texas career with a complete-game 4-3 victory over Alabama in the College World Series Championship Game to put himself and his team on top of the collegiate baseball world before he departed Austin for Boston, having now been signed by Red Sox scout Danny Doyle. Of course, Clemens did not make it to the parent club straight out of college, but he did take the fast track through the Red Sox’ minor-league system where he already exhibited character traits that became hallmarks of his career.

His first stop was with the Winter Haven Red Sox of the Class-A Florida State League, for whom he went 3-1 with a 1.24 ERA in four starts and where he established his reputation for pitching inside to hitters. Two days before his final Winter Haven start, Clemens had taken umbrage at the Lakeland Tigers’ Ronald Davis taking out his Red Sox (and ex-University of Texas) teammate Mike Brumley at second base, a play on which Brumley was injured. Clemens pitched a 15-strikeout shutout against Lakeland in which he also retaliated for Brumley’s injury by hitting Davis in the head in his first at-bat. Clemens claimed – as most pitchers do – that he had only wanted to brush Davis back and that the pitch had gotten away from him; however, he also claimed that he was prepared to fight, something for which Davis was in no condition as he collapsed and was taken to a hospital.

The split opinion among baseball observers as to whether Clemens merely pitched inside or was a headhunter mirrors the split in opinion about his character in general. Few players thought poorly of Don Drysdale or Nolan Ryan for pitching close inside, but these two pitchers were held in high regard while Clemens was often considered arrogant. Clemens fanned the flames of this negative reputation by both his actions and his words, never more infamously so than after winning the 1986 American League MVP Award. When informed that no less a luminary than Hank Aaron had asserted that pitchers should not receive the MVP, he retorted, “I wish he was still playing. I’d probably crack his head open to show him how valuable I was.”9

After his debacle-marred gem, Clemens was promoted to the New Britain (Connecticut) Red Sox of the Double-A Eastern League and amassed a 4-1 record with a 1.38 ERA in seven starts, but he also continued to draw controversy. In the team’s first-round playoff series, Reading Phillies manager Bill Dancy protested that Clemens was using a glove that had writing all over it and claimed that it was distracting. The home-plate umpire ordered Clemens to use a different glove – an order the pitcher complied with – but he began to curse at Clemens due to the grief he was getting from New Britain’s bench. Clemens charged the umpire but stopped short of any physical contact. Instead, he calmed down, borrowed a teammate’s glove, and proceeded to dominate Reading. Charging umpires became another Clemens trait as his career progressed, but calming down did not. As he accumulated successes, his “winner or failure” mentality and its resultant insecurity morphed into hypercompetitive intensity on and off the mound.

New Britain dispatched the Phillies and faced the Lynn Sailors for the championship, which they won when Clemens pitched a 10-strikeout shutout in Game Four. After he had breezed through two levels of the minor leagues and won his second championship in three months, Clemens’ baseball future looked bright. His personal life became equally so when he began to date Debra Lynn Godfrey, whom he had known in passing at Spring Woods High School, in the offseason. Godfrey was a fellow fitness fanatic who twice auditioned for the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders squad, and the two of them worked out together regularly. They became engaged in May 1984 and were married in November of that year.

Before his engagement to Godfrey, Clemens made one final stop on his way to Boston. He took part in spring training with the parent club in the familiar surroundings of Winter Haven, Florida, but ended up being assigned to Pawtucket of the Triple-A International League to begin the season after posting a 6.60 ERA in Grapefruit League games. Clemens did not allow his disappointment to keep him from excelling at yet another level as he posted a 1.93 ERA in 46⅔ innings for Pawtucket. Enough was enough and, on May 11, 1984, Roger Clemens was officially called up by the Boston Red Sox.

On Tuesday, May 15, 1984, Clemens made his major-league debut against the Indians before a mere 4,004 fans at chilly Cleveland Stadium and learned that minor-league success does not always carry over instantly to the majors. He received no decision after surrendering 11 hits, three walks, and five runs (four earned) in 5⅔ innings, but what was alarming was that Indians baserunners had swiped six bases against him because, in the words of his catcher, Gary Allenson, “(a)t that point, he had no real concept of keeping opposing runners in check.”10 In his next start, against the Minnesota Twins on May 20, he pitched seven strong innings to earn his first major-league victory.

The remainder of Clemens’ rookie season was not as memorable as the one put together by his National League counterpart, Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets, who finished with a 17-9 record and easily won the NL Rookie of the Year award. Clemens was up and down from start to start and later conceded that some people were beginning to question whether he might fall into the same category as David Clyde, the 1970s poster boy for young pitchers who had been rushed to the major leagues too quickly. That fear was put to rest by a 15-strikeout performance against the Kansas City Royals on August 21, but soon a new specter – that of injury – arrived to haunt the Red Sox and their fans. In his final start of the season, on August 31 against the Indians, Clemens registered seven of 11 outs by strikeout and then exited the game with a strained tendon in his right forearm. Though the injury was minor, Clemens was shut down for the year and finished a solid but unspectacular rookie campaign at 9-4 with a 4.32 ERA.

Clemens endured nagging injuries on his way to a 7-5/3.29 sophomore campaign in 1985. The low point of his season came on July 7 when he could not make his scheduled start against the California Angels due to what he described as “[. . .] an intensely sharp pain, as if someone stuck a knife in the back of my shoulder.”11 Clemens’ early-career insecurity came to the fore again as he engaged in a clubhouse meltdown in Anaheim that day, and his fear of failure caused him to break down in tears while repeatedly asking, “Why me?” The next day he was placed on the 15-day disabled list due to shoulder inflammation and, though he returned to the rotation, he never recovered fully that year. On August 30 surgeon James Andrews removed a small piece of cartilage from Clemens’ right shoulder in a 20-minute procedure. Clemens spent the offseason learning new exercises to strengthen his shoulder and waited for the 1986 season to come around.

The Red Sox started out slowly in 1986, but Clemens overcame his spring-training fears about his rehabilitated shoulder and charged out to a 3-0 record with a 1.85 ERA. His fourth start provided the harbinger of things to come as April 29, 1986, became the night on which Roger Clemens vaulted himself to stardom. Facing a free-swinging Seattle Mariners team that had struck out 166 times in 19 games, he turned in a record-setting performance by striking out 20 batters in a nine-inning, complete-game effort at Fenway Park. Clemens began the game in form by brushing back his former college teammate and role model Spike Owen with his second and third pitches of the night. Afterward, he denied throwing at Owen, but a conflicting account exists in which former Longhorns teammate Mike Capel dared him to plunk Owen on the day before the game.

Whatever the truth about Clemens’ intent, the tone for the game was set and the Mariners were baffled for all but one pitch. Gorman Thomas launched Clemens’ lone mistake for a solo home run and a 1-0 Mariners lead in the top of the seventh inning and, for a moment, it looked as though Clemens’ brilliance might be for naught. Fortunately for Clemens and the Red Sox, Dwight Evans hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning for the final 3-1 margin of victory. From that point on, Clemens struck out four more batters to reach the record-breaking total of 20. He became an instant superstar and fulfilled a dream he claimed to have had when he was 12 by making the cover of Sports Illustrated’s May 12, 1986 issue, which carried the headline “Lord of the K’s.”12

After an 11-strikeout victory at Baltimore on June 27, Clemens was only the fifth pitcher in major-league history to start a season 14-0. He suffered his first loss on July 2 against the Toronto Blue Jays, but his 15-2 first-half record led Kansas City manager Dick Howser to name him the American League’s starter in the All-Star Game, which would be held in his adopted hometown of Houston. The Red Sox, meanwhile, were in first place in the AL East with a 56-31 record and a seven-game lead at the break.

There was, however, a downside that accompanied all of this success, and it involved his relationship with the media and its burgeoning demands on his time. According to Clemens, “The attention I enjoyed and appreciated at first after breaking the strikeout record soon became stressful.” He claimed that the press did not realize “how I needed to stay on my program and work.”13 For their part, the reporters began to perceive Clemens as alternately aloof or difficult, depending upon whether or not they could get any worthwhile quotes from the new star. Clemens correctly conceded that this period was “the first time I experienced some problems with the media,”14 but it would not be the last.

The media crush of an All-Star Game that matched Clemens and fellow fireballer Dwight Gooden as the starters did not deter him from turning the event into yet another showcase for his talents. While Gooden surrendered two runs in three innings of work, Clemens retired all nine NL batters he faced, struck out two, and did not allow a single baserunner, a performance that earned him the game’s MVP award. His newfound stardom also birthed a new arrogance that surfaced in the second half of the 1986 season.

In his July 30 start against the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park, Clemens had a new manner of meltdown after first-base umpire Greg Kosc made a disputed call that went against him. With two outs in the fifth inning, Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner had flipped a Harold Baines grounder to Clemens, who thought he had beaten the runner to the bag. Instead, Kosc ruled that Clemens had missed first base and called Baines safe, which allowed what ended up being the winning run to score for the White Sox. Clemens charged at Kosc to argue the call and made incidental contact with the umpire, which resulted in his automatic ejection. Now he came completely unglued – he claimed to have hyperventilated twice during his rampage – and eventually was carried off the field by teammates Jim Rice and Don Baylor. Clemens was suspended for two games and fined, but his outlook on his punishment was revealing: In his autobiography, he stated, “As it turned out, all I lost was a day’s pay – little more than $1,000 – and $250” [for paying his teammates’ (Bruce Hurst and Al Nipper) minor fines].15 A fine was no great consequence to Clemens and, from this point on, he often alternated feats with fits over the course of his career.

The 1986 Red Sox rolled into the playoffs, with Clemens winning his last seven decisions, but Clemens’ own postseason hopes seemed jeopardized when John Stefero’s line drive hit his pitching elbow in his final regular season start, against Baltimore on October 1. X-rays were negative and the swelling went down in time for Clemens to make his Game One start in the ALCS against the California Angels at Fenway. Clemens made three starts in Boston’s hard-fought seven-game series against the Angels: Game One was forgettable as he surrendered eight runs (seven earned) in 7⅓ innings and Game Four resulted in a no-decision in 8⅓ innings during Boston’s extra-inning loss, but in the clinching Game Seven he dominated the Angels and allowed only one run in seven innings to help send the Red Sox to the World Series for the first time since 1975.

World Series Game Two was a Clemens-versus-Gooden rematch, but neither pitcher lasted longer than five innings; a flu-ridden Clemens gave up four walks and three runs in 4⅓ innings of a game that Boston won 9-3. His second start came in Game Six, with the Red Sox holding a 3-2 edge in games, and he struck out eight while surrendering only two runs (one earned) in seven innings. The Red Sox had a 3-2 lead when Clemens was lifted from the game for a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning, but there was controversy over the timing of his exit. Clemens had torn open a blister and had begun bleeding, and manager John McNamara later claimed that Clemens had asked out of the game as a result, a contention that Clemens and several of his teammates denied. Game Six went down in Red Sox infamy as Calvin Schiraldi combined with Bob Stanley, Bill Buckner, and fate to lose to the Mets 6-5 in 10 innings. The Mets’ 8-5 victory in Game Seven kept Clemens from putting the ultimate jewel in the crown of his 1986 season, a campaign during which he went 24-4 with a league-leading 2.48 ERA and became the first player to win the Cy Young Award, American League MVP Award, and All-Star Game MVP Award in the same season.

In addition to all of his on-field success, Roger and Debbie Clemens welcomed their first son, Koby, into the world on December 4, 1986. In what became a theme, Clemens gave all four of his sons names that begin with the letter “K” – Kory, Kacy, and Kody followed Koby – since it is the baseball scoring abbreviation for a strikeout.

The relationship between Clemens and the Red Sox took a downturn when Clemens walked out in the middle of spring training over a contract dispute. Commissioner Peter Ueberroth eventually negotiated an agreement between the team and its star, but the incident did not bode well for the future. The Red Sox had a miserable 1987 season, finishing at 78-84, though Clemens won his second consecutive Cy Young Award with a 20-9 record, 2.97 ERA, and seven shutouts.

In 1988 Clemens created a minor stir by deciding to pitch against the Angels in Anaheim rather than return to Houston for the birth of his second son, Kory. He earned a complete-game victory in that May 30 game on his way to an 18-12, 2.93, eight-shutout season. The Red Sox rebounded to win the AL East in 1988 but were swept in the ALCS by the Oakland Athletics, though Clemens pitched adequately in his Game Two start.

The biggest firestorm Clemens ignited that year came on December 5 when he gave an interview to a Boston television station in which he attacked anyone and everyone associated with the Red Sox, from management to teammates to fans. His complaint, “Travel, road trips and carrying your own luggage around isn’t all that fun and glory,”16 propagated the stereotype of the spoiled, pampered athlete and cast him in a negative light to fans.

Clemens did play for the Red Sox through the 1996 season, winning his third Cy Young in 1991 and leading the AL in ERA from 1990 to 1992, but he continued to be antagonistic with the media and, in turn, both the media and fans emphasized his shortcomings – real and perceived – more than his accomplishments.

One highly scrutinized event was a tantrum in Game Four of the 1990 ALCS in which the Athletics again swept the Red Sox. Clemens had pitched six shutout innings in Game One, but Boston had lost, and things were not going well at the outset of Game Four. With Oakland leading 1-0 and two outs in the second inning, Clemens began cursing from the mound at home-plate umpire Terry Cooney over balls and strikes and was ejected from the game. When Clemens realized that he had been tossed, he charged Cooney and pushed right-field umpire Jim Evans aside, an offense for which he was fined $10,000 and suspended for the first five games of the 1991 season.

Rather than lie low after such an ignominious end to the season, Clemens gained additional notoriety off the field when he and older brother Randy were arrested at a Houston nightclub on January 18, 1991. Randy had become involved in an altercation, and Roger was arrested for hindering the security guard – an off-duty police officer – who was attempting to arrest his brother. He was found “not guilty” of the charge, but his fame was now increasing for the wrong reasons.

In 1992 Clemens further strained his relationship with the Red Sox when he reported eight days late for spring training; however, he still registered another stellar campaign on the mound, finishing 18-11. After he posted his first losing record in 1993 – 11-14 with a 4.46 ERA – speculation renewed about how much longer Clemens would last. He pitched well in strike-shortened 1994, but in 1995 he had a bloated 4.18 ERA and again came up short in the postseason, though he received no decision in the Red Sox’ ALDS Game One extra-inning loss to the Cleveland Indians.

While Clemens was in an up-and-down phase of his career on the mound and was in the process of alienating Boston fans and management, he was still popular enough with fans nationwide that he made several guest appearances as himself on different television shows. Clemens even showed a sense of humor by taking a role in the animated The Simpsons episode titled “Homer at the Bat.” In the course of the story, Clemens – as himself – is hypnotized into thinking that he is a chicken and spends much of the episode squawking and clucking. His acting exploits also included the big screen, for which his most notable role was as an unnamed flamethrower who pitches to Ty Cobb in the 1994 film Cobb, based on Al Stump’s biography of the Georgia Peach.

In 1996 Clemens posted his second losing record, 10-13, but had a more respectable 3.63 ERA and led the AL with 257 strikeouts. He momentarily turned back the clock 10 years by registering his second career 20-strikeout game, against Detroit at Tiger Stadium on September 18; it was also his 192nd victory, which tied him with Cy Young atop the Red Sox’ all-time list. Nonetheless, Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette considered his 40-39 record for the team from 1993 through 1996 and questioned whether Clemens might be in the “twilight” of his career; he apparently did not see him as a player around whom to rebuild the team into a perennial contender. Clemens spurned Boston’s contract offer and signed for three years and $24.75 million with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Toronto was far removed from its consecutive World Series victories of 1992-1993 and was not a contender during Clemens’ stint with the team, but “Rocket” was not finished yet after all. Quite the contrary, the brief Blue Jays era of 1997-1998 was Clemens at his dominant best as he went a combined 41-13 with a 2.33 ERA and 563 strikeouts, winning the pitching Triple Crown – wins, ERA, strikeouts – in both years as well as his fourth and fifth Cy Young Awards. He also exacted revenge against the Red Sox in his first start as a Blue Jay at Fenway Park on July 12, 1997, when he pitched eight innings of one-run ball and struck out 16 batters.

In time, a cloud of suspicion gathered over this mid-30s pitching renaissance for two reasons: 1) The prevalence of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in baseball by this time, and 2) the hiring of Brian McNamee as Toronto’s strength and conditioning coach after the 1997 season. Baseball was in the midst of its PED era and – as was the case with most players – no public accusations were made against Clemens at the time; however, McNamee later claimed that he injected Clemens with the steroid Winstrol in 1998.

Clemens longed to pitch for a contender again and his trade request was granted on February 18, 1999, when Toronto traded him to the New York Yankees – an old adversary with whom he had engaged in numerous beanball wars – for starter David Wells, reliever Graeme Lloyd, and second baseman Homer Bush. As a Yankee, Clemens was back in the center of the baseball universe, but that was a mixed blessing as he turned in an inconsistent 14-10, 4.60 campaign.

The 1999 postseason began promisingly as Clemens pitched seven scoreless innings in the ALDS-clinching Game Three against the Texas Rangers, but the ALCS was another matter altogether as Clemens fizzled in his return to Fenway in a Game Three marquee matchup against Boston’s new ace, Pedro Martinez. While Martinez pitched seven shutout innings and struck out 12, Clemens suffered the Yankees’ only loss of the series and was battered for five runs in only two innings. As he left the mound in the bottom of the third, Boston fans taunted him by chanting “Where is Rog-er?” That game became a distant memory for Clemens after he won World Series Game Four against the Atlanta Braves with a 7⅔-inning, one-run performance that capped a Yankees sweep. The one prize, a World Series ring, that had eluded Clemens for his entire career was now his: “Tonight, I know what it’s like to be a Yankee. I am blessed,” he exulted.17

Prior to Game Two of the World Series at Atlanta’s Turner Field, Clemens had been named – along with 29 other players – as a member of the All-Century Team. The 100 nominees for the team had been chosen by a panel of experts and had been presented at that year’s All-Star Game, but it was the fans who had voted for the players. Clemens was the only active pitcher – and one of only four active players – voted onto the team, joining Cal Ripken Jr., Ken Griffey Jr., and Mark McGwire. This accolade and his first World Series championship appeared to validate Clemens’ tunnel-vision tenacity in pursuit of his goals.

On the heels of reaching the pinnacle of professional success, Clemens experienced one of the lowest points in his personal life. In May 2000 his ex-sister-in-law Kathy, who had been married to his brother Randy and had been like a mother to him when he had first moved to Texas, was murdered in a home-invasion robbery in Houston. Kathy’s son Marcus had adopted his father Randy’s drug habit, and the robbery was tied to money and drugs. Roger blamed Randy’s substance-abuse addiction for the couple’s divorce, his nephew’s drug addiction, and Kathy’s murder, and he became alienated from the brother who had exerted such tremendous influence on his life, his outlook on the world, and his early career.

On the mound in 2000, Clemens posted a pedestrian 13-8 record and lost his two starts against Oakland in the ALDS, but he experienced a reversal of fortune from the previous year’s ALCS in Boston in his Game Four start against the Seattle Mariners. In a game as dominant as any he had ever pitched, he set an ALCS record by striking out 15 batters in a one-hit shutout. It was an amazing performance for a 38-year old power pitcher that also served as an endorsement for Clemens’ now-legendary workout regimen – one that players half his age were unwilling to attempt – which again fell under the auspices of Brian McNamee, who had joined the Yankees as an assistant strength coach in 2000.

Clemens turned in another eight shutout innings in World Series Game Two against the crosstown Mets, a Series the Yankees won in five games. The focus of the game, though, was a bizarre incident that occurred in the top of the first inning. Mets catcher Mike Piazza, whom Clemens had hit in the head with a pitch in a regular-season game on July 8, shattered his bat hitting a soft liner that squibbed foul into the Yankees dugout. Clemens picked up the barrel piece of the bat and threw it in Piazza’s direction as he ran up the baseline. The shard almost hit Piazza, who was angered and exchanged words with Clemens as both benches emptied. Clemens was not ejected for his action and dominated the Mets with eight innings of shutout ball in which he allowed only two hits and no walks and struck out nine. After the game, Clemens offered the implausible excuse that he had thought he had the ball, rather than the barrel of Piazza’s bat, which still did not explain why he threw it toward Piazza rather than first baseman Tino Martinez. Nobody believed Clemens, and he was fined $50,000 for the incident.

In 2001, a season in which McNamee has claimed he injected Clemens with the steroids Sustanon 250 and Deca-Durabolin, Clemens raced out to a 12-1 record that garnered him his second career All-Star Game start. He took his record to 19-1 before his first attempt at win number 20 was placed on hold by the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. After America regrouped, and MLB resumed play on September 17 at the behest of President George W. Bush, Clemens finished the season 20-3 with a 3.51 ERA and earned his sixth Cy Young Award. The Yankees again made it to the World Series, and Clemens registered a 1.35 ERA over 13⅓ innings in two starts against the Arizona Diamondbacks. In Game Three, he scattered three hits in seven innings in a 2-1 win. He engaged in a Game Seven duel against Curt Schilling that the Yankees lost when Luis Gonzalez looped an RBI single off Mariano Rivera to win the game in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Clemens was solid, though no longer spectacular, with the Yankees in 2002-03. He did reach both the 300-win and 4,000-strikeout milestones in a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Yankee Stadium on June 13, 2003, becoming the first pitcher to hit both landmarks in the same game. He had said repeatedly that he was retiring after the 2003 season, so when he walked off the mound of Miami’s Pro Player Stadium after pitching seven innings of three-run ball in World Series Game Four on October 22, 2003, everyone assumed it was his swan song. There was no fairytale ending to his story, though, as the Yankees fell to the Florida Marlins in six games.

Clemens’ retirement lasted little more than 2½ months. Shortly after Yankees free agent, friend, and fellow Houstonian Andy Pettitte signed to play for the Houston Astros, Clemens joined him and the pair set Houston abuzz with the hope that they could help franchise icons Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio reach the promised land of the World Series before they too reached retirement age.

Although 2004 was his first year in the National League, Clemens registered the same results he had through most of his career: He posted an 18-4 record, 2.98 ERA, and 218 strikeouts for which he won his record-extending seventh Cy Young Award, joining Gaylord Perry, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martinez as the only pitchers to win the award in both leagues. He also started his third All-Star Game – this time for the NL – in his adopted hometown of Houston, where he had started his first All-Star Game for the AL 18 years earlier.

The Astros were the NL wild-card team in 2004, and Clemens started the franchise toward its first-ever postseason-series victory in 43 seasons of existence by winning NLDS Game One against the Atlanta Braves. Against the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS, he won Game Three but lost the decisive Game Seven; however, he received none of the criticism he had often endured in Boston and New York when he had fallen short in the postseason. He could do no wrong in his hometown and was becoming a Texas legend on a par with his boyhood idol Nolan Ryan.

Clemens returned to the Astros in 2005 and added to his increasingly larger-than-life exploits. At the age of 43, he led the majors with a 1.87 ERA and might have won an eighth Cy Young Award had he received more run support to improve his 13-8 record. On September 14, in a decision reminiscent of his choice to pitch on the day of his son Kory’s birth, Clemens defeated the Florida Marlins after his mother, Bess, died that morning. In response to those who questioned his decision, Clemens replied that his mother had made him promise to pitch and that the game was important to the Astros’ playoff hopes. It was clear that he was still as driven to win as he had always been.

The Astros were the NL wild-card entry again in 2005 and faced the Atlanta Braves once more. Clemens lost Game Two, but for Houston fans his status grew to mythological proportions three days later in Game Four. On October 9, after the Astros had exhausted their bullpen by the 15th inning of their marathon contest against the Braves, Clemens came to the rescue and pitched three scoreless innings. He earned the win when Chris Burke ended the game with a solo homer in the bottom of the 18th, and the Astros advanced to the NLCS. As if pitching on short rest were not enough, Clemens had also demonstrated a bit of batting acumen when he laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the 15th.

In the NLCS, the Astros met another familiar opponent – the Cardinals – whom they defeated in six games to reach their first World Series, with Clemens contributing a victory in Game Three. The magic ran out in the World Series, though, as he exited Game One with a sore hamstring after allowing three runs in only two innings. The Chicago White Sox swept the Astros, and Clemens seemed likely to retire permanently.

Alas, he could not stay away from the game, and he lost much of the goodwill he had engendered in 2005 by appearing willing to sell himself to the highest bidder as he engaged in talks with numerous teams. The so-called “family-friendly” clause that had allowed Clemens to remain home for road trips during which he was not scheduled to pitch – and which he insisted upon to the end of his career – now had some people questioning whether his true motive was team success or money. In the end, he signed with the Astros on May 31 and still posted a 2.30 ERA in 113⅓ innings over 19 starts, but the team failed to make the playoffs.

Clemens played the same “Will he or won’t he pitch?” game at the start of the 2007 season before announcing his return to the New York Yankees from owner George Steinbrenner’s luxury box during the seventh-inning stretch of a Yankees-Mariners game on May 6. He posted a mediocre 6-6, 4.18 line over 99 innings before limping off the Yankee Stadium mound with yet another hamstring injury in the Yankees’ October 7 ALDS game against Cleveland.

Once his career was finally over, the countdown to Clemens’ Hall of Fame induction began. Whether media members and fans liked him or not – and there were plenty of people in both camps – his statistics pointed to him being one of the best pitchers ever to play the game. Even so, the voters who cast ballots for players to gain entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame are told to take a player’s character into account, and all sorts of skeletons fell out of Clemens’ closet upon the release of the Mitchell Report.

First, there were Brian McNamee’s allegations of steroid use. Clemens vehemently denied McNamee’s accusations and, under the advice and guidance of his lawyer Rusty Hardin, went on the offensive. On January 6, 2008, Clemens filed a defamation suit against McNamee. Though Clemens eventually dropped his suit, McNamee filed his own defamation suit against Clemens in 2008, which dragged on for almost seven years before McNamee received an out-of-court settlement to be paid by Clemens’ insurer – not Clemens himself – in March 2015.

The same day that Clemens filed his lawsuit in Houston, CBS-TV’s investigative news show 60 Minutes aired a Mike Wallace interview of Clemens. In the interview Clemens claimed that McNamee had only injected him with vitamin B12 and the painkiller Lidocaine, an assertion that was dubious to many viewers and which made him the butt of countless pain-in-the-butt jokes.

The next day Clemens and Hardin held a press conference in Houston and played a recording of a recent phone conversation between Clemens and McNamee that was to prove Clemens’ innocence. The tape proved nothing as McNamee sounded both too desperate and too cautious to say anything that might incriminate him. Clemens fielded questions from the media, but grew increasingly aggravated and angry as the conference continued. When asked if he thought McNamee’s allegations would affect his chances at being elected to the Hall of Fame, his retort, “I don’t give a rat’s ass about the Hall of Fame,”18 was another statement no one believed, and he soon stormed out of his own press conference.

On February 13, 2008, Clemens was called to testify before a congressional committee in Washington, where he continued to profess his innocence. Some of his testimony contradicted a sworn statement made by Andy Pettitte, who claimed Clemens had told him that McNamee injected him with human growth hormone (HGH). Clemens responded that Pettitte had “misremembered” [sic] their conversation and that he had told Pettitte it was his wife, Debbie, whom McNamee had injected with HGH. There were enough inconsistencies in Clemens’ testimony that a drawn-out legal process resulted in an August 19, 2010, grand-jury indictment for making false statements to Congress. His first trial, in July 2011, quickly resulted in a mistrial, while his second trial ended with his acquittal on June 18, 2012.

Along with the steroid allegations and their attendant legal troubles, Clemens was also accused of having extramarital affairs with numerous women. The two most notable names were those of the late country singer Mindy McCready and pro golfer John Daly’s ex-wife Paulette. Clemens denied these accusations as well, but McCready and Paulette Daly neither confirmed nor denied them, which gave them implicit affirmation in many people’s minds.

All of this dirty laundry was aired in the media in the immediate aftermath of the Mitchell Report, but two books contributed further to the decline of Clemens’ reputation: Jeff Pearlman’s unauthorized biography The Rocket That Fell to Earth, and New York Daily News’ Sports Investigative Team’s American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime. Pearlman’s book portrays Clemens in such a consistently negative light that it is easy to dismiss it as one-sided, but the Daily News team’s research into McNamee’s claims casts serious doubt on Clemens’ assertion of innocence. The facts remain, however, that Roger Clemens never tested positive for PEDs and that he was acquitted of all charges of lying to Congress.

Nonetheless, the repercussions of the allegations have resulted in a lack of support for Clemens’ Hall of Fame candidacy. If he is ultimately enshrined, it is entirely possible that a Veterans Committee will have determined his fate after his initial 10-year period of eligibility has passed. His new road to baseball immortality involves rehabilitation of his former reputation as a hard-working star, which will be an arduous process since everything he does now is greeted with suspicion and cynicism, a circumstance that was in evidence when he pitched two games with the independent Atlantic League’s Sugar Land Skeeters in 2012.

Sugar Land, where Clemens lived when he first moved to Texas, received a national publicity boost during the Skeeters’ inaugural season when Clemens pitched in two games in August and September 2012. His motive for doing so was suspect, however, as he had just been acquitted of lying to Congress in June and needed positive publicity during his first time on the Hall of Fame ballot. Some media members believed that Clemens was attempting a late-season MLB comeback to push back his Hall of Fame eligibility by five years in the hope his legal troubles would blow over and that he would be a first-ballot selectee. Clemens denied such claims, but his comment – “I probably overextended myself a little bit. I wanted to see where I was at”19 – after his August 25 start for the Skeeters was interpreted to mean that he was gauging his comeback status.

By his second start, on September 7, the Skeeters had signed Clemens’ oldest son, Koby, a catcher, and father and son formed the battery against the Long Island Ducks. This time, the 50-year-old Clemens clearly left open the possibility of a major-league comeback attempt when he said, “I would have to get ready. It would be fun. There’s no reason why I couldn’t do it next year.”20 Though he had pitched well in both games – and no doubt enjoyed being the center of attention for his pitching rather than his court appearances – this was unaffiliated minor-league ball and his fastball had topped out at 88 MPH, which was hardly the dominant stuff he had once had in his prime.

In the end, Clemens chose to go out as a hometown hero and a winner after his appearances for the Skeeters rather than to risk going out as a failure in one last major-league stint. As of 2015, he and Debbie reside in Houston, where they work to benefit children through the Roger Clemens Foundation and where he also serves as a special assistant to the Astros’ general manager.

Clemens’ work with the Astros and his induction into the Red Sox Hall of Fame at Fenway Park on August 14, 2014, prior to Boston’s game against the Astros, show that there is still a place for him in baseball. The March 2015 settlement in the McNamee case may eventually allow Clemens to move past constant discussion of the steroid allegations against him, though the court of public opinion is unlikely to change its judgment. Clemens did not attend the McNamee settlement, saying, “I was not present, nor would have I participated in paying one dime. Everyone knows my stance on the subject.”21 The fact that he had been named on only 37.5 percent of the Hall of Fame ballots in January 2015 demonstrated that the Hall of Fame voters have not changed their stance in regard to Clemens either.

Last revised: November 16, 2015

A version of this biography is included in “Nuclear Powered Baseball: Articles Inspired by The Simpsons Episode Homer At the Bat” (SABR, 2016), edited by Emily Hawks and Bill Nowlin. For more information, click here.

Sources

Baseballhall.org

Baseball-Reference.com

Boston Globe

CBC Sports

Chicago Tribune

Clemens, Roger, with Peter Gammons. Rocket Man (Lexington, Massachusetts: The Stephen Greene Press, 1987).

ESPN.com

Hartford Courant

Houston.astros.mlb.com

Houston Chronicle

Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader

New York Daily News

New York Times

Pearlman, Jeff. The Rocket That Fell to Earth (New York: Harper, 2009).

Riceowls.com

The Sporting News

Sports Illustrated

Sugarlandskeeters.com

Texassports.com

Thompson, Teri, et al. American Icon (New York: Knopf, 2009).

Yankeeography: Pinstripe Legends, “Roger Clemens,” (2011, A&E Home Video), DVD.

Notes

In his early years, the 5-foot-11 Colón weighed 185 pounds and possessed a fastball that nearly touched 100 mph. By his final years, his weight had ballooned by over 100 pounds – prompting the jocular nickname “Big Sexy” – and his fastball rarely approached 90. Using primarily his fastball, thrown with a variety of speeds, grips and spins, combined with pinpoint control, Colón pitched for 11 teams and compiled a 247-188 record with a 4.12 ERA while striking out 2,535 batters over 21 major-league seasons (1997-2009; 2011-18).1 As of 2025, he ranks first in career wins by a pitcher born in Latin America.

Bartolo Colón Morales was born on May 24, 1973, to Miguel Colón and Adriana Morales in El Copey, Dominican Republic. This hillside village outside of the small mountain town of Altamira had just one paved road. Altamira, with a population of roughly 1,500 scattered throughout the region, is in Puerto Plata province, in the northern part of the country. It is a one-hour bus ride from the nearest big city, Santiago.2

Miguel Colón owned the land his family farmed; he also picked coffee beans and mangoes and chopped sugar cane for others. Even so, Bartolo – the third oldest of six children and the older of two brothers3 – grew up poor. As a young child, his three-bedroom home had no electricity, telephone or plumbing.4

By the age of eight, Colón was helping his father support the family. Leaving at 4:00 a.m., they rode on horseback into the mountains to work 10-hour days in the scorching sun picking coffee beans, cocoa and oranges. He regularly rode his pet donkey Pancho 15 minutes to a river to collect water for the family. “It was hard, but the work had to be done,” he remembered.5 

The work made Colón strong. He developed his legs by climbing trees to pick fruit and his wrists by turning the crank of the machine that removed the pulp from the coffee beans.6 His arm strength and accuracy resulted from throwing rocks to knock coconuts out of trees.7

While carrying bags for his father’s business, Colón sometimes hitched Pancho near a makeshift field and played a few innings with local children. “The only way you would be able to play was to escape from my dad,” Colón recalled. “Because the main thing was working.”8

When Colón was about 13, he met a local girl named Rosanna. Four years later they began dating. They married in 1996 when he was in the minor leagues, and she joined him in the United States. They had four sons together, Bartolo Jr., Emilio, Wilder and Randy.9

In 2014, Colón and Rosanna became United States citizens, but he never forgot his home.10 Throughout his career, Colón helped his family and handed out meals at Christmas, gave scholarships and donated anonymously to others in need.

As a youngster, Colón was among a group of boys arrested for trespassing when they were caught played baseball on a private field.11 To give young players opportunities he never had, he bought the land in 2004 and constructed a baseball stadium and training complex, both of which bear his name. A bronze statue of Colón sits out front. “It isn’t life-size, though; that would have been too expensive,” he joked.12 He also added a small museum which included memorabilia from his career and a mural honoring his donkey, Pancho.13 

Like most boys from the Dominican Republic, Colón dreamed of playing baseball.14 Given the remote location of his home, he did not play organized baseball until he was 14 when he joined a youth league team in the town of Navarrete.15 Originally used at catcher and third base, he got his wish to pitch. In his first outing, he hurled seven scoreless innings and struck out 16 batters.16

By that time, Colón had already quit school. “When I was younger, the school was only 15 minutes away and I could walk,” he said. “By the time I reached sixth grade, the school was an hour away and I had no way of getting there. Besides, I didn’t like school much anyway.”17

Colón was noticed by Cleveland bird dog scout Virgilio Veras, who quickly invited the Indians’ Dominican scout, Winston Llenas, to take a look.18 “He had no mechanics, and his arm was very raw, but I knew right away he was something special,” remembered Llenas. “He had such broad shoulders, and the ball exploded over the plate.”19

After several tryouts, Cleveland signed Colón on June 26, 1993, as a minor league free agent for just $3,000.20 He was 20 years old, but they believed him to be 18.21

Colón began his pro career by overpowering batters with Santiago in the 1993 Dominican Summer League before going to Cleveland’s Instructional League team in Winter Haven, Florida. He had never been away from his family, flown on a plane, driven a car, or eaten American food – and he spoke no English.22 “I was so homesick I didn’t know what to do with myself,” he admitted later. “I saw a lot of guys getting cut that were better than I was. At that point, I thought I would never be good enough to make it to the majors.”23

Colón was naturally shy, so even after learning English he would speak through an interpreter throughout his career for fear of being misunderstood or embarrassing himself.

After a solid 1994 season on Cleveland’s Rookie League team at Burlington, North Carolina, in the Appalachian League, Colón dominated the Class-A Carolina League in Kingston in 1995, compiling a 13-3 record and a 1.96 ERA in 128 2/3 innings while leading the league with 152 strikeouts, despite being shut down in early August with a bruised elbow. He was named the Carolina League pitcher of the year.

Colón began 1996 in the Double-A Eastern League with Canton-Akron and was 2-2 with a 1.74 ERA in 13 games before suffering sprained ligaments in his elbow. He was promoted to Triple-A Buffalo late in the season and used as a reliever in eight games to limit his workload.

With an impressive spring training in 1997, Colón won the fifth spot in the Cleveland rotation over Albie Lopez but started the third game of the season on April 4 when Jack McDowell was slow to recover from a strained abdominal muscle that caused him to miss two exhibition starts.24 He allowed four runs against the Anaheim Angels in the first two innings, including a home run to Gary Disarcina, but left after five innings with the score tied.25

In his second start, Colón threw 61 pitches while recording just two outs. Two days later, he was sent back to Buffalo, beginning a frustrating season-long pattern of being called up after pitching well in Triple-A but then being demoted after not performing for the Indians. He was shuttled back and forth three times by the end of May and five times by the end of the season.26 Colón was 7-1 with a 2.22 ERA in 10 starts with Buffalo but finished 4-7 with a 5.65 ERA with Cleveland.

The turning point came on June 20. Angry at being demoted again, Colón hurled the first nine-inning no-hitter by a Buffalo pitcher since 1952, beating the New Orleans Zephyrs 4-0. In front of a loud home crowd of 15,496, he retired the final 25 batters after walking future major-leaguer Russ Johnson in the first inning.27 He struck out eight; only three balls were hit to his outfielders.

“I was so mad that I was thinking about things I don’t even want to repeat,” said Colón. “Also, Dan O’Dowd [Indians director of baseball operations] was there, and I wanted to show him that I belonged in the big leagues.”28

“You could see the fire in his eyes,” said Brian Graham, the Buffalo manager. “His motive might not have been great, but he found out that day how good he really was. It was a big day in his life.”29

Colón was not included on the 1997 playoff roster as the Indians came within one win of their first World Series title since 1948. He spent the offseason in Cleveland living with Allen Davis, the Indians’ director of community relations, to work on his conditioning and improve his English.

Armed with a new two-seam fastball that he developed under the tutelage of Indians pitching coach Mark Wiley, Colón was the workhorse of the Cleveland staff from 1998 through 2001.30 He compiled a 61-34 record with a 3.91 ERA in 819 1/3 innings.31

In his first start in 1998 he shut out the Angels, allowing four hits and striking out 10. On May 29, facing Roger Clemens, he fanned a career-high 14 batters in a victory at Toronto.32 Colón was an All-Star for the first of four times. Despite giving up a three-run homer to Barry Bonds in his only inning, he was credited with the win when the AL rallied to take the lead in their next at-bat. During the season, Colón began the custom of decorating and numbering each of his game-winning baseballs, a practice that he continued until the end of his career.33

Prior to the 1999 season, the Indians signed Colón to a four-year deal for $9.25 million. On the field, he was 18-5 with a 3.95 ERA, making him the first Cleveland pitcher to reach 18 wins since Greg Swindell in 1988.

In 2000 Colón struck out 212 batters, the most of any season in his career. He followed up with 201 strikeouts in 2001, the only other year in which he topped 200.34 On September 18, 2000, Colón threw the best game of his career – again against Clemens – when he allowed just an eighth-inning single to Luis Polonia and one walk while striking out 13 batters in a complete game at Yankee Stadium.

During this span, Colón helped the Indians win three American League Central titles. In playoff action he was 2-2 with a 3.29 ERA – including eight shutout innings with 10 strikeouts in Game 1 of the 2001 American League Division Series against the 116-win Seattle Mariners – but Cleveland advanced beyond the ALDS just once.

When Cleveland decided to rebuild for the future, the 29-year-old Colón was dealt to the Montreal Expos on June 27, 2002, for veteran Lee Stevens  and minor-leaguers Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips, and Grady Sizemore.35  At the time of the trade, Colón was 10-4 with a 2.55 ERA in 16 starts.

With Montreal, Colón was also 10-4 with an ERA of 3.31, joining Hank Borowy as the only pitcher to win 10 games in each league in one season.36 When Colón’s major-league career ended in 2018, he was the last active player to have played for the Expos.

Colón’s time in Montreal was brief. With the Expos controlled by Major League Baseball and ordered to keep their payroll around $40 million, Colón and his $8.25 million salary were dealt to the Chicago White Sox on January 15, 2003.

In 2003 Colón threw a career-high 242 innings with a 3.87 ERA and tied for the major-league lead with nine complete games, but his record was just 15-13.37 After turning down a three-year offer from the White Sox reported to be in a range of $30-36 million, Colón became a free agent for the first time.38 On December 10, 2003, he signed a four-year, $51 million contract with the Anaheim Angels.39

In the first year with Anaheim, Colón’s ERA was a lofty 5.01, yet he finished 18-12. The Angels made the playoffs but were swept in the ALDS by the Boston Red Sox.

Colón went 21-8 with a 3.48 ERA in 2005 to become the Angels’ first 20-game winner since Nolan Ryan in 1974.40 He was 9-2 with a 3.04 ERA in his final 12 starts, including a 5-0 record with a 1.72 ERA in August. The Angels won the AL West for the second straight year and Colón was voted the AL Cy Young Award winner, the first Angel to win the award since Dean Chance in 1964.41 He gave the trophy to his father in what he called the best moment of his career.42

Colón allowed four runs in seven innings and took the loss in Game One of the 2005 ALDS against the Yankees. He started the deciding Game Five but left the game with a partially torn rotator cuff after walking the first batter in the second inning. The Angels advanced to the ALCS, where they were beaten by the Chicago White Sox.

Battling through his injuries, Colón’s final two years in Los Angeles were dismal. In 2006 he made just 10 starts, finishing 1-5 with a 5.11 ERA in 56 1/3 innings, ending his streak of eight consecutive seasons with double-digit wins.43 The following season, he gutted through 99 1/3 innings, ending 6-8 with a 6.34 ERA in 18 starts and one relief appearance.

Boston gambled that the 34-year-old Colón would provide some insurance for its 2008 rotation, signing him to a $1.2 million minor-league deal.44 He started the season with Triple-A Pawtucket but was called up on May 21 after allowing just one hit in six innings in his previous start. Colón won four of six starts with Boston, including his 150th career win on June 11 against Baltimore, before injuring his back muscle on June 16 while striking out in his second at-bat against the Philadelphia Phillies.45

After rehabbing for almost two months, Colón made one start on September 13 before leaving the team to tend to personal matters in the Dominican Republic. Unhappy with being asked to come out of the bullpen, he refused to return and was placed on the restricted list, ending his stay with the Red Sox.46  He finished 4-2 with a 3.92 ERA in seven starts, the fewest in any season of his career.

In 2009 Colón signed another one-year contract, this one for $1 million with the White Sox. After his spring training was delayed by offseason surgery for bone chips in his elbow, he debuted on April 11 and, in his best outing of the season, hurled six shutout innings in a win against the Minnesota Twins. After a knee injury in early June sent him to the DL, Colón made one more start on July 24 before his elbow problems ended his season with a respectable 4.19 ERA in 62 1/3 innings, but his record was just 3-6 in 12 starts.47

Colón’s career appeared over at age 36. His torn rotator cuff and elbow problems made his arm constantly ache and throwing was painful. As a last resort, he contacted orthopedic surgeon Dr. Joseph R. Purita, who ran the Institute of Regenerative and Molecular Orthopedics in Boca Raton, Florida.

In the spring of 2010 in the Dominican Republic, Purita’s team performed a cutting-edge procedure which Purita called “the future of sports medicine.”48 They harvested fat and healthy cells from Colón’s bone marrow and then re-injected them into his injured elbow and shoulder, hoping that his body would regenerate damaged tissue.49

Major League Baseball did not prohibit the procedure, but banned the use of human growth hormone, which Purita had used in previous successful stem-cell surgeries on other people. Purita claimed that HGH was not used in Colón’s procedure and offered to take a lie detector test as proof.50,51 MLB investigated but took no action.52    

Colón did not play in 2010. After recovering and rehabbing, he returned in 2011, signing a minor-league deal with the Yankees for $900,000. He attended spring training as a non-roster invitee and an impressive spring earned him a spot in the Yankees’ bullpen.

After three relief outings, Colón joined the rotation when Phil Hughes went on the disabled list. He had a 3.30 ERA and an 8-6 mark through July but was winless in his last 10 starts, ending the season 8-10 with a 4.00 ERA in 164 1/3 innings.

When the Yankees decided to go with younger pitchers, the 38-year-old Colón joined the Oakland A’s with a $2 million, one-year contract for 2012. On April 18, he set a major-league record by throwing 38 consecutive strikes in eight shutout innings against the Angels.53 Colón held Cleveland to one run in eight innings on August 18 to improve to 4-1 with a 1.57 ERA in his last five starts.

Four days later Colón was suspended by Major League Baseball for 50 games for testing positive for testosterone.54 He missed the final 40 games of the season and Oakland’s five-game loss to Detroit in the ALDS, finishing 2012 with a 10-9 mark and a 3.43 ERA.55

Colón released a statement apologizing to fans, his teammates, and the A’s, but was most concerned about his father’s reaction. “What hurt me the most was having to tell my father about my positive test,” Colón said. “We were raised humbly and honestly, and I was ashamed. It took me a month and a half to build up the courage to tell my father. I couldn’t find the way to tell him.”56

In 2013 Colón re-signed with the A’s – the first time he had played successive years with a team since 2007 – and put together his best season since winning the Cy Young Award. He finished 18-6 with a 2.65 ERA in 30 starts and tied for the major-league lead with three shutouts.57 In five September starts, the 40-year-old Colón was 4-1 with a 1.16 ERA as Oakland repeated as AL West champs. In his only postseason start, Colón allowed three runs in the first inning of Game One of the ALDS in a 3-2 loss to Detroit’s Max Scherzer as the A’s again lost in five games to Detroit.

After spending most of his career in the American League, Colón signed a two-year, $20 million deal with the NL’s New York Mets on December 14, 2013. The legend of Bartolo Colón was ready to take off.

In 2014 Colón was 6-0 with a 1.58 ERA during a seven-game stretch in May and June. On August 8 at Philadelphia he allowed just one run in eight innings to pick up his 200th career win. He finished 15-13 with a 4.09 ERA in 202 1/3 innings.

Colón started strong in 2015, winning six of seven starts, including an outing on May 5 when he beat Baltimore to become the first pitcher to beat a team while pitching for seven different clubs.58 He was 8-3 at the end of May, including a stretch where he set a Mets record of 48 consecutive innings without issuing a walk.59 But he struggled in June and July with a 1-7 record and a 5.29 ERA before recovering late in the season to hurl a career-best 31 consecutive scoreless innings, breaking the record of 27 innings for a pitcher age 42 or older set by Cy Young and Warren Spahn.60 Included in the streak was Colón’s famous behind-the-back flip of a soft roller up along the first base line that retired Miami’s Justin Bour on September 5.61 His nimble fielding despite his bulk was worthy of a Gold Glove, but the honor went instead to Zack Greinke. Colón finished 14-13 with a 4.16 ERA, helping the Mets to their first division title since 2006.

After starting during the regular season, Colón worked out of the bullpen in the playoffs. Following three appearances in New York’s five-game NLDS win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, Colón picked up a win with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief in Game Four of their sweep of the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS. Against Kansas City in the only World Series of his career, Colón did not allow an earned run over 3 1/3 innings in three games but took the loss in Game One because of an unearned run in the bottom of the 14th inning. The Mets lost in five games.

The Mets re-signed Colón for $7.25 million for 2016 and he turned in his last good season.62 Shouldering a bigger load than expected following season-ending injuries to pitchers Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Steven Matz, Colón led the Mets in victories for the third straight year with a 15-8 record and a 3.43 ERA.63 In the first inning on May 18, against Washington, an incredible steak ended when he walked Jayson Werth and Bryce Harper; it was the first time since July 18, 2007, that he had walked two batters in a row.64 The Mets made the playoffs again but were shut out by San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner in the NL Wild Card game, ending their season.

Colón was 44-34 with a 3.90 ERA in his three seasons in New York but will be remembered for more than his pitching. He was quickly embraced by Mets fans for his jovial personality and boundless enthusiasm and was beloved by teammates, with whom he clowned around while shagging pregame flies in the outfield; he also mentored them in the clubhouse.

During the 2015 season, teammate Noah Syndergaard began calling Colón “Big Sexy”, a nickname that stuck with fans after Syndergaard shared a Christmas photo on Instagram of his family wearing shirts bearing Colón’s likeness.65 Colón  initially took the name as a jab at his weight but later realized it was meant in fun and embraced the monicker, writing, “I don’t think I’m sexy, but if the fans like the name, I like it, too.”66 In 2016, Colón  applied for a trademark to use the name on athletic apparel but never completed the paperwork.67

A notoriously poor hitter in limited opportunities in the American League, Colón got to bat regularly for the first time since his stretch with the Expos. His at-bats quickly became an Internet sensation, showing him flailing wildly at pitches while twisting himself into the ground, often losing his batting helmet in the process.

So on May 7, 2016, with a career batting average of .089 (20 for 225, including 119 strikeouts), Colón  shocked the baseball world when he homered at Petco Park on a fastball from San Diego’s James Shields, sending the ball over the wall in left.68 Colón had become the oldest player to hit his first career home run, breaking the mark set by Randy Johnson.69

As Mets players went wild in the dugout and Colón started to first base, Mets announcer Gary Cohen belted out a home run call that became an instant classic, “He drives one! Deep left field! Back goes [Melvin] Upton! Back near the wall! It’s outta here! Bartolo has done it! The impossible has happened….. This is one of the greatest moments in baseball history.”70,71

Colón’s trip around the bases took 30.6 seconds, prompting Mets color commentator Ron Darling to quip, “I want to say that was one of the longest home run trots I’ve ever seen. But I think that’s how fast he runs.”72

Colón returned to an empty dugout before his teammates came streaming out from hiding in the tunnel to mob him.73 Asked about the homer after the game, Colón explained. “Anytime I see a fastball, I swing hard because I’m not a curveball hitter. Once I hit it, I knew it was gone.”74

On August 15, Colón added to his big season at the plate by drawing a walk on a full-count pitch against Arizona’s Robbie Ray. It was his first free pass in 292 career plate appearances, the most by any player before his first walk.75

Less than two weeks after his home run, Colón was in the news again when it was revealed that he had a secret family. Alexandra Santos, age 38, claimed Colón had fathered her seven-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son and sued for child support. The court proceedings had begun in 2015 under “Anonymous vs. Anonymous” but came to light when Colon briefly represented himself, which made his name public.76 Rosanna Colón confirmed she had long known of her husband’s second family and the lawsuit but refused to comment on the private matter.77

After Colón skipped the initial court appearance, he and Santos reached an agreement on June 17.78 Both parties were barred from discussing the terms of the agreement.

With the Mets returning a stable of young pitchers for 2017, Colón signed for $12.5 million with the Atlanta Braves.79 At age 44, his age appeared to have caught up with him; he was 2-8 with an 8.14 ERA in 13 starts when he was designated for assignment at the end of June.80 Colón quickly reached a deal with the Minnesota Twins and after a start in Triple-A Rochester, joined their rotation.81 He struggled in his first three outings, but was 4-1 in August, including a complete game. However, Colón went 0-4 in September before winning his final start to finish 5-6 with the Twins for a 7-14 total record with a 6.48 ERA.82

Colón signed a minor-league deal with the Texas Rangers for 2018, his record-tying eighth American League team. In his second start, on April 15, he retired the first 21 Houston Astros but settled for no decision.83 On May 16 in Seattle, Colón pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings, but the memorable moment was taking a 101-mph liner to the stomach off the bat of Jean Segura and throwing him out at first base.84 “The important thing is we won the game and I was able to get the out,” Colón said. “He got me on the side. It was not in the middle. And I have a big belly so I can (handle) it.”85

On June 18 at Kansas City, in his fourth attempt at the milestone, Colón picked up his 244th career victory to pass Juan Marichal for most by a pitcher from the Dominican Republic. Against Seattle on August 7, he won his 246th to break the record of Dennis Martinez for most wins by a Latin American pitcher.86 Martinez offered gracious comments, including, “It showed me consistency and perseverance.”87 In his final big-league season, Colón finished 7-12 with a 5.78 ERA.

Colón appeared for the last time in his homeland’s winter league during the 2018-19 season, pitching in (and losing) two games. In 37 games scattered across 12 regular seasons starting in 1993-94, he posted a 9-7 record and 2.77 ERA. His team throughout was the Santiago-based Águilas Cibaeñas, He went to the postseason seven times with Águilas, winning five Dominican championships, and once more as a playoff reinforcement with Leones del Escogido. In 21 games, he went 3-3 with a 4.04 ERA.

Colón hoped to pitch in the majors in 2019 but had no offers.88 He signed instead with the Monclova Acereros of the Mexican League, but the COVID pandemic canceled the 2020 season. A year later, at age 48, he started 11 games for Monclova, posting a 6-2 record, including a complete game, with a 4.55 ERA.

In a September 2023 ceremony at Citi Field, Colón officially retired from major league baseball as a New York Met. “This was the fan base that accepted me the most and supported me the most,” he said. “So that’s why I felt really comfortable [retiring here].”89

Colón was eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2024 but received just five votes and his name was dropped from future ballots.90

Colón last played professionally at age 50. On November 23, 2023, he started the inaugural All-Star showcase game to launch Baseball United, a new league founded in the Middle East and Asia.91 He threw a perfect first inning, retiring former major leaguers Robinson Canó, Alejandro De Aza, and Didi Gregorius.92

At the time of his retirement, Colón said he would enjoy working with young pitchers in the future. As of 2025, he wasn’t officially back in pro ball, although he did run a one-day youth baseball camp that year in New Jersey and has visited organizations that serve children with cancer and other blood disorders. 93

Last revised: October 23, 2025

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and David Bilmes and checked for accuracy by members of SABR’s fact-checking team.

Photo credits: Bartolo Colón, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted Baseball-Reference.com and winterballdata.com.

Notes

1 David Schoenfield, “47 Things to Know About Bartolo Colón on His 47th Birthday,” ESPN.com, May 22, 2020, https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23575757/47-things-know-bartolo-Colón-47th-birthday (last accessed October 14, 2025).

During his career, Colón had a fastball rate of 81.4% for his career. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23575757/47-things-know-bartolo-Colón-47th-birthday (last accessed October 14, 2025).

2 Mary Kay Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire,” The Clevland Plain Dealer, June 26, 1998, 1-A.

3 Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire.”

4 Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire.”

5 Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire.”

6 Dan Barry, “Defying Time and Space.” New York Times, July 9, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/sports/baseball/mets-bartolo-Colón-defying-time-and-space.html?ref=sports (last accessed October 14, 2025).

7 Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire.”

8 Barry, “Defying Time and Space.”

9 Julia Marsh, “Bartolo Colón’s Double Life With Secret Family,” The New York Post, May 18, 2016, https://nypost.com/2016/05/18/bartolo-Colóns-double-life-with-secret-family/ (last accessed October 14, 2025).

10 Marsh, “Bartolo Colón’s Double Life With Secret Family.”

11  Fred Kerber, “Going Back to Bartolo Colon’s Humble, Petty Crime Beginnings,” nypost.com, September 20, 20, 2017, https://nypost.com/2017/09/20/going-back-to-bartolo-colons-humble-petty-crime-beginnings/ (last accessed October 14, 2025).

12 Fred Hofstetter, “Book Review – Big Sexy: In His Own Words,” screwballtimes.com, May 14, 2020, https://www.screwballtimes.com/reviews/big-sexy-in-his-own-words/ (last accessed October 14, 2025).

13 Barry, “Defying Time and Space.”

14 Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire.” Years later, when Colón’s family finally got a television set, it received just one channel, so he did not see his first major league baseball game on TV until he was in the minor leagues.

15 Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire.”

16 Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire.”

17 Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire.”

18 Levi Weaver, “Nine Thousand Days: Bartolo Colón’s Remarkable Career Forges Ahead,” The Athletic, February 12, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/236917/2018/02/12/nine-thousand-days-bartolo-Colóns-remarkable-career-forges-ahead/ (last accessed October 14, 2025). Llenas appeared in 300 games with the California Angels from 1968 to 1975, batting .230 with three home runs. He would later be inducted into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame.

19 Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire.”

20 Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire.”. According to Llenas, it was a common practice for a player to be invited to several tryouts before being signed. Colón did not understand this and cried each time he was sent home, believing he had been let go because he was considered too short.

21 The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011, caused increased attention to immigration, which resulted in the real ages of some Dominican baseball players, including Colón, being made public.

22 Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire.”. Colón had also never seen snow. In 1996 on the way to Cleveland for the Indians’ Winter Development Program, Colón and Dominican teammate Enrique Wilson were forced to sleep in the Newark, New Jersey, airport during a snowstorm. The following day they took a train to Philadelphia and joined up with another Cleveland prospect, David Miller, who supplied them with coats and gloves before the trio drove to Cleveland.

23 Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire.”

24 Paul Hoynes, “Colón Joins Rotation,” The Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 1, 1997, 8-D.

25 Disarcina hit just four home runs in 549 at-bats in 1997. Lopez relieved Colón and pitched four scoreless innings as Anaheim beat Cleveland 8-6 in 11 innings.

26 Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire.”

27 Matt Monagan, “A Trip Back in Time to the Bartolo Colón No-Hitter You Never Knew About,” MLB.com, June 20, 2018, https://www.mlb.com/cut4/a-trip-back-to-bartolo-Colón-s-first-and-only-no-hitter-c281758064?msockid=39b2a367016f61ff1f21ac9a0067606b (last accessed October 14, 2025). The large crowd was due to a promotion in which Buffalo celebrated its 10-million all-time paid attendance. Colón faced the minimum because Johnson was caught stealing by Einar Díaz for the second out of the game.  Díaz would go on to catch Colón in 85 major league games, more than any other catcher.

28 Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire.”

29 Cabot, “Harnessing Colón’s Fire.”

30 Joe Pantorno, “Bartolo Colón Officially Retires With Mets: ‘This Was the Fan Base That Accepted Me the Most’,” September 17, 2023, amny.com, https://www.amny.com/sports/bartolo-Colón-retirement-mets-9-17-23/ (last accessed October 14, 2025). Colón also gave credit to Greg Maddux, who in 1996 encouraged him to throw his two-seam fastball more often.

31 Sheldon Ocker, “Can Someone Count to 139?,” Akron Beacon Journal, June 23, 1998, C5. On June 21, 1998, a miscommunication between Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove and pitching coach Mark Wiley resulted in Colón throwing 139 pitches during his eight shutout innings of the New York Yankees, who entered the game with a 50-17 record.

32 On June 26, 1998, Colón was involved in an epic 20-pitch at-bat against Houston’s Ricky Gutierrez which ended as a strikeout for Colón. At the time, it was the record for most pitches in one at-bat since pitch tracking began in 1988 but was bested by San Francisco’s Brandon Belt in a battle against Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jaime Barria in 2018.

33 An example of his artwork can be seen here. https://www.sfgate.com/athletics/ostler/article/enigmatic-bartolo-Colón-is-essential-to-amazing-4646510.php (last accessed October 14, 2025).

34 Colón was the first Cleveland pitcher with consecutive 200-strikeout seasons since Gaylord Perry (1972 to 1974).

35 Pitcher Tim Drew went to Montreal along with Colón in the trade.

36 In 1945 Borowy was 10-5 with the New York Yankees before he was shipped to the Chicago Cubs where he was 11-2. In 2002 Colón threw four complete games with both Cleveland and Montreal, which was not enough to lead either league but did tie Randy Johnson for the most in the major leagues. He had two complete-game shutouts for Cleveland and one for Montreal. No other pitcher for the Indians or the Expos recorded one. 

37 Colón topped the 200-inning plateau eight times in his career and had more than 190 in three other seasons.

38 Teddy Greenstein, “Colón Deal Hinges Mostly On Money,” Chicago Tribune, October 1, 2003, 4-4.

39 Bill Shaikin, “Colon Joins the Angel Armory,” Los Angeles Times, December 9, 2003, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-dec-09-sp-angels9-story.html (last accessed October 14, 2025). At the time, this was the second largest contract in Angels’ history behind the six-year, $80 million contract given to Mo Vaughn before the 1999 season.

40 Bill Shaikin, “Trying To Tip The Scales,” Los Angeles Times, July 12, 2005, D6. Colón said that he pitched at 268 lbs. in 2005 compared to 255 lbs. in 2004 but that the additional weight was “new muscle”. The Angels believed that the difference in 2005 was more due to him having recovered from the ankle and back soreness that bothered him in 2004. Concerned about his weight and stamina, Colón had hired fellow Dominican Angel Presinal as his personal trainer following the 2003 season. “As a young player, everything is ability,” he said. “You never think you need to work extra hard. Things come a little easier. When you’re young you think you know it all. I was a little stubborn. I learned I need to work harder. I was pretty much desperate. I felt like I was letting so many people down.”

41 In the modern era when voters look at more than wins, the award would likely have gone to Minnesota Twins pitcher Johan Santana. Santana was 16-7 with a 2.87 ERA and led Colón in strikeouts 238 to 157 in nine more innings pitched. While winning the Cy Young Award in 2005, Colón surrendered home runs to the 2005 AL MVP Alex Rodriguez in four consecutive at-bats (three on April 26 and the next on July 21). Rodriguez connected for eight career homers off Colón, more than any other player.

42 Colón was just the second native of the Dominican Republic to win the Cy Young Award, joining three-time winner Pedro Martínez.

43 In 2005, the franchise changed its name for the Anaheim Angels to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. In 2016 they became simply the Los Angeles Angels.

44 One Red Sox player happy to see Colón on the squad was slugger David Ortiz. In 50 career at-bats against Colón had just seven hits, including one home run, and struck out 16 times – tied for Colón’s most against any opponent.

45 Because this was Colón’s first action in a National League park in 2002, where the designated hitter was not used at the time, this was just his second at-bat of the season.

46 James Simmons, “Boston Red Sox: The Time Bartolo Colón Brought Sexy Back to Beantown,” May 12, 2020, https://calltothepen.com/2020/05/12/boston-red-sox-time-bartolo-Colón-brought-sexy-back-beantown/ (last accessed October 14, 2025).

47 Bob Harkins, “Somehow, Bartolo Colon is Missing,” nbcsports.com, July 7, 2009, https://www.nbcsports.com/mlb/news/somehow-bartolo-colon-is-missing (last accessed October 14, 2025). Colón disappeared for a day on the way to rehab in Triple-A Charlotte.

48  Janet Fang, “Yankees Pitcher’s Stem Cell Therapy Didn’t Endow Superhuman Powers,” ZDNET.com, June 10, 2011, https://www.zdnet.com/article/yankees-pitchers-stem-cell-therapy-didnt-endow-superhuman-powers/ (last accessed October 14, 2025).

49 Bill Conlin, “Colón’s Recovery After Stem-Cell Surgery a Sign the Future of Sports Medicine Has Arrived,” June 4, 2011, https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/jun/04/Colóns-recovery-after-stem-cell-surgery-a-sign/ (last accessed October 14, 2025).

50 Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, “Bartolo Colon Stiffed Doctors On Career-Saving Treatment: Suit,” nypost.com, August 28, 2019, https://nypost.com/2019/08/28/bartolo-colon-stiffed-doctors-on-career-saving-treatment-suit/ (last accessed October 14, 2025). In 2019, two doctors involved in the procedure sued Colón in the Dominican Republic for $4.5 million, 10% of what he earned since the 2010 procedure, claiming non-payment by Colón.

51 “Bartolo Colón, Winner Of The Cy Young, Wins Lawsuit In Case Of Stem Cell Treatment To Which He Was Subjected Before His Return To The Major Leagues,” drlawyer.com, https://drlawyer.com/bartolo-colon-winner-of-the-cy-young-wins-lawsuit-in-case-of-stem-cell-treatment-to-which-he-was-subjected-before-his-return-to-the-major-leagues/ (last accessed October 14, 2025). After losing the initial ruling, Colón the decision was overturned on appeal in Colón’s favor.

52  In August 2013, Major League Baseball 13 penalized players at the conclusion of an investigation of Biogenesis of America, a Florida clinic accused of distributing banned performance-enhancing drugs. Because Colón had previously served a 50-game suspension in 2012, he received no further punishment. 

53 Pitch tracking began in 1988. Colón’s streak broke the previous record of 30 consecutive strikes set by knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

54 Colón’s suspension came one week after San Francisco’s Melky Cabrera, the 2012 All-Star game MVP, received the same suspension.

55 The remainder of the suspension was served at the beginning of the 2013 season. During the offseason, Colón pitched in the Dominican Winter League for the Aguilas Cibaenas and was struck in that mouth by a line drive. He was hospitalized for tests but suffered no injuries.

56  Manny Gómez, “Ex-Mets Pitcher Opens Up About Positive PED Test: I Was Ashamed To Tell My Father,”

 NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, February 9, 2024, https://www.nj.com/mets/2024/02/ex-mets-pitcher-opens-up-about-positive-ped-test-i-was-ashamed-to-tell-my-father.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWhat%20hurt%20me%20the%20most%20was%20having%20to,raised%20humbly%20and%20honestly%2C%20and%20I%20was%20ashamed (last accessed October 14, 2025).

57 Colón tied with Cleveland’s Justin Masterson.

58 Chris Landers, On Bartolo Colón’s 43rd Birthday, Here Are 43 Reasons to Love MLB’s Oldest Player,” May 24, 2016, https://www.mlb.com/cut4/celebrate-bartolo-colon-s-43rd-birthday-c179251924#:~:text=On%20May%2024%2C%201973%2C%20the%20world%20was%20given,hitting%20dingers%20and%20bringing%20joy%20to%20us%20all.?msockid=39b2a367016f61ff1f21ac9a0067606b (last accessed October 14, 2025).

59 Brian Reinhart, “The Most Amazing Bartolo Colón Fact,” The Hardball Times, May 20, 2016, https://tht.fangraphs.com/the-most-amazing-bartolo-colon-fact/ (last accessed October 14, 2025).

60 John Donovan, “Elder Blanksman: Colón Sets Scoreless Record,” MLB.com, September 11, 2015, https://www.mlb.com/news/bartolo-Colón-sets-a-scoreless-innings-record/c-148582368 (last accessed October 14, 2025). Colón fell just short of the Mets’ record of 32 2/3 innings set by R. A. Dickey in 2012.

61 Colón claimed to have practiced the behind-the-back flip during pregame warmups. The play can be seen here starting 0:18 into the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfvCKA9RdH4 (last accessed October 14, 2025).

62 Mark Townsend, “Bartolo Colón  Could Earn $50,000 bonus For Silver Slugger award,” Yahhosports.com, December 19, 2015, https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/bartolo-Colón -could-earn–50-000-bonus-for-silver-slugger-award-213044266.html (last accessed October 14, 2025). When Colón signed his contract for the Mets for the 2016 season, it included a $50,000 bonus if he won the Silver Slugger Award.

63 Colón was selected to his final All-Star game but did not appear in the contest.

64 Reinhart, “The Most Amazing Bartolo Colón Fact.”

65 The photo can be seen here. https://x.com/Noahsyndergaard/status/680452635011497985 (last accessed October 14, 2025).

66 Mollie Walker, “Noah Syndergaard Is The One Who Dubbed Bartolo Colon ‘Big Sexy’,” nypost.com, May 8, 2020, https://nypost.com/2020/05/08/bartolo-colon-big-sexy-nickname-noah-syndergaard/ (last accessed October 14, 2025).

67 https://www.legalhoop.com/trademark/detail/87006146/BIG-SEXY (last accessed October 14, 2025). In March 2017, the current status of the filing was listed as “Abandoned” because the “applicant failed to respond or filed a late response to an Office action.”

68 Ben Cosman, Bartolo Colon hit a batting-practice home run, and it’s already a legend, MLB.com, March 14, 2016, https://www.mlb.com/cut4/bartolo-colon-hit-a-batting-practice-home-run-c167421424?msockid=39b2a367016f61ff1f21ac9a0067606b (last accessed October 14, 2025). Colón  had provided foreshadowing of the blast when he caused a stir in spring training with a batting-practice home run off Mets hitting coach Kevin Long that knocked a branch from a tree beyond the fence.

69 Colón was 42 years, 349 days old when he homered, Johnson was 40 years, 9 days old at the time of his homer. Colon became the second-oldest Mets player to homer behind Julio Franco who homered on May 4, 2007, when he was 48 years, 254 days old.

70 Posnanski, Joe, Why We Love Baseball (Penguin Random House LLC, 2023), 5.

71 Rachel Cohen, “Call Captures Colon Homer: ‘The Impossible Has Happened!’,” apnews.com, May 8, 2016, https://apnews.com/call-captures-colon-homer-the-impossible-has-happened-96cbffd71511486f92059dea154829ca (last accessed October 14, 2025). Cohen summed up the unexpected magnitude of Colón’s homer in a phone interview the following day saying, “The accumulation of elements here: His age, his weight, his former ineptitude at the plate and his personality all kind of tie together into an incredibly special package.”

72 Posnanski, Why We Love Baseball (Penguin Random House LLC, 2023).

73 The home run can be seen here seen here starting 0:55 into the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfvCKA9RdH4 (last accessed October 14, 2025).

74 Marc Carig, “Bartolo Colón’s Legacy With The Mets: Making It A Joy To Suspend Reality,” The Athletic, September 7, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/4871003/2023/09/17/bartolo-colon-mets-retirement/ (last accessed October 14, 2025).

75 Colón ended his career batting .084 (25 for 299) with 4 doubles and the one home run and one walk. He scored 11 runs and did not steal a base.

76 Julia Marsh, “Bartolo Colon’s Double Life With Secret Family,” nypost.com, May 18, 2016, https://nypost.com/2016/05/18/bartolo-colons-double-life-with-secret-family/ (last accessed October 14, 2025)..

77 Marsh, “Bartolo Colon’s Double Life With Secret Family.”

78 Emily Saul and Laura Italiano, “Bartolo Colon Signs Support Agreement With Ex-Mistress,” nypost.com, June 17, 2016, https://nypost.com/2016/06/17/bartolo-colon-signs-support-agreement-with-ex-mistress/ (last accessed October 14, 2025).

79 Colón’s time with the Braves came in their first year in Truist Park. With other teams, he was 5-1 with a 1.89 ERA in seven games in their previous home Turner Field, a venue that hosted its first game on the same day Colón made his major league debut, April 4, 1997.

80 Tony Fortier-Benson, “Bartolo Colón Ready To Expand List Of Career Feats That Range From Historic To Esoteric,” SportingNews.com, June 12, 2018, https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/bartolo-colon-career-stats-wins-dominican-born-pitcher-juan-marichal-2500-strikeouts-dennis-martinez-latin-america/v8v5k20v1ida1tcl5dl3uapve (last accessed October 14, 2025). On May 9, 2017, Colón surrendered a home run to Houston’s Carlos Beltrán who had previously homered against him on June 30, 2001. The 5,792 days between the home runs was the longest span between home runs by the same hitter against the same pitcher since 1961.

81 Demetrius Bell, “Bartolo Colón Is With The Twins And The Mets Aren’t Happy At All,” SBNation.com, July 9, 2017, https://www.sbnation.com/2017/7/9/15943168/bartolo-Colón-minnesota-twins-new-york-mets-free-agent-minor-league-deal (last accessed October 14, 2025). According to the New York Post, the Mets attempted to bring Bartolo back to New York and were “stunned” when Colón signed with the Twins.

82 Tony Fortier-Benson, “Bartolo Colón Ready To Expand List Of Career Feats That Range From Historic To Esoteric.” The complete game on August 4 at age 44 made Colón the oldest AL pitcher to go the distance since Nolan Ryan did so at age 45 in 1992.

83 Houston’s Justin Verlander was nearly as good as Colón, allowing just a third-inning homer to Robinson Chirinos and one walk in eight innings and striking out 11.

84 In two starts in Seattle’s Kingdome in 1997, Colón was 0-2 and surrendered 10 earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. After the Mariners moved in 1999, Colón compiled an incredible 14-1 record with a 1.98 ERA in 113 2/3 innings in 16 career starts in Safeco Field.

85 Associated Press, “Bartolo Colón Credits ‘Big Belly’ As Savior From 101 MPH Liner,” May 16, 2018, https://nypost.com/2018/05/16/bartolo-Colón-credits-big-belly-as-savior-from-100-mph-liner/ (last accessed October 14, 2025).

86 With his first win with Texas on April 28 against Toronto, Colón joined LaTroy Hawkins, Ron Villone and Mike Morgan as pitchers who won a major league game with 11 different clubs. Edwin Jackson would later appear with a record 14 major league teams and win a game with 12 of them.

87 William Wilkerson, “‘El Presidente’ couldn’t be happier for ‘Big Sexy,’” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 18, 2018.

88 In the 2018-2019 Dominican Winter League, Colón started two games lasting just a total of 3 2/3 innings.

89 Pantorno, “Bartolo Colón Officially Retires With Mets: ‘This Was the Fan Base That Accepted Me the Most’.”

90 In 2025 Colón was elected to the Latin Baseball Hall of Fame.

91 Chris Henrique, “Bartolo Colón Returns To The Mound At 50-Years-Old In Baseball United League Debut,” November 23, 2023, https://beyondthemonster.substack.com/p/bartolo-Colón-returns-to-the-mound (last accessed October 14, 2025).

92 Colón pitched three innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits and a walk. He struck out three.

93 ”Bartolo Colon: Youth Baseball Camp.”ProSportsplex.com, https://www.prosportplex.com/bartolocolon/ (last accessed October 16, 2025).

“I like to think of the world’s greatest athlete coming up to bat against me – Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, I don’t care who it is – and I’m looking at him thinking, ‘You have no chance.’ “1

There was a moment in the third game of the 1996 World Series that felt eerily familiar for David Cone. Bases loaded, no gas in the tank. He had been burned in that situation a year before.

Game Five, American League Division Series, Seattle, 1995: On his 147th pitch, Cone had walked pinch-hitter Doug Strange in the eighth inning to allow the tying run in the Yankees’ eventual 11th-inning postseason exit.

No doubt he had replayed that moment all season. But 1996 had brought its own trials – a life-threatening aneurysm that had sidelined him for four months, so that now his stamina was the equivalent of coming out of spring training.2 The defending champion Atlanta Braves had embarrassed the Yankees at home in the first two World Series games, and now 24 million pairs of eyes were on Cone in Atlanta.3

On the winning side of a 2-0 duel against future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine, a tiring Cone had loaded the bases with one out in the sixth and cleanup hitter Fred McGriff at bat. Yankees manager Joe Torre jogged to the mound.

“David,” said Torre, his face inches away from his star right-hander’s. “This is really important; I need to know the truth. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Cone said, “I can get McGriff.”

Torre asked if he was sure.

“I’m losing my splitter a bit, but it’s more mechanical than anything.”

“I wanted to hear him say it,” Torre said afterward. “If he had hesitated, I would have taken him out. But he didn’t.”4

“I lied,” Cone said. “But I had to make him believe my lie.”5

McGriff popped up to short, and Cone eventually escaped with a one-run lead. The Yankees ultimately took Game Three, and the next three games, for their first championship in 18 years.

Typical Cone to believe the improbable – he was often at his best when the odds were stacked against him. Despite developing a reputation as a free spirit in his early years with the Mets, and then in midcareer as a hired gun after jumping multiple teams in time for their playoff push, Cone’s candor facing the New York media had turned him into a sort of elder spokesman. He was a player representative when team owners threatened to shut the MLB Players Association down. When his fastball began to slow as he hit his 30s, he became, as he often said, “a finesse pitcher without the finesse,” adopting new arm angles and sometimes inventing pitches on the spot to compensate for any flaws in his abilities.6

In some ways, David Cone’s place among the pitching elite seems improbable – he doesn’t look like a prototypical athlete. His baseball cards claim he is 6-feet-1 and 180 pounds,7 but standing next to teammates he often resembled the runt younger brother, what with his slight hunch and a face that sportswriters ad nauseam likened to a “choirboy.”8 And his high school didn’t have a baseball team.

In fact, ask a teenage Cone where he saw himself as an adult, and he figured he’d follow his fictional hero, Oscar Madison of The Odd Couple, into journalism, complete with the greasy, wrinkled sweatshirt and half-eaten bologna sandwich behind the couch. That was as good a dream as any for a kid growing up in the blue-collar Northeast district of Kansas City.

And yet, in other ways, the youngest of four children – a girl followed by three boys – born to Joan Sylvia Curran, a secretary and travel agent, and Edwin Mack Cone seemed intended to be an athlete from his birth on January 2, 1963. He was almost named Theodore Samuel Cone; Theodore after Ted Williams, Samuel after New York Giants linebacker Sam Huff.9 Instead, he was David Brian Cone.

Ed Cone once had professional dreams as a side-armer, or perhaps going into business like his father and namesake, who managed a hotel chain and knew the local political bosses. Instead, Ed Cone worked as a mechanic, first at a steel plant, then at a meat-packing factory. He rose long before the sun to repair large hunks of metal for over 60 hours a week, often in rooms kept at freezing temperatures.

“There was never a suggestion that my success in sports, if it came along, would be some kind of avenue to financial success for him,” David Cone said. “He wasn’t proving anything through me. With him, sports was an avenue for his kids to get a better education. We were sports-crazy in my family, but the real obsession was always school. You might say it didn’t work out that way with me.”10

Fierce Wiffle-Ball games would take place in the Cones’ backyard under the floodlights Ed and Joan Cone had installed for evening baseball. The family affectionately called it Conedlestick Park or Coneway Park. Pitching came naturally as soon as David realized the Wiffle Ball could bend and dive depending on his grip.11 Ed Cone helped him fine-tune his mechanics.

Frequently playing alongside boys his older brothers’ ages, David got used to fighting for what was his. He was cut from his first little league team at age 7, because he was too small. He made it the next year, with Ed Cone as the new coach. David was also the star shooting guard on Ed Cone’s junior-high basketball team.12 Friends recalled the legendary squabbles between father and son – at least one particular temper tantrum ended with David being sent home.13

“He commanded respect, but there was a fear factor, too,” David said of his father’s coaching style.14

Cone described his parents as “tough, hard-nosed, blue-collar people. They went by the sort of kick-the-bird-out-of-the-nest type of theory. You had to fly or fall to the ground. In some ways, I really appreciate that. In other ways, maybe we both regret that we haven’t fostered that close, affectionate relationship that some families have. Part of my resiliency and so-called toughness, emotionally, is due to that background. Part of the problems I have emotionally, too, are due to that background.”15

However, the tight-knit Cone clan knew family first. When David’s older brother Danny got into a fistfight with a neighbor on their front porch, Joan Cone wrestled her son away from the larger man’s blows. The neighbor’s ire escalated into weapon-wielding16 death threats, so Ed Cone grabbed a .22 and shot him. (The wound was superficial.) David, 14, learned that day not to “be bullied by anybody. The worst thing you could be called in this world is someone who didn’t stand up for his family.”17

Such attitude translated to sports. He played basketball with such intensity that he once struck an opponent who had caused him to foul out with a metal protector he had been wearing over an injured finger.18 Another opponent who violently slammed a ball at his chest received it back in the face.19

This isn’t to paint Cone as the belligerent sort – he just hated getting beat. At Rockhurst High School,20 the all-boys Jesuit prep he attended as an alternative to the subpar Kansas City public-education system, he was generally an above-average student, charming and well-liked. His senior year, he led the football team, as its starting quarterback, and the basketball team, as a guard, to the district finals.

Rockhurst had no baseball team. His junior year, Cone, also a sportswriter for the school newspaper, had gathered over 700 signatures on a petition, as well as a potential field and coaching staff, but it was a no-go.21 Instead, Cone played summer ball in the Ban Johnson League, a gangly adolescent mowing down college-age men interested in going pro.

At 16, he was called to an invitation-only tryout with his hometown Royals, where the scouts gave him a second look from among a couple of hundred talents.22 He also pitched in an open tryout with the Cardinals. At 17, he hit 88 mph on the radar gun23 and was telling his parents – much to his mother’s concern – that he wanted to forgo college for the major leagues.24

Cone was considering a partial scholarship at the University of Missouri (in baseball, with a chance to walk on to the football team). But on June 8, 1981, a Western Union wire announced that the Kansas City Royals selected him in the third round of the free-agent draft.25 It helped that his father and Royals scout Carl Blando had known each other since childhood.

Having grown up idolizing the likes of Dennis Leonard and George Brett, Cone was all too eager to sign on the dotted line for $17,500. Similar draftees were receiving $30,000, but Cone had never seen so much money in his life. He wouldn’t be so cavalier about his worth in future negotiations.

Cone immediately reported to Sarasota for rookie ball, where he had a 2.55 ERA in 67 innings pitched, second most on the team. The next year, 1982, Cone split between Class-A Charleston and Fort Myers, going 16-3 with a 2.08 ERA, including seven complete games.

Then, in an exhibition game against the Pirates in March 1983, he tore the ACL in his left knee in a collision at home plate. If the hip-length cast from surgery didn’t say it emphatically enough, Cone’s season was done. Between the countless hours he spent on an exercise bike rebuilding his strength, he took a minimum-wage job at a conveyor belt company. For four months, he cut and bonded strips of rubber, frequently slicing his hands as an occupational casualty – not the smartest idea for a pitcher. The uncertainty of a comeback plagued him with visions of a future in manual labor, just like his father.26

Cone struggled with his control in 1984 at Double-A Memphis (110 strikeouts, 114 walks), and in 1985 at Triple-A Omaha (115 strikeouts, 93 walks). Such prolonged mediocrity may have prevented a September call-up with the big-league club, which won its first World Series title that fall.

Nor could he manage his money, as notices from the Internal Revenue Service went ignored. His first paycheck in 1985 was for $83; Uncle Sam had taken around 90 percent.27

Moved to the Omaha bullpen to start 1986, Cone rediscovered the strike zone, fanning 63 and walking 25 in 71 innings. The Royals were noticing. On June 8 – five years to the day after his draft – Cone replaced a concussion-suffering Mark Gubicza on the big-league roster. He relieved Bret Saberhagen in the top of the ninth against Minnesota and allowed three singles and a run. Three days later, he was summoned for mop-up work against Seattle (4⅔ innings, five earned runs, four strikeouts). After two more brief, scoreless relief appearances, he was returned to Triple A.

Rejoining the parent club as a September call-up, Cone appeared seven times from the bullpen, including four shutout innings with five strikeouts on September 20. His final line in his first major-league season: no decisions, a 5.56 ERA, 21 strikeouts, and 13 walks in 22⅔ innings.

“David had a fastball and a slider back then,” said Jamie Quirk, an Omaha teammate. “He was almost there but he kept trying to strike everybody out. I wanted to persuade him to be in the strike zone more and set the batters up – let them hit the ball now and then but where you wanted them to hit it. He got the idea some days.”28

Were there any doubts Cone was ready for “The Show,” he spent the offseason helping the Ponce Leones capture the Puerto Rican Winter League pennant and the Caguas Criollos the Caribbean World Series championship.29 Cone went 6-2 in 70 2/3 innings for Ponce, including two shutouts, tied for the league lead in wins, and was second in ERA (2.42) and strikeouts (45).

Cone headed to Royals spring training in 1987 energized with two pitches that would become signatures: a side-arm slider (the “Laredo”), which he learned from Gaylord Perry, and a split-finger fastball. A day after being told he made the team – March 27 – he was traded to the Mets.

Apparently the Royals needed a catcher, and they eyed Ed Hearn. Throw in pitching never-really-weres Rick Anderson and Mauro Gozzo, and Cone was headed to New York with outfield prospect Chris Jelic. Hearn would play a total of 13 more games in his major-league career. It may be the worst trade in Royals history.30

For Cone, the news that he was being ripped from his hometown and sent to some unfamiliar city hit him like a sucker punch to the gut. He had a spot in the Royals rotation, and now he was concerned about starting the season in Triple A if the Mets, the reigning world champions, could not fit him on their roster.

Cone needed not worry about his place in New York. During his first session at the Mets’ spring training facility, his pitches moved so much that catcher Barry Lyons could barely hold onto them – Cone said pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre’s jaw was “literally dropping.”31 Cone would start the season at Shea Stadium.

And players – a roster oozing with as much zany debauchery as raw talent – took swiftly to his congenial, slightly goofy nature. Lyons was lockered next to Cone when he first arrived. “We hit it off,” Lyons said.32 And first baseman Keith Hernandez, according to Cone, “made me feel more welcome in one day than the Royals had in six years.”33

“[T]he Mets were a perfect fit for me,” Cone said. “I’d do anything in the world to fit in with that wild group of guys.”34

Injuries (and Dwight Gooden checking into rehab) forced Cone into the rotation. His first start in blue-and-orange, on April 27, was mortification – 10 runs (7 earned) in five innings. Undeterred, two starts later, on May 12, he went the distance for his first big-league win.

Just as Cone’s place in the rotation seemed secure, a fastball by the Giants’ Atlee Hammaker fractured his pinky as he squared for a bunt on May 27.35 Surgery followed, and Cone would not return until the middle of August, the pinky permanently, grossly misshapen.

Cone finished 5-6 with a 3.71 ERA in 99⅓ innings, as the injury-ravaged Mets, despite the second-best record in the National League, missed the playoffs.

Injuries worked to his advantage – Cone exploded into the rotation permanently in 1988 after Rick Aguilera’s elbow went bad. His first start, on May 3, was a complete-game shutout against Atlanta. Two weeks later, he struck out 12 in seven innings of a 1-0 win at San Diego. In fact, Cone won every one of his starts in May, as well as his final eight starts of the season. He recorded double-digit strikeouts seven times that season, averaging almost 7⅔ innings per start, including eight complete games (four shutouts), and another two he went 10 innings. Former President Nixon was waiting in the Shea Stadium dugout to shake Cone’s hand upon his 20th win.

Cone’s line included a league-best .870 winning percentage (20-3), a 2.22 ERA, 213 strikeouts (both second-best in the NL), a NL All-Star team selection, and third place, behind winner Orel Hershiser and runner-up Danny Jackson, in the NL Cy Young Award voting.

It wasn’t hard to be a David Cone fan in the late 1980s.36 A friend of his, Andrew Levy, with a bunch of college pals, started the “Coneheads” (after the Saturday Night Live sketch),37 who wore pointy rubber head coverings and occupied “Cone’s Co’ner” in the left-field upper deck. For every strikeout, they’d string orange construction cones from the rafters.

“I can tell you that the Coneheads were a motivating factor whenever I took the mound,” Cone said in hindsight. “I didn’t want to let them down.”38

Candid, articulate, and slightly idiosyncratic, Cone embraced the New York media. He chatted with the writers regularly, sometimes showed up at their pickup basketball games,39 and was one of the few starters who didn’t mind being interviewed the day of his turn in the rotation. Reporters lapped up his clubhouse antics, such as when leaving tickets for Wheel of Fortune host Vanna White (a “Total ruse. Just for fun,” he said40) became an ongoing spoof. When the Dodgers’ Pedro Guerrero hurled his bat at Cone and charged the mound after Cone’s slow curve hit him near his head, Cone was readily available after the game to claim the offending pitch was unintentional.

“If I’m going to hit somebody,” Cone said, “it’ll be a 90 mile-per-hour fastball.”41

Another time, after Phillies broadcaster Chris Wheeler lightly criticized his batting average, Cone appeared in the booth in full uniform. “It’s a hard .143,” he defended himself on air.42

The 1988 Mets won the division by 15 games and were the overwhelming favorite against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. Enter Bob Klapisch, writer for the Daily News. Under the guise of Cone realizing his other childhood dream of becoming a sportswriter, Klapisch agreed to turn daily clubhouse interviews into a ghostwritten column.

After the Mets had won the opener with a ninth-inning rally off reliever Jay Howell, Klapisch-as-Cone wrote that Dodgers starter Hershiser “was lucky for eight innings,” and that the Mets knew they’d win when he came out: “Seeing Howell and his curveball reminded us of a high school pitcher.”43

“Bob Klapisch just kind of asked me some questions in the clubhouse, and things got a little crazy in the aftermath of a big win in Game One of the playoffs,” Cone said, “and I never got a chance to read it before it went out, and I got credit for the byline. To this day, I still can’t believe I allowed that to happen, that I wouldn’t at least see the final copy before I put my name on it.”44

The Dodgers passed out copies and pinned it to their bulletin board. And lit up Cone for five runs in two innings that night. He’d only allowed five earned runs once, and he’d never been knocked out of a start before the fourth inning all season.

“It definitely affected how I pitched,” Cone said. “It was the first time I felt physically inhibited by nerves. My legs felt heavy from being so nervous.”45

Cone apologized to Howell the next day and dropped the column soon afterward. In its final iteration – which Cone wrote himself – the contrite righty admitted he’d said every word, a “feeble attempt at humor” which he was “naïve” to think wouldn’t make print.46

“I had a choice to make, either stand up and be honest, or run away and hide,” Cone said, “so that was an early hard lesson to learn.”47 Klapisch later praised Cone for owning his mistake, when he just as easily could have said he’d been misquoted.48

Cone recovered with a perfect ninth inning in relief in the Mets’ Game Three win, and a complete-game victory in Game Six to stave off elimination. But the Mets lost in seven games, and some baseball insiders still believe that Cone’s column cost the Mets the pennant.49

Cone wasn’t as overpowering in 1989, but still tallied formidable numbers, with 190 strikeouts (fourth in the NL) and a 3.52 ERA. A third-year player ineligible for arbitration, he was a bargain at $332,500. But after that year he commanded $1.3 million in front of the arbitrator – and won.

Cone immediately flew to Kansas City and told his father, whose long hours at the plant had hastened arthritis, to quit his job.

“Nothing I’ve done in my life has meant more than that moment,” Cone said.50 A year later, when his salary nearly doubled to $2.35 million, he bought a condominium for his parents in Florida. Another arbitration win in 1992 yielded a $4.25 million salary.

Armed with the splitter, which teammate Ron Darling helped him perfect,51 and the Laredo, which came from the side and broke six inches off the plate,52 in addition to his usual four-seam fastball and curve, Cone topped the NL in strikeouts in both 1990 (233) and 1991 (241). He averaged more than a strikeout per inning both years, and had mastered pitch control, with a league-high 3.585 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 1990, and a second-best 3.301 in 1991. If sabermetrics were general parlance in 1991, Cone would have been ninth in WAR for pitchers (4.4), and would have led the league in Fielding Independent Pitching (2.52).

“My agent, Steve Fehr, was very progressive with numbers, the early sabermetrics movement,” Cone said. “We used some of those numbers in arbitration cases against the Mets in the early ’90s, and we actually won those cases. … A lot of it was based on numbers, trying to look inside the numbers, past won-loss record, and trying to get a better look at what the pitcher really did. So I was an early believer, really.”53

Perhaps the Mets’ sinking fortunes were partially to blame for Cone’s underwhelming 14-8, 14-10, and 14-14 records between 1989 and 1991. Frustrated by a 20-22 start in 1990, general manager Frank Cashen replaced manager Davey Johnson with third-base coach Bud Harrelson. The Mets battled back to first place in early September, but couldn’t stay ahead of the division-winning Pirates. In 1991 the team finished fifth, and Harrelson was dismissed. By late 1992, the Mets, with one of the game’s highest payrolls, were hovering dangerously close to last place. The wild egos that had previously held the team together had given way to infighting, and age and injury had slowly sapped the team of its talent. Daily appearances on Page Six were not as easily ignored.

Cone still loved New York, but was slowly falling from favor with the Mets organization. There were on-field embarrassments, such as on April 30, 1990, when he allowed two Atlanta runs to score while he argued with the umpire over whether he had stepped on first base for the force out. Or on June 4, 1991, when Cone shook off a pitchout from bench coach Doc Edwards, and he and Harrelson erupted in a shouting and poking match in the dugout. The altercation overshadowed a 13-strikeout win in which Cone did not allow an earned run.

Even after these humiliations, Cone was at his locker, answering questions. Fittingly, in 1991 Cone switched his number from 44 to 17, to honor Keith Hernandez, the Mets’ previous press point-man.

Still, his off-the-field behavior was a delicate dance. Cone never had the addiction problems of some of his teammates, but he often ran with them – carousing, staying out late, and frequently not going to bed alone.

In September 1991, three women sued Cone and the Mets for $8.1 million, claiming he had made death threats. According to Cone, at least one had been harassing Sid Fernandez’s wife in the stands, and although he’d “dropped 90,000 F-bombs,” he never threatened their life. “It was a farce of a lawsuit, to get publicity,” he said.54

Three weeks later, the phone rang early in the morning in Cone’s hotel room in Philadelphia, where he was scheduled to pitch that day. It was the final day of the season, and Cone had staggered in at 6:30 A.M. after another all-nighter with his Mets teammates.

Cashen broke the news: A woman who had been with Cone the night before was accusing him of rape, and police were investigating. He could skip his start if he wanted. Cone refused, despite near-hallucinations of a cop interrupting play at Veterans Stadium to arrest him.55

“If anything, it made me stronger,” he says. “It gave me a cause. Either fold or get mentally strong, that’s how I was thinking. I chose to get strong.”56

Cone was at his best – three hits, one walk, no runs, 19 strikeouts (18 of which were swinging). The last tied an NL record, with Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton.57 Within three days, police had concluded the allegations were “unfounded.”58

In February 1992, another woman alleged she was Cone’s girlfriend and she had been gang-raped by teammates Dwight Gooden, Daryl Boston, and Vince Coleman. Cone admitted he had been with the woman a few times, but wasn’t currently seeing her. The police would drop the investigation.59

Not a month went by when perhaps the juiciest scandal hit the tabloids: WEIRD SEX ACT IN THE BULLPEN, famously howled the New York Post back page on March 26, 1992. The three women from the previous fall had amended their lawsuit to add other lurid claims, including that Cone had masturbated in front of them in the Shea Stadium bullpen in 1989. There was nothing to it – the suit never reached trial60 – but the baseless gossip has become part of Cone lore. Angry fans would taunt, “Masturbation!” or make rude gestures from the stands during the season.

“Even though both cases were cleared up, my name was completely cleared, the damage had been done,” Cone reflected years afterward. “I’ve had to live with that. There was part of me that said, at some point, ‘Be more careful, cover your ass a little better, but you can still live, you can still have fun.’ I thought there was a lot of reckless journalism, but I sort of came full circle and said, ‘Now, wait a minute – you did put yourself in a position to be taken advantage of a couple of times.’”61

A few days later, Cone, fed up with the nosy tabloids, initiated a petition to ban all reporters from the clubhouse; his teammates were happy to oblige.62 The Mets’ media boycott lasted until they headed north on April 3.63

“I look back at that, I think we as players probably overreacted during that time,” Cone said. “We should’ve handled that situation better. But we did feel like for the first time we were under attack, and we thought a lot of the stuff that was coming our way was not truthful, it was kind of reckless at times. We all collectively did it, realized we couldn’t go on once we got into it, and looking back, probably would’ve played it differently back then.”64

Eventually, Cone had to take it. He fielded lewd questions from Don Imus and Howard Stern on air. He invited cartoonists who’d depicted his “weird act” to send him autographed copies.

However, as the Mets spiraled, even Cone’s personality couldn’t save him. On August 27, 1992, the Mets, mindful Cone was facing free agency that fall, traded him to Toronto for Jeff Kent and Ryan Thompson. At the time Cone was 13-7 with a 2.88 ERA, and leading the NL in shutouts (5) and strikeouts (214). Had he not been traded to the AL, the Mets’ only All-Star Game representative that year would’ve won his third straight NL strikeout title, as the Braves’ John Smoltz only passed him by one (215) in his final start. Cone’s season strikeout total was 261.

“The trade was a wake-up call for me,” Cone said. “It was time to take a hard look at myself –what am I doing wrong here? Or at least, what are the perceptions of what I’m doing wrong? You’re getting a reputation as a kid with great stuff, some of the best stuff in the big leagues as far as pitching goes, and also one of the biggest flakes. I kind of looked at that and said, ‘Is this how I want to be remembered?’ Not that I had any great revelations or made any great changes in my life, but I certainly looked at it and tried to address it.”65

“Excited” was what he told the press. The Blue Jays were hurtling toward a division title. Cone’s four wins sealed the deal,66 and Toronto beat the Braves in the World Series to bring a championship to Canada for the first time.

“It was like I was hitchhiking on the side of the road and got a ride to the World Series –unbelievable,” Cone told cheering fans at the victory parade.67

It was Cone’s first ring, but he felt “rented, like I was hired long enough to ensure the win.”68

Toronto wasn’t home – rather than find an apartment, Cone stayed in the Skydome Hotel. This impermanence was further emphasized when mere days after the parade, Cone was back in New York, hosting a charity auction and appearing on the David Letterman TV show.

Cone could have returned to New York the next year – he made clear he was interested in signing with the Yankees,69 and he’d maintained his New York apartment. But Cone became disillusioned with the Yankees’ disorganized negotiating tactics – which he later learned were because their first choice had been Greg Maddux. When the Royals stepped in with an “unbelievable” three-year, $18 million offer, including a $9 million bonus, the choice was clear. Cone was going home to Kansas City as baseball’s highest-paid pitcher.70

According to Cone, Ewing Kauffman, the Royals owner, who was dying of bone cancer, “made the offer with the caveat of, not ‘take it or leave it,’ but ‘you need to decide pretty soon,’ especially considering the uneven structure of the contract, the way he presented it. It was, ‘Take a little bit of time, but not too much. Make your decision.’ He was a good salesman.”71

In 1993 Cone finished in the top 10 in the AL in ERA (3.33), strikeouts (191), innings pitched (254), complete games (6), and hits allowed per nine innings (7.264). What stands out is that he went 11-14 – the Royals’ weak offense72 barely supported Cone, with 2.93 runs per start.73

The next year, Kansas City gave him the support (5.11 runs per start), and Cone went 16-5 with a 2.94 ERA – including three consecutive shutouts in May – and a selection to the AL All-Star team. The Baseball Writers Association of America bestowed upon him the AL Cy Young Award that fall.

Outside events overshadowed those accolades. The MLB Players Association went on strike August 12, the World Series canceled for the first time since 1904. Cone, encouraged by Steve Fehr, union executive director Donald Fehr’s brother, was involved as a player representative with the Mets, but his role grew that fall when players chose him as the AL representative. Cone attributed his leadership role in union negotiations to “timing.”

“Sometimes, it’s by default,” he said. “I was one of the more established pitchers at that time. Some of the players, they get involved, they’re worried about angering the owners, or losing their job, or getting labeled. Most of the guys back then, especially, that served on the Players Association boards, they had to be prominent guys or had to be the type of players that felt secure to be able to represent their teams without feeling like they were going to lose their jobs or feeling like there would be repercussions for their involvement.”74

Part of Cone’s role was to boost morale of those concerned players, so that they would not feel pressure to cross picket lines. At his most grandstanding during a rally, he bent over with his rear end to the crowd to remind players that “the owners are trying to stick it up your ass without Vaseline. That’s what this strike is about. This is about your rights, not your money.”75

Baseball’s antiquated antitrust exemption had opened the door for owner collusion to suppress player salaries in recent collective-bargaining agreements. At the height of the strike, the owners unilaterally imposed a salary cap and made plans to bring in replacement players to start the 1995 season if the MLBPA didn’t concede. It threatened the union’s existence. Cone spent the winter in Washington, tirelessly lobbying senators and representatives to repeal the antitrust exemption.76

His efforts ultimately resulted in the Curt Flood Act of 1998, a partial repeal, so that players could bring antitrust lawsuits “involving conduct that directly relates to or affects” their employment.77

Cone also was among those urging the National Labor Relations Board to seek an injunction against the owners beginning the season with replacement players. On March 30, 1995, Federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor granted the injunction, and the players returned to work. Cone returned the favor in 2009 when he testified in favor of now-Justice Sotomayor’s nomination to the US Supreme Court.78

Cone took at least one day off from his strike activities, November 12, 1994, to marry Lynn DiGioia, an interior designer from Connecticut. They met in Puerto Rico in 1987 and had dated on and off since.

The strike had been over but a week when the Royals traded Cone back to the Blue Jays for rookie Chris Stynes and minor leaguers Tony Medrano and Dave Sinnes.

“I don’t blame my union activities for them trading me, but I know it didn’t help,” Cone said, noting that the $5 million price tag in the last year of his contract probably had something to do with it.79

Cone’s second turn in Toronto didn’t last much longer than the first. The last-place Blue Jays sent him to the Yankees near the trade deadline, July 28, for prospects Marty Janzen, Jason Jarvis, and Mike Gordon. The Yankees were languishing in mediocrity, but general manager Gene Michael ardently believed Cone was the missing piece to send them to the postseason for the first time since 1981.80 Which he did, going 9-2 as the Yankees captured the AL wild card. It was the textbook definition of a “hired gun.”

Cone had now mastered the art of appearing both straightforward and rehearsed with the press. During his first homestand in pinstripes, he reviewed his new team’s media guide in full view of reporters, knowing the story would play better than if he had done it privately.81 He also gently alerted a grateful in-game broadcasting team that the clubhouse could hear their between-inning banter, and that they should exercise some discretion before they embarrass themselves.82

Wearing number 36 in honor of Robin Roberts,83 a still-durable Cone led the league with 229 ⅓ innings pitched. He threw 135 pitches in the ALDS opener victory against Seattle. But he blew a 4-2 lead in the eighth inning of Game Five, the tying blow coming on the aforementioned walk to Doug Strange on pitch 147. He still patiently answered reporters’ questions afterward, albeit teary-eyed.

A free agent again, Cone almost didn’t re-sign after the Yankees retracted their initial offer. He and Fehr had all but reached a deal with Baltimore84 when Yankees owner George Steinbrenner allegedly jumped in from a pay phone and reinstated the bid – a three-year, $18 million deal with an additional $1.5 million in options.85 Cone signed.

Now a seasoned New Yorker, Cone embraced his role as a leader by welcoming newer players. When Joe Girardi’s early struggles led to frequent taunting on sports talk radio, Cone advised the first-year Yankees catcher that his critics would “lay off” if Girardi interacted with them rather than hiding from the press.86 Girardi rebounded.

Cone pitched seven shutout innings in the Yankees’ Opening Day victory in Cleveland, but coldness, numbness, and blueness persisted in his pitching hand for weeks after he’d left the 38-degree weather. An angiogram showed blood clots, and Cone was prescribed blood thinners. But a second angiogram on May 7 revealed a potentially life-threatening diagnosis: an aneurysm – the weakening and ballooning of an artery – in his right shoulder.

“I didn’t even know what it was or what it meant,” Cone said. “It was very scary. I just wanted to know if my career was over at that point.”87

Vein-graft surgery was scheduled three days later, as doctors replaced the offending section of artery with a piece from Cone’s left thigh. How long he would be out was anyone’s guess.

The procedure had not left structural damage to his shoulder, and once the graft healed, Cone could throw again. After two rehab starts at Double-A Norwich, Cone boarded a plane to rejoin the Yankees in Oakland on Labor Day.

He walked two batters in the first. Then, no hits for seven innings. But he was being held to a strict pitch count, so manager Joe Torre replaced him with Mariano Rivera after pitch number 85.88

”If they had left the decision up to David, they would have needed a tractor to get him out of there,” said Ed Cone, who had watched the game from behind the first-base dugout at the Oakland Coliseum.89

Cone would pick up two more wins and a loss, finishing 7-2 with a 2.88 ERA in 11 starts. He was shelled for six runs against Texas in the ALDS, and he was wild (five walks, six innings, 133 pitches) against the Orioles in the ALCS. But his gritty performance in the third game of the World Series jump-started the Yankees’ march to their first championship since 1978.

He was no longer a hired gun.

The first half 1997, Cone showed the devastating promise the Yankees had hoped for when they re-signed him. Named to the AL All-Star team, he had 12 wins and a 2.68 ERA by early August. He’d hit double digits in strikeouts in six games, including June 23, when he fanned 16 Tigers, and averaged over 10 strikeouts per nine innings. Then he spent most of September on the disabled list for right-shoulder tendonitis and inflammation. He was chased from his one postseason start in the fourth inning, allowing six Cleveland runs in the ALDS.

The problem was a bone spur that required offseason arthroscopic shoulder surgery. It wasn’t even clear that Cone would be ready to join the Opening Day roster in 1998, but again he flouted expectation. Despite a rocky first two starts, Cone quietly built up his record.

Now 35, Cone was learning to adjust to his own vulnerabilities – in terms of when he could throw (warmer weather suited him), how much he could throw, and the types of pitches he could throw.

“A lot of wear and tear just took its toll and I lost some velocity,” Cone said of his later years, when he relied more on finesse, “so I had to adjust, get more creative, probably throw more breaking stuff, less fastballs, change angles a bit more.”90

He skipped a start in early June when his mother’s Jack Russell terrier, Veronica, nipped at his index finger. It paved the way for Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, a Cuban defector with a peculiar high leg kick, to make his major-league debut. Cone, who joked about being “Wally Pipped,”91 wasn’t slowed in the slightest, striking out 14 Marlins five days later.

A pair of Adidas commercials airing around that time showcased Cone’s self-deprecating humor. In one, the advice that he “rest that arm” led a fan entourage to embarrassingly baby him.92 The other, depicting fans at a club doing “The El Duque,” ended with Cone awkwardly grinding in the men’s room in response to Luis Sojo’s suggestion, “Hey, Coney, why don’t you have a dance?”93

Cone was also the only player bold enough to sidle up to teammate and drinking buddy David Wells as he was in the middle of throwing a perfect game on May 17. “I think it’s time to break out the knuckleball,” he said.94 Wells laughed. Tension released.

Despite arm fatigue toward September, Cone won his 20th game in his final start – the decade gap between 20-win seasons still a major-league record. He chugged through the postseason, winning the rubber games of both the ALDS and the ALCS, and starting Game Three of the World Series in San Diego (a cortisone shot to the shoulder helped), as the Yankees capped their incredible 114-48 season with Cone’s third ring.

On July 18, 1999, against the Montreal Expos, Cone accomplished what only 15 other pitchers had done in major-league history – he threw a perfect game.95 Cone had come close before – aside from the aneurysm comeback game, he’d also taken a no-hitter into the eighth in 1991 – but this was his first no-hitter. The timing almost seemed contrived: The Yankees honored Yogi Berra prior to the game,96 and Don Larsen, the only man with a World Series perfecto, had thrown out the first pitch and watched the feat unfold at Yankee Stadium.

“It makes you stop and think about the Yankee magic and the mystique of this ballpark,” Cone said afterward.97

An All-Star again in 1999, Cone was 10-4 with a 2.65 ERA, averaging 6⅔ innings per start the day he was perfect. Afterward, he was anything but – 2-5 with a 4.82 ERA, averaging 5.46 innings.98 Although he insisted he felt better physically in 1999 than he did the previous season,99 his velocity was down – his fastball topping off in the mid-80s. Nonetheless, Cone‘s big-game mentality kicked in with two October victories – he struck out nine Red Sox in the ALCS and allowed one Braves hit in seven innings in Game Two of the World Series – as the Yankees won their third championship in four years.

Before 1999, Cone had leveraged his option into a one-year, $8 million salary. Now, the Yankees, concerned about Cone’s age, 37, and his tired second half, refused to accommodate his request for a two-year contract before 2000. Instead, the parties agreed to a one-year, $12 million deal.

Then Cone, in his words, “fell on my face,”100 going 4-14 with a 6.91 ERA – or, as fans derided him, $3 million per win. In a Twilight Zonesque twist, the entire debacle was chronicled in Roger Angell’s book, A Pitcher’s Story, on which Cone had agreed to cooperate before his season went south.101

By early August Cone was 1-10.102 After extended mechanical work at the Yankees’ training facility, he won three of five starts. But on September 5, in front of family and friends in Kansas City, he dislocated his left shoulder fielding a bunt. As the injury wasn’t to his pitching arm, Cone returned to the rotation after missing one turn, with disastrous results (23 earned runs, 14⅔ innings) in his final four starts.

Perhaps as a nod to Cone’s team history, Torre put Cone on the postseason roster. With the Yankees clinging to a 3-2 lead in Game Four of the Subway Series against the Mets, Cone was summoned to face Mike Piazza with two outs in the fifth.103 He popped up the future Hall of Famer on five pitches, and the Yankees won their fourth title in five years the following night.

The Yankees couldn’t guarantee Cone a spot in the 2001 rotation, so they parted ways – Cone likened the split to a “divorce.”

“I want to go where I’m needed, and there isn’t a great need for me here with the Yankees,” Cone said then.104

Cone discovered where he was needed when Red Sox pitching coach Joe Kerrigan visited him that offseason and diagnosed flaws in Cone’s motion.105 Cone signed with Boston for $1 million, with another million in deferred payments.

New York newspapers called him a traitor – the Yankees’ $12 million liability had taken the money and run to their bitter rivals.

Cone shrugged it off. “It’s better to be booed than forgotten,” he said.106

A sore shoulder delayed Cone’s Boston debut until May, but the season was somewhat redemptive – 9-7, 4.31 ERA, in spite of him being kept to low pitch counts and often given an extra day of rest. On September 2 the old Cone resurfaced, as he dueled Mike Mussina, his replacement in the Yankees rotation, over eight scoreless innings. He lost on an unearned run in the ninth – as Mussina came within one strike of a perfect game.107

The Red Sox didn’t re-sign him, and Cone spent 2002 as a spectator. He led the Yankee Stadium Bleacher Creatures in their first-inning roll call of the starting lineup on Opening Day (“I’ve always wanted to watch a game from out here.”108) and was pulled into the broadcast booth of the upstart YES Network for a few games.

He claimed he didn’t really throw that year,109 though news outlets kept hinting at a comeback. Before the 2003 season, John Franco and Al Leiter talked him into going to spring training. Cone made the Mets as the fourth starter, at age 40.

And for one “magical” night (his word),110 the Coneheads returned to Shea. Wearing Dwight Gooden’s old number 16, Cone pitched five shutout innings for his 194th career win. Then reality set in.

Cone said he “gave it a good shot, but just physically couldn’t do it anymore. And it wasn’t really my arm at that point, it was more my hip. My hip just gave me a bunch of problems that year. All those years of landing on my left hip, as a right-handed pitcher, kind of took its toll.”111

He announced his retirement on May 30, six wins shy of 200. His 2,668 strikeouts ranked 18th all-time, then.112 When he became eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2009, only 3.9 percent of the BBWAA voted for him – a player needs 5 percent to remain on the ballot.113

“I think one of the problems for me was the way I finished my career,” Cone said. “I didn’t finish off my career and get my numbers up there from a quantitative career perspective, just kind of fell a little short.” The Hall of Fame Braves trio of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz, for instance, “got started a little younger, and they lasted a little longer,” and “they stayed healthy the whole time.”114

After spending his entire adult life gripping a baseball, Cone’s transition game wasn’t seamless. He has always had his charities. His own David Cone Foundation has supported several not-for-profit organizations, including the Ban Johnson League that made him, Joe Torre’s Safe at Home Foundation (domestic violence), and various medical causes, in particular the ALS Association and cancer research. He guest-bartended at Foley’s New York Pub to raise funds for Hurricane Sandy victims.115 He took a pie to the face to promote gastroparesis awareness.116

But finding his career niche took time. Coaching was always in the back of his mind, but “the window closes for opportunities for pitching coaches. To go back on the road full-time would be a big commitment; you have to be ready for that.”117

Cone has two sons now. Brian was born in 2006, though David and Lynn divorced in 2011. Cone and his fiancée, Taja Abitbol, a restaurateur and real estate agent from Queens, have a son, Sammy, born in December 2011. As of 2022, he splits his time between Manhattan and Florida.

Would Cone encourage his boys to follow in his footsteps? “Absolutely – I wouldn’t discourage it,” Cone said. “Certainly if they showed the interest and the promise and that’s what they wanted to try to pursue, I would try to help them in any way I could.” But, he cautioned, “It was something I was always worried about as a father. I didn’t want to push them or have them feel like they had to compete with their father or feel like they had to be as good as their father. I was always more protective in that regard.”118

For a would-be sportswriter-turned-athlete, Cone’s second career should have seemed obvious –media. In 2008 he became a part-time color commentator for the YES Network, among a rotating team of announcers providing in-game and studio analysis. His remarks have not always been the most filtered – asides have included recitations of song lyrics (“Rapper’s Delight,” “Call Me Maybe”), unintentional innuendos (a pitcher asked to warm up but not called upon got “jerked off” in the bullpen), or poking fun at his broadcast colleagues. (“It is high, it is far, it is off my forehead!” he said in John Sterling’s voice when a pop foul got too close for comfort in the adjacent radio booth.). Yet Cone has won praise as a perceptive student of sabermetrics, with observations ranging from complicated statistics to a technical examination of how the ball spins across the plate – attention to detail not often found in an ex-ballplayer behind the microphone.

His analytical aptitude has opened more opportunities. In the fall of 2021, he was recruited by two baseball broadcasters with Yankees connections to co-host Toeing the Slab, a new podcast about (what else?) pitching. In January 2022, ESPN announced Cone would be part of their three-man Sunday Night Baseball broadcast team, alongside Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez.

“Every year it’s become a little easier, knowing what the job entails, when to use sabremetrics and when not to,” said Cone. “I try to be an easy listen. I try to tell you something you don’t know.”119

The easy way out would’ve been to rest on his laurels and regale in tall tales about his days in uniform, as so many ex-players have done. But Cone has always been at his best when challenged to defy conventional expectation.

Last revised: March 9, 2022

Sources

Statistics, unless otherwise noted, are from Baseball-Reference.com or Retrosheet.org. Special thanks to Andrew Levy for putting me in touch with David Cone, and to Thomas Van Hyning for information on the Puerto Rican Winter League.

Notes

1 Roger Angell, A Pitcher’s Story (New York: Warner Books, 2001), 29.

2 Announcer Tim McCarver made such an observation in the World Series Game Three broadcast on Fox, October 22, 1996.

3 The attendance at Fulton County Stadium that night was 51,843; another 23.99 million viewers watched the game on television, according to Nielsen ratings. Cone had lost Game One of the ALDS against Texas; he pitched better in Game Two of the ALCS against the Orioles, which the Yankees also eventually lost.

4 John Harper & Bob Klapisch, Champions! The Saga of the 1996 New York Yankees (New York: Villard Books, 1996), 197-98.

5 Angell, 45. Cone has suggested more recently that he was only joking at the time about having “lied” about his ability to finish the inning, but admits that he was “exhausted” and drained from the “pressure of the moment,” and that it never really occurred to him that he might not be able to pitch out of the inning. Podcast, “30 With Murti: David Cone and the 1996 Yankees,” May 5, 2016, newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/05/05/remembering-the-1996-yankees-david-cone-30-with-murti/.

6 Torre once dubbed Cone “Thomas Edison every day.” Craig Wolff, “Uptown Local: David Cone is the toast of New York, but he’s still a backyard K.C. boy in a pinch,” ESPN the Magazine, October 5, 1998, espn.com/espn/magazine/archives/news/story?page=magazine-19981005-article25.

7 Cone is probably closer to 5-feet-11; he himself has admitted being under 6 feet tall. See, e.g., Bob Klapisch, “Klapisch: Q-and-A with David Cone,” North Jersey.com, February 25, 2017, northjersey.com/story/sports/columnists/bob-klapisch/2017/02/25/klapisch-a-q-and-a-with-david-cone/98423578/.

8 See, e.g., Ian O’Connor, “A Pair of Aces Jack, Cone hold Yank Cards,” New York Daily News, August 3, 1995, nydailynews.com/archives/sports/pair-aces-jack-cone-hold-yank-cards-article-1.696298; Jennifer Frey, “A Grown-Up David Cone Takes to Life as a Leader,” Washington Post, March 24, 1996, washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1996/03/24/a-grown-up-david-cone-takes-to-life-as-a-leader/20719712-5429-4492-bbbc-dc6f5cdb0a7b/?utm_term=.d476711dd8ff; Chris Smith, “Wild Pitcher,” New York Magazine, October 18, 1999, nymag.com/nymetro/news/sports/features/2138/; Angell, 14.

9 Angell, 76.

10 Angell, 80.

11 “I was 12 years old, in 1975, when Luis Tiant was in the World Series with the Red Sox,” Cone said. “I just kind of fell in love with him, started copying him in the backyard. He had that kind of style.” Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

12 Angell, 79.

13 John Ed Bradley, “The Headliner,” Sports Illustrated, April 5, 1993, si.com/vault/1993/04/05/128316/the-headliner-strikeout-king-david-cone-hopes-the-news-he-makes-as-a-kansas-city-royal-will-be-about-baseball-not-off-the-field-shenanigans.

14 Angell, 78.

15 Chris Smith, “Wild Pitcher.”

16 The Cones saw the neighbor brandishing something shiny, which could have been a gun. It turned out to be a knife.

17 John Ed Bradley.

18 Angell, 79.

19 John Ed Bradley.

20 Until 2016, Cone might have been Rockhurst’s most famous graduate – if not for a suddenly prominent politician from Virginia named Tim Kaine.

21 Angell, 116. Rockhurst restored its baseball program in 1989, and a few years later Cone made a large donation toward the school’s athletic programs.

22 Angell, 118-19.

23 John Ed Bradley.

24 Angell, 119.

25 Interestingly, four members of the Mets’ 1990 rotation were chosen during that draft: Cone’s future roommate Sid Fernandez (73rd overall pick) was chosen immediately ahead of Cone (74th) by the Dodgers; Ron Darling (9th) was selected by the Rangers in the first round; and Frank Viola (37th) was chosen by the Twins in the second round. Longtime Mets closer John Franco was also part of the 1981 draft, selected by the Dodgers in the fifth round.

26 See Angell, 124.

27 John Ed Bradley.

28 Angell, 147.

29 Ponce had the best record in the regular season. However, Caguas won the playoff round-robin to represent Puerto Rico in the Caribbean World Series, taking along several top Puerto Rican League players with it, regardless of whether they played for Caguas during the regular season. According to Thomas VanHyning, this practice of “reinforcement” was common. Other such reinforcements for Caguas in that Series included Bobby Bonilla, Juan Nieves, Luis DeLeon, and Candy Maldonado. See also Thomas Van Hyning, “Caguas Criollos: Five Caribbean Series Crowns and Cooperstown Connections,” SABR Baseball Research Journal, Spring 2018, https://sabr.org/journal/article/caguas-criollos-five-caribbean-series-crowns-and-cooperstown-connections/.

30 See, e.g., Peter Botte, “Ed Hearn, known for Mets trade that got David Cone, flopped with Royals but finds success in life,” New York Daily News, October 27, 2015, nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/ed-hearn-finds-success-royals-flop-mets-cone-article-1.2412564.

31 Angell, 153.

32 Robert David Jaffee, “Former NY Mets Catcher Barry Lyons Roars Back From Depression,” Huffington Post, January 28, 2014, huffingtonpost.com/robert-david-jaffee/former-ny-mets-catcher-ba_b_4681263.html. Years later, after Hurricane Katrina had destroyed Lyons’ home, Cone and friend Andrew Levy helped bring Lyons out of a spiral of depression and addiction.

33 Angell, 154.

34 Angell, 149.

35 Cone, a left-handed batter, described the pitch hitting “the bottom hand around the [k]nob of the bat. Like cracking a walnut.” Twitter, June 25, 2013, twitter.com/Baldassano/status/349594799944380416.

36 Dashing initial hopes of many New Yorkers, Cone is not Jewish. His last name originates from the Irish “McCone,” not “Cohen.”

37 Cone hasn’t appeared on SNL in a Conehead, but he did show up twice on the late-night sketch comedy. The first time was among a group of players upstaging host Ben Stiller after the Yankees won the World Series in 1998. The second was in drag with pal David Wells and host Derek Jeter in 2001 – he played a “skank” in a leopard-print halter top and metallic black miniskirt who pulled underwear from his bra.

38 Vincent M. Mallozzi, “Live From New York, It’s a Conehead,” New York Times, October 29, 2006, nytimes.com/2006/10/29/sports/baseball/29cheer.html.

39 John Feinstein, Play Ball: The Life and Troubled Times of Major League Baseball (New York: Villard, 1993). Excerpt available at Google Books.

40 Correspondence with author, March 3, 2017.

41 Sam McManis, “HIT, THROW AND RUN: Guerrero Throws Bat at Pitcher; Dodgers Lose, 5-2,” Los Angeles Times, May 23, 1988, articles.latimes.com/1988-05-23/sports/sp-2199_1_dodgers-lose.

42 Paul Hagen, “Now There’s No Way Phils Can Lose 100,” Philadelphia Daily News, September 28, 1988. Cone batted .234 in 1989, the highest average for any pitcher with more than 35 at-bats.

43 David Cone, “It was justice – not luck,” New York Daily News, October 5, 1988.

44 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

45 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

46 Sam McManis, “BASEBALL PLAYOFFS: Cone Winds Up Eating His Words: Met Pitcher Apologizes; Career as a Columnist Is Over,” Los Angeles Times, October 8, 1988, articles.latimes.com/1988-10-08/sports/sp-3095_1_david-cone; Robbie Andreu, “Cone Writes His Wrong. He Quits,” Sun-Sentinel, October 8, 1988, articles.sun-sentinel.com/1988-10-08/sports/8802280502_1_bob-klapisch-column-gag-order (excerpts from column quoted).

47 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

48 Gerard Cosloy, “Klapisch Recalls Controversial Cone Column,” Can’t Stop the Bleeding, September 11, 2006, cantstopthebleeding.com/klapisch-recalls-controversial-cone-column (excerpted from the Bergen Record).

49 See, e.g., Murray Chass, “ON BASEBALL: Yankees Must Beware Fate of the 1988 Mets,” New York Times, June 25, 1996, nytimes.com/1996/06/25/sports/on-baseball-yankees-must-beware-fate-of-the-1988-mets.html (Joe McIlvaine claimed the column “absolutely” contributed to the Mets’ NLCS loss.); Buster Olney, The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty (New York: HarperCollins, 2004), 166. (Mets manager Davey Johnson “would say his greatest regret of that season was ‘David Cone’s literary career.’”)

50 Angell, 90.

51 David Laurila, “Q&A: David Cone, Stat-head All-Star,” FanGraphs, November 20, 2012, fangraphs.com/blogs/qa-david-cone-stat-head-all-star.

52 Joe Sexton, “BASEBALL: Dawson Slaps Laredo Slider and Mets Go South,” New York Times, August 10, 1991, nytimes.com/1991/08/10/sports/baseball-dawson-slaps-laredo-slider-and-mets-go-south.html.

53 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

54 John Ed Bradley.

55 Angell, 175; John Ed Bradley.

56 John Ed Bradley.

57 Kerry Wood (1998) and Max Scherzer (2016) have since surpassed that record, with 20 K’s.

58 Allen Barra, “The New Whitey Ford,” The Village Voice, October 12, 1999, villagevoice.com/news/the-new-whitey-ford-6420696.

59 Barra; Michael Marriott, “BASEBALL; State Attorney Says 3 Mets Will Not Face Criminal Charges,” New York Times, April 10, 1992, nytimes.com/1992/04/10/sports/baseball-state-attorney-says-3-mets-will-not-face-criminal-charges.html.

60 Two of the women dropped out of the suit, and the third woman settled privately over words that were exchanged – the worst thing Cone had apparently done was call her a “groupie.” See Angell, 176-77.

61 Chris Smith, “Wild Pitcher.”

62 Eric Pooley, “Why Are These Guys Laughing?” New York Magazine, April 13, 1992, 58, 60.

63 Bruce Kauffman, “Battered Mets Banish the Messenger,” AJR, May 1992, ajrarchive.org/Article.asp?id=2061.

64 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

65 Chris Smith, “Wild Pitcher.”

66 The Blue Jays won the AL East over Milwaukee by four games.

67 Archived news footage from 1992 Blue Jays victory parade, available at youtube.com/watch?v=F5jxknTz7tI&t=682s (last visited March 11, 2017).

68 Allen Barra, “The New Whitey Ford.”

69 Joe Sexton, “BASEBALL; Royals Make Cone Game’s Highest-Paid Pitcher,” New York Times, December 9, 1992, nytimes.com/1992/12/09/sports/baseball-royals-make-cone-game-s-highest-paid-pitcher.html.

70 Cone clarified that the “highest-paid” label was only “the highest average annual value” – the contract was actually “back-loaded,” in that after the bonus, he was to make $2 million the first two years, and $5 million the third year. At least Greg Maddux, when he signed with the Braves a day after Cone did, was making more from a salary standpoint. Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

71 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

72 Kansas City’s offense was last in the AL in runs scored (675) and team on-base percentage (.320).

73 By comparison, the White Sox’ Jack McDowell, who won the AL Cy Young Award, had similar numbers to Cone – except that he went 22-10.

74 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

75 Angell, 247. Former MLBPA head Marvin Miller praised Cone as “one of the most articulate spokesmen for players’ rights I’ve ever seen.” Allen Barra, “The New Whitey Ford.”

76 Before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, Cone forcefully testified that the negotiation process with the owners was “such a joke.” See “Kansas City Royals Pitcher David Cone on baseball strike – 1995 Senate Judiciary Subcmte Hearing,” C-SPAN.org, February 15, 1995, c-span.org/video/?c4510189/kansas-city-royals-pitcher-david-cone-baseball-strike. Cone has often been asked whether he would consider going into politics. He generally demurs –“too many skeletons.”

77 S.53—Curt Flood Act of 1998, 105th Cong., congress.gov/bill/105th-congress/senate-bill/53.

78 See “Sotomayor Confirmation Hearing, Day 4, Legal Issues Panel,” C-SPAN.org, c-span.org/video/?c1446191/clip-sotomayor-confirmation-hearing-day-4-legal-issues-panel.

79 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

80 Andrew Mearns, “This Day in Yankees History: David Cone, Hired Gun – July 28, 1995,” Pinstripe Alley, July 28, 2012, pinstripealley.com/2012/7/28/3198562/this-day-in-yankees-history-david-cone-hired-gun-july-28-1995.

81 See Ian O’Connor, “A Pair of Aces Jack, Cone Hold Yank, Cards,” New York Daily News, August 3, 1995, nydailynews.com/archives/sports/pair-aces-jack-cone-hold-yank-cards-article-1.696298.

82 George Vecsey, “Sports of the Times; Cone Faces Unfinished Business,” New York Times, December 22, 1995, nytimes.com/1995/12/22/sports/sports-of-the-times-cone-faces-unfinished-business.html.

83 Roberts, a Hall of Fame pitcher, had also been active in the early days of the MLBPA, helping persuade the players to hire Marvin Miller as union head.

84 The Orioles attracted Cone, in part, because he’d worked with new general manager Pat Gillick (with the Blue Jays) and new manager Davey Johnson (Mets) before, and he respected owner Peter Angelos for not hiring replacement players during the strike. Harper & Klapisch, 14-15.

85 The Mets also made a last-minute offer, but the money wasn’t there.

86 Podcast, “30 With Murti: David Cone and the 1996 Yankees.”

87 Podcast, “30 With Murti: David Cone and the 1996 Yankees.”

88 Only a controversial ninth-inning single stood between Rivera completing a combined no-hitter.

89 Jack Curry, “Sensational Comeback for Cone: Seven Innings, No Runs, No Hits,” New York Times, September 3, 1996, nytimes.com/1996/09/03/sports/sensational-comeback-for-cone-seven-innings-no-runs-no-hits.html.

90 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

91 Pipp was the Yankees first baseman whose injury contributed to the rise of his replacement, Lou Gehrig.

92 The commercial was one of a series featuring the “ANSKY” boys – five shirtless men wearing the letters Y, A, N, K, and S. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi7dt4gZu64.

93 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9gGWqVoxvU

94 Buster Olney, “BASEBALL; Rarest Gem for Yankees’ Wells: A Perfect Game,” New York Times, May 18, 1998, nytimes.com/1998/05/18/sports/baseball-rarest-gem-for-yankees-wells-a-perfect-game.html.

95 As of March 2022, 23 pitchers had thrown perfect games – seven since Cone.

96 Berra’s number 8 was emblazoned behind home plate throughout the game, and Cone threw 88 pitches.

97 Murray Chass, “BASEBALL; On Day Made for Legends, Cone Pitches Perfect Game,” New York Times, July 19, 1999, nytimes.com/1999/07/19/sports/baseball-on-day-made-for-legends-cone-pitches-perfect-game.html?ref=davidcone.

98 Cone still finished with the second-lowest ERA in the AL, at 3.44.

99 Jack Curry, “Baseball: Cone’s Velocity Returns, Showing His Arm Is Sound,” New York Times, August 17, 1999, nytimes.com/1999/08/17/sports/baseball-cone-s-velocity-returns-showing-his-arm-is-sound.html.

100 Joe DiLessio, “David Cone on Advanced Stats, the End of His Playing Career, and Riding on David Wells’s Motorcycle,” New York Magazine, May 26, 2011, nymag.com/daily/sports/2011/05/david_cone_on_advanced_stats_t.html. As perceptive triviaheads have indicated, “David Cone” anagrams to “Odd Cave-In.”

101 Before his struggles dominated the narrative, Cone had envisioned Angell’s book would cover “technical things about what pitchers do and how they take care of themselves, and who owns the pitcher’s arm.” Angell, 255. Eighteen years later, Cone got a chance to release such a book himself, collaborating with Jack Curry on Full Count; The Education of a Pitcher (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2019).

102 Cone lasted once beyond the seventh inning all season, in a no-decision on May 9.

103 Cone had pitched a perfect inning of relief against Seattle in the ALCS, and Torre considered starting him in Game Four instead of the struggling Denny Neagle. Cone encouraged Torre to start Neagle over him, because, Cone claimed, he had gotten comfortable coming from the bullpen.

104 Angell, 283.

105 The Mets, Rangers, and Royals (as a closer) also expressed mild interest in Cone that offseason.

106 Joel Sherman, “Cone-Tamination; Is Complete,” New York Post, February 19, 2001, nypost.com/2001/02/19/cone-tamination-is-complete/.

107 Cone is also the answer to the trivia question of who threw the final pitch to Cal Ripken, Jr. The Orioles Iron Man went 0-for-3 as Cone hurled another eight innings without allowing an earned run on October 6.

108 Jack Curry, “ON BASEBALL; That Face In a Crowd Is Cone’s,” New York Times, April 6, 2002, nytimes.com/2002/04/06/sports/on-baseball-that-face-in-a-crowd-is-cone-s.html.

109 News outlets in 2002 claimed that Cone was still throwing regularly. When the author asked Cone if he had been throwing throughout 2002, he replied, “No, not really. I just kind of took the year off.” Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

110 “David Cone Announces Retirement,” UPI Wire, May 30, 2003, upi.com/David-Cone-announces-retirement/76971054333945/.

111 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

112 By the end of the 2021 season, Cone had slipped to 27th all-time, surpassed by Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, John Smoltz, Mike Mussina, CC Sabathia, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke, and Clayton Kershaw.

113 Cone’s career pitching Wins Above Replacement, at 61.6, ranks (after the 2021 season) right between Hall of Famers Juan Marichal and Don Drysdale—57th all-time.

114 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

115 David G. Palacio, “After Sandy: Baseball’s David Cone Serves Beer To Help Victims,” The Midtown Gazette, November 17, 2012, themidtowngazette.com/2012/11/after-sandy-local-ball-player-serves-beer-to-help-hurricane-victims/.

116 The video was posted to social media: https://www.facebook.com/gastroparesispiefacechallenge/videos/466237433765594/

117 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

118 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

119 Bob Klapisch, “Klapisch: Q-and-A with David Cone,” North Jersey.com, February 25, 2017, northjersey.com/story/sports/columnists/bob-klapisch/2017/02/25/klapisch-a-q-and-a-with-david-cone/98423578/.

Miguel Angel Cuellar Santana was born on May 8, 1937, in Santa Clara, Las Villas province, Cuba. His family, including four boys, worked in the sugar mills. Cuellar did not want to follow in his family’s footsteps and enlisted in the Cuban army for 70 pesos a month because he knew he could play baseball on Saturdays and Sundays. He pitched for Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista’s army team in the winter of 1954-55. He hurled a no-hitter that season and was heavily followed by Cuban and American scouts.

After his discharge, the thin (6 feet, 165 pounds) left-hander pitched in the summer of 1956 with a Nicaragua Independent League team, finishing 10-3 with a 2.95 earned-run average. His manager, Emilio Cabrera, immediately brought him to his Almendares team in Cuba for the 1956-57 Winter League season. He pitched in relief (1-1, 0.61 ERA). Before the 1957 season, he was signed by the Cincinnati Reds, who optioned him to their Cuban Sugar Kings (often called the Havana Sugar Kings) affiliate in the International League. He impressed Sugar Kings manager Nap Reyes, who said, “I have coached a lot of pitchers, here in Cuba and in the US, but none so quick to learn as this boy. I have put him in the toughest spots in relief to test him out. He has a good curve but he doesn’t have to vary much. He makes the left-handed batters look pretty bad when he does.”2

Cuellar made a sensational pro debut with Havana in 1957 against Montreal, striking out seven men in a row in 2? innings of no-hit relief. He led the league with a 2.44 earned-run average and posted an 8-7 record in 44 games, 16 of them starts. After another winter with Almendares (4-5 with a 3.03 ERA), he returned to Havana in 1958 and pitched 220 innings, with a 13-12 record and a fine 2.77 ERA. That winter he pitched for again for Almendares, which won the Caribbean Series title. Cuellar was 5-7 with a 3.79 ERA.

In 1959 Cuellar began the season with the Reds but was ineffective in two relief appearances: four innings, seven earned runs on seven hits, for a 15.75 ERA. He was returned to Havana, and did not see the big leagues again for five years.

He found the International League much more to his liking, and he hurled 212 innings, finishing with a 10-11 record but a 2.80 ERA. The Sugar Kings wound up the regular season in third place but upset Columbus and Richmond to win the International League championship, and then captured the Junior World Series title by defeating the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association in seven games. (The decisive seventh game was decided in the bottom of the ninth inning.)

The Junior World Series was notable for more than baseball. In Cuba, Batista had just been overthrown by Fidel Castro’s forces, and the games in Havana were played in a fortress-like atmosphere. Because of winter-like weather in Minneapolis, the last five games were all played at Havana’s Gran Stadium. Nearly 3,000 soldiers were at the stadium for the seventh and deciding game, many lining the field and others stationing themselves in the dugouts, their rifles and bayonets clearly evident. “Young people not more than 14 or 15 years old were in the dugout with us, waving their guns around like toys,” recalled Millers pitcher Ted Bowsfield. “Every once in a while, we could hear shots being fired outside the stadium, and we never knew what was going on.”3 Millers manager Gene Mauch reported that the soldiers were not above trying to intimidate the Minneapolis players. “Our players were truly fearful of what might happen if we won,” said Mauch. “But we still tried our hardest, figuring we’d take our chances.”4 Cuellar started Game Two and pitched 7? innings, giving up four earned runs in a no-decision. He pitched in relief in the next two games, picking up a win in Game Four, before getting knocked out early in a Game Six loss. He did not pitch in the final, won 3-2 by Sugar Kings.

From 1960 through 1963, Cuellar bounced around the minor leagues and the Mexican League, playing for six different teams with not a lot of success. After Castro began tightening travel into and out of Cuba, Cuellar chose to play winter ball in Venezuela or Nicaragua rather than return to his native land. By 1964, his contract had been passed from Cincinnati to Detroit to Cleveland to St. Louis, but the 27-year-old seemed no closer to a return to the major leagues.

After five consecutive seasons with under-.500 won-lost records in the high minors, Cuellar turned things around in 1964. Ruben Gomez, a winter league teammate, persuaded him to start throwing a screwball, the pitch that changed Cuellar’s life. He practiced the pitch all winter and spring, and during the 1964 season he threw it 30 percent of the time. For Triple-A Jacksonville, Cuellar logged a 6-1 record and a 1.78 ERA into mid-June. The St. Louis Cardinals called him up to the majors on June 15, and he got into 32 games the rest of the season, starting seven. The August 26 game was special for Mike. When hitless Gene Freese popped weakly to shortstop for the last out, Cuellar finally had his revenge after 5½ seasons. “I hit a pinch-hit home run with the bases loaded off Cuellar in 1959 and that blow sent him back to the minors for five years,” Freese said. “He’s a lot faster and has come with quite a scroogie.”5 Cuellar finished 5-5, but did not see action in the 1964 World Series, in which the Cardinals defeated the New York Yankees.

Cuellar went to Puerto Rico to pitch that winter, and he finished 12-4 with a 2.06 ERA for Arecibo. At one point he had a stretch of 27 scoreless innings and threw four shutouts. He went to spring training hoping to land in the Cardinals’ rotation but instead was optioned back to Jacksonville after Opening Day. After dominating the International League for 10 weeks (9-1 with a 2.51 ERA), he was traded in an all-pitchers deal on June 15 to the Houston Astros with Ron Taylor for Hal Woodeshick and Chuck Taylor. He spent the rest of 1965 with the Astros, finishing 1-4 with a 3.54 ERA in 25 appearances.

At nearly 29 years old, Mike had finally reached the major leagues to stay. By 1966, he was using his screwball between 50 and 60 percent of the time, and had added a curveball that made his fastball appear even sharper. Astros pitching coach Gordon Jones taught Cuellar the curve. Cuellar had been releasing his curve with almost a slider motion but without the good slider break. Jones showed him how to get rotation on the ball by bending the wrist in toward himself and popping the ball loose with the overhand motion.

On June 25, 1966, Cuellar beat the Cardinals and recorded a team-record 15 strikeouts, running his record to 6-0 with a 1.73 ERA. He ended the season by throwing six complete games in a row, including his first major-league shutout, a 2-0 victory over the Pirates on August 29. He finished 12-10 with a 2.22 ERA that was second best in the National League behind Sandy Koufax.

The next season, 1967, Cuellar did it all again, this time with a bit better luck in run support. His ERA rose to 3.03 but he finished 16-11 in 246 innings, including 16 complete games. He pitched two shutout innings in the All-Star Game in Anaheim. After the season the Astros told Cuellar he couldn’t pitch winter ball, which did not sit well with the star. At the time many major-league players played in the winter, and to the Latin players in particular it was an important part of their culture. Cuellar blamed his arm trouble the following season to his not playing in the winter. In 1968 he was just 8-11 (for a last place team), though with a fine 2.74 ERA in 170 innings.

Apparently overreacting to his won-loss record, the Astros traded Cuellar and minor leaguers Elijah Johnson and Enzo Hernandez after the season to the Orioles for infielder-outfielder Curt Blefary and minor leaguer John Mason. Cuellar was having some off-field difficulties, mainly a struggling marriage and related financial problems. Baltimore General Manager Harry Dalton’s scouts told him that his off-field issues could be rectified. Scout Jim Russo raved about Cuellar and recommended his acquisition. When Cuellar came to Baltimore the Orioles helped him get rid of his debt, and Cuellar was soon divorced and remarried. He became immensely popular with his Baltimore teammates. “Cuellar was a wonderful person,” remembered manager Earl Weaver.6

With the Orioles, the combination of his great left arm and the tremendous Orioles team made Cuellar one of baseball’s biggest pitching stars. In his first year with Baltimore, 1969, he put up a 23-11 record with a 2.38 ERA, and he shared the Cy Young Award with Denny McLain of the Tigers. Cuellar set Orioles pitching records for wins and innings pitched (291) and tied the club mark with 18 complete games. He threw five shutouts. In the first game of the American League Championship Series against the Minnesota Twins, Cuellar allowed two earned runs in eight innings in a game the Orioles won in the 12th. In the World Series, he outdueled the New York Mets’ Tom Seaver to win the first game, 4-1, but his seven-inning, one-run performance was not enough in Game Four, which the Mets won in the 10th. The Mets won the Series in five games but Cuellar had a stellar 1.13 ERA in 16 innings.

Cuellar’s Baltimore teammates called him Crazy Horse for his weird sense of humor and especially his strange superstitions. Since he had pitched well in 1969 spring training with coach Jim Frey warming him up, only Frey was permitted to catch the Cuban southpaw’s pregame tosses the rest of the year. Elrod Hendricks—nobody else—must stand at the plate for part of that period, simulating a batter. Cuellar would not finish warming up until the opposing starter had finished. He never stepped on the foul line when he took the field; he always picked the ball up from the ground near the mound himself. He would not warm up before an inning with a reserve while his catcher got his gear on—Cuellar waited for the catcher to get behind the plate. As he kept winning, the importance of ritual only grew.

Cuellar’s ERA rose to 3.48 in 1970, but his run support and his remarkable durability allowed him to finish 24-8, with 297? innings pitched and 21 complete games. He typically started slowly, and posted a record of 8-5 with a 4.34 ERA through the end of June. As the weather heated up Cuellar caught fire; in the final three months he went 16-3 with a 2.78 ERA, completing 14 of his 21 starts. Cuellar was joined in a great rotation by Dave McNally (24-9) and Jim Palmer (20-10) The trio made 119 starts and pitched 899 innings. Their 68 victories is the most by three teammates since the 1944 Tigers (also 68).

Paul Blair later said, “With Cuellar, McNally, and Palmer, you could almost ring up 60 wins for us when the season started because each of them was going to win 20. And with Cuellar and McNally, you never knew they were winning 10-0 or losing 0-10. They were the same guys. They were two really great left-handers, and the reason they were so great was they didn’t have the talent Palmer had. They didn’t have the 95-mile-per-hour fastball Palmer had. They had to learn to pitch, know the hitters, hit corners, and they did it. And they never complained. Those kind of guys, you just die for. You break your neck to go out there and win for them.”7

In the first game of the 1970 ALCS against the Minnesota Twins, the Orioles gave Cuellar a 9-1 lead (in part, based on a grand slam he himself hit off Jim Perry in the fourth) but he failed to finish the fifth, though he left the game with a 9-6 lead. Reliever Dick Hall shut down the Twins the rest of the way, beginning an Orioles sweep. Cuellar next got the ball in Game Two of the World Series but could not survive the third inning in a game the Orioles pulled out with a five-run fifth inning over Cincinnati. In Game Five he allowed three hits and three runs in the first before shutting the door, going all the way in a 9-3 victory for his only World Series title, the second for Baltimore.

Cuellar again won 20 games in 1971, finishing 20-9 with a 3.08 ERA. This time he, McNally, and Palmer were joined by a fourth 20-game-winner, Pat Dobson. The Orioles thus became the second team to have four 20-game winners, joining the 1920 Chicago White Sox. Cuellar was 13-1 with a 2.88 ERA at the All-Star break, and pitched two shutout innings for the American League in the All-Star Game. It was the third of his four All-Star selections. Cuellar cooled off in the second half of the season, but the Orioles easily won their third consecutive division title. He defeated Oakland’s Catfish Hunter with a 5-1 six-hitter as the Orioles swept the ALCS. He lost his two World Series starts, against the Pirates, allowing all five runs in a 5-1 loss in Game Three and then falling short in a tough 2-1 loss to Steve Blass in Game Seven. For his career, Cuellar was 2-2 with a 2.61 ERA in five World Series starts.

In 1972, the Orioles’ run of championships ended, though it was mostly the offense that fell off. Cuellar pitched 257 innings with a 2.57 ERA, but slipped to 18-12. After a slow start, he finished 16-8 after June 1, with 15 complete games, including six straight at one point. The Orioles finished third in a tight American League East.

During a May 26 game with the Indians, Cuellar’s superstitious behavior was on full display. After Cleveland left fielder Alex Johnson caught Boog Powell’s fly ball to end the third inning, he slowly jogged the ball back to the infield. Timing his pace with Cuellar’s approach to the mound, Johnson tossed the ball to the pitcher, but Cuellar ducked just in time, and the ball rolled free. Helpfully, the batboy retrieved the ball and threw it to Cuellar. Once more he dodged the ball, which dribbled toward first baseman Boog Powell. Momentarily forgetting his teammate’s habits, Powell threw it squarely at Cuellar, who had no choice but to catch the ball in self-defense. Disgusted but undeterred, Cuellar tossed it to the umpire and asked for a new ball. The umpire obliged, and Cuellar again sidestepped the ball which trickled passed him and stopped right at the feet of his second baseman Bobby Grich. At long last Grich rolled the ball to the mound, and Cuellar picked it up, satisfied now that no evil spirits had invaded his place of business.

Cuellar started slowly again in 1973 (4-9 with a 4.00 ERA through July 7) before again turning it on in the second half of the season (14-4, 2.64 the rest of the way). He was now 36 years old and there were concerns that perhaps his days as an elite pitcher were behind him. Not yet, as manager Earl Weaver again got 267 innings out of Cuellar, including 17 complete games, en route to his 18-13 final record as the Orioles returned to the postseason. In Game Three of the ALCS against the Oakland A’s, Cuellar hooked up with Ken Holtzman in a great pitching duel. Through 10 innings, Cuellar allowed just three hits and one run, but he gave up a game-winning home run to Bert Campaneris in the bottom of the 11th inning to lose 2-1. Holtzman pitched all 11 innings for Oakland and tossed a three-hitter. The Athletics prevailed in the series, 3 games to 2, and went on to win the World Series over the Mets.

Cuellar returned to the 20-game circle in 1974, finishing 22-10 with a 3.11 ERA, 20 complete games, and five shutouts. He was now 37 but showed no signs of aging. His performance earned him the Game One assignment against the A’s in the ALCS, and he pitched eight strong innings to earn the 6-3 victory. His next start, in the fourth game, was not nearly as successful—he had to be relieved in the fifth after allowing just one hit but walking nine. After walking in a run, the first run of the game, he was relieved, and the Athletics won the game, 2-1, to capture the series. It was Cuellar’s 12th and final postseason start, finishing his log at 4-4 with a 2.85 ERA.

Cuellar finally began showing his age in 1975, dropping to 14-12 with a 3.66 ERA, his highest since 1964. He still threw 17 complete games and had five shutouts but did not have the consistency that had been his hallmark during his Oriole years. After seven years with the Orioles he had 139 victories, just shy of a 20-win average. The following season, the 39-year-old finally imploded, finishing just 4-13 with an ERA of 4.96. Earl Weaver was used to Cuellar’s slow starts, in a season and also in a game, and he was patient with the pitcher long after others thought he needed to make a change. He finally pulled his beloved left-hander at the beginning of August and put him in the bullpen.8

Cuellar was released in December 1976 and was picked up a month later by the Angels, whose general manager was old friend Harry Dalton. But after a terrible spring training and two forgettable regular-season appearances (3⅓ innings, seven runs), he was released by the Angels. Cuellar’s major-league career had come to an end, just shy of his 40th birthday. He continued to pitch in the Mexican League and in winter ball, before finally calling it quits after the 1982-83 winter league season. He was a few months short of his 45th birthday.

Cuellar remained occasionally active in baseball, serving as a pitching coach in the independent leagues and for many years in Puerto Rico. He was an instructor with the Orioles during the last years of his life, and showed up often for team functions and reunions.

Cuellar was a healthy man for many years when he was suddenly diagnosed with stomach cancer in early 2010. He died on April 2 in Orlando, Florida, where he had lived for several years. He was survived by his wife, Myriam; his daughter, Lydia; and his son, Mike, Jr. The latter pitched for five years in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system but did not rise past Double-A ball.

“He was like an artist,” Palmer said after Cuellar died. “He could paint a different picture every time he went out there. He could finesse you. He could curveball you to death or screwball you to death. From 1969 to ’74, he was probably the best left-hander in the American League.”

An updated version of this biography appeared in “Cuban Baseball Legends: Baseball’s Alternative Universe” (SABR, 2016), edited by Peter C. Bjarkman and Bill Nowlin. It also appeared in “Pitching, Defense, and Three-Run Homers: The 1970 Baltimore Orioles” (University of Nebraska Press, 2012), edited by Mark Armour and Malcolm Allen.

Sources

Weaver, Earl, and Berry Stainback. It’s What You Learn After You Know It All That Counts. New York: Doubleday, 1982.

Eisenberg, John. From 33rd Street to Camden Yards—An Oral History of the Baltimore Orioles. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 2001.

Jorge Colon Delgado and Alberto “Tito” Rondon of SABR’s Latino Baseball Committee

Clippings from Mike Cuellar’s file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library

Thornley, Stew. “Minneapolis Millers vs. Havana Sugar Kings.” The National Pastime (Society for American Baseball Research), No. 12, 1992.

Notes

“I try to glean wisdom from a game and apply it to my life.”1

His purpose is being a husband, father, competitor, and philanthropist. But it all began when he became a star athlete in high school as a quarterback, shooting guard, and pitcher/shortstop.2

Robert Allen Dickey was born in Nashville on October 29, 1974, to Harry Dickey, a construction worker, and his wife, Leslie, a receptionist.

His athletic talent shined brightly. On June 30, 1993, R.A. tossed a seven-inning perfect game for Nashville’s Montgomery Bell Academy, striking out 14, to improve his record to 8-1. It was his third no-hit game of the season.3 A football and basketball star, in his 1993 senior season he struck out 112 in 60 innings4 and had a 15-3 record for the AAA state championship Big Red.

The accolades continued to pour in: Tennessean All-Metro (twice), All-State, Tennessee Baseball Player of the Year, Most Valuable Player in the AAA tournament.5 Dickey’s success caught the attention of the baseball scouts, and he was drafted by Detroit in the 10th round of the 1993 June Amateur Draft. He passed up the Tigers opportunity to fulfill another dream: to pitch for the University of Tennessee.

College meant taking on a weight-training regimen, something he had never participated in. “I go from 175 pounds to 210 pounds, and my fastball jumps from the 87- to the 89- to the 93- to the 94-miles-per-hour range. I’m still not a prototypical, strike-out-the-side power pitcher, but I can bring enough heat that it makes my breaking pitches and changeup more effective.”6

Travis Copley, a Vols teammate, called Dickey one of the fiercest competitors he ever knew. “He had to win at everything: team basketball, conditioning tests, everything. He did more for me in understanding how to compete, and really had a fierce, built-in bulldog mentality about winning.”7

Dickey’s college career record was 38-10 with a 3.40 ERA; the Volunteers won three SEC baseball titles and made an appearance in the College World Series. He was named Baseball America’s 1994 Freshman of the Year, was All-SEC twice, was a three-time All American, an Academic All-SEC, and Academic All-American.8 He was named to the U.S. national baseball team for the 1996 Olympics, which won a Bronze Medal.

The Texas Rangers made Dickey the 18th player selected in the 1996 amateur draft, and were ready to reward his signing with an $810,000 contract. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound right-hander would throw out the first ball at a Rangers home game, and the signing was scheduled to happen before the event.

But when the Rangers’ trainer, Danny Wheat, noticed a peculiar position of Dickey’s elbow in a Baseball America cover photo,9 he notified Dr. John Conway, the team orthopedist.10

It was discovered that the pitcher had no ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, and doctors were baffled that he could throw at all.11 The Rangers backed off their offer. Surgery was imminent, and Dickey decided to go back to college and play baseball his senior year.

The day before Dickey was to head back to college, the Rangers replaced their offer with one for $75,000 and medical help.12 Dickey accepted it. His journey to the majors would be a long one.

Assigned to Port Charlotte to begin his professional career, in 1997 and 1998, Dickey won only one game in each season, but struck out nearly one batter an inning. Oklahoma City and Tulsa were his destinations for the next two seasons, and in 2001 he was called up to the Rangers.

On April 22, 2001, Dickey made his major-league debut in the top of the ninth inning at Arlington Stadium facing the Oakland third baseman, Mark Bellhorn. A flyout and two popups later, he had played in his first game to aid an 11-2 win over the A’s.

With three relief appearances under his belt, on May 7 Dickey entered a game against the Chicago White Sox with no outs in the top of the first inning. Starting pitcher Darren Oliver had been hit on the thumb by a line drive by leadoff batter Tony Graffanino, and manager Jerry Narron called on Dickey. He allowed six runs in 4⅔ innings and collected his first career loss as Chicago won 7-4 over Texas.

Returned to Oklahoma City, Dickey was 11-7 with a 3.75 ERA for the season, striking out 120 in 163 innings. He began 2003 with Oklahoma but was called up after three appearances, and won a position on the Rangers pitching staff as a long reliever. By July he was in the starting rotation.13

Dickey had begun to throw an unusual forkball he named “the thing.” In truth, it was a hard knuckleball. Former knuckleballer Charlie Hough began to work with him to change his grip.14

In an interview in 2012, Dickey explained Hough’s knuckleball experience: “Charlie Hough told me the first day that I met with him: “It took me one day to learn how to throw a knuckleball and a lifetime to learn how to throw it for strikes.”15

On August 20 at Detroit’s Comerica Park, Dickey pitched his first career shutout, holding the Tigers to six hits and a walk, and moving his record to 8-5. Two days earlier, he had earned his first career save, also against Detroit, retiring Bobby Higginson, Dmitri Young, and Carlos Peña on 11 pitches in the 16th inning.16 The Rangers had scored two runs in the top of the inning, and won the game, 4-2.

By the end of the 2003 season Dickey was 9-8 but his ERA had ballooned to 5.09. In spring training in 2004 he earned a roster spot and made his first start of the new season on April 9 at home against Anaheim. Holding the Angels to six hits in seven innings, he won and allowed no earned runs although the opposition scored three runs in the second inning on two errors by Michael Young and a home run by Adam Kennedy.

On May 2 at Arlington Stadium against the Boston Red Sox, Dickey pitched well for 8⅔ innings before giving way to Francisco Cordero with the bases loaded. The Rangers won 4-1, and Dickey’s record improved to 4-1. In August he was sent to Frisco (Double-A Texas League) and pitched in four games before being recalled to complete the season with the Rangers at 6-7, 5.61.

In May 2005, after spending time on the 15-day disabled list, Dickey was optioned to Oklahoma once again, and was 10-6 before being being recalled again. In four September appearances, he gave up 17 earned runs, winning one and losing one. His velocity was beginning to slow down.

“When Orel [Hershiser] was a pitching coach in 2003 and, you know, there was some real hope for me to become maybe a fourth or fifth starter, a really good swingman, I was low 90s — you know, high 80s, low 90s, and could really change speeds well. But in 2004, 2005, I just started — the velocity started dropping from low 90s to max 88, to max 86. I’d run out of gas as a conventional pitcher [with the Rangers] and was kind of just hanging on, just trying to survive as long as I could before I felt like the inevitable call would come.”17

In the fourth game of the 2006 season, Dickey started against Detroit at Ameriquest Field in Arlington, and lasted 3⅓ innings. After giving up home runs to Brandon Inge and Magglio Ordonez in the first, Chris Shelton in the second, and Shelton (again), Craig Monroe, and Marcus Thames in the third, he was yanked. It was Dickey’s last appearance in a Texas Rangers uniform.

Again he spent the balance of the year at Oklahoma. He was let go on October 11 after going 9-8 with only 61 strikeouts in 131⅔ innings.

On January 10, 2007, Dickey signed with the Milwaukee Brewers and was assigned to Triple-A Nashville. By then he had perfected his knuckleball grip, and his reputation as a solid pitcher returned. With a 13-6 record, he lowered his ERA to 3.72 with 6.3 strikeouts per nine innings. Dickey was named the Pacific Coast League pitcher of the year.

“The Brewers say that they don’t have a roster spot for me but tell me to stay ready in case they need me for the pennant race in September,” he recalled in an autobiography published in 2012. “They are fighting for a divisional title and I am their top minor-league pitcher and they don’t want me. You try not to take it personally, but how can you not?”18

He did not receive a call from the Brewers, and was let go on October 29. A curious chain of events soon occurred.

With hints of an offer to play for the Samsung Lions in the Korean Baseball League, Dickey signed with the Minnesota Twins for $525,000 in November 2007, and on December 6 was drafted by the Seattle Mariners from Minnesota in the Rule 5 draft. On March 29, 2008, he was returned to the Twins by the Mariners, then traded back to the Mariners for Jair Fernandez.

Dickey wondered about plot twists in his baseball life.

“I report to Mariners spring training in Peoria, Arizona, and have one of the best springs of my life. I pitch as both a starter and a reliever. They put me out there in every situation they can. My knuckleball holds up well, and I know it’s dancing because Kenji Johjima, the Mariners catcher, catches about three of every ten knuckleballs I throw,” he said in the 2012 autobiography.19

But disappointment followed, as Dickey failed to make the club and was sent to Triple-A Tacoma. Then he was recalled by the Mariners in mid-April. With Boston due to appear in Seattle at the end of May, he knew Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield was on the club.

“He’s the best knuckleballer in the game — and the only full-time one besides me. I get to the park early on Memorial Day afternoon and write a note to Tim, asking if we might get together and talk for a bit…

“Meet me behind the plate in ten minutes, Tim says.”

They talked for 45 minutes, discussing grip, spin, even how he keeps his fingernails.

“Knuckleballers don’t keep secrets.”20

Dickey finished the 2008 season 5-8. He was nontendered on December 9 and a few weeks later, at the age of 34, was signed by the Twins and invited to spring training. He pitched in 35 games (one as starter) for Minnesota before being sent to Rochester, ending the season with five starts for the Red Wings but without a September call-up. Instead, he became a free agent once again before the New York Mets came calling.

On December 21 Dickey signed a minor-league deal with the Mets. When the season began he was with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. On April 29, in a home game against the Durham Bulls, Dickey threw a knuckler to leadoff batter Fernando Perez on an 0-and-2 count. He recalled:

“He gets under it and pops it weakly over second base. It plops in for a single.

“I retire the next twenty-seven hitters in order. A perfect game, with one mulligan.”21

Five weeks into the season, Dickey had a 4-2 record with a much-improved 2.23 ERA, striking out 37 batters in 60⅔ innings and walking only eight. The Mets called him up, and on May 19 in Washington, he started against the Nationals. He pitched six innings, allowing five hits, and gave up two earned runs before giving way to Raul Valdes in relief. Dickey got a no-decision but he was in the major leagues to stay.

On August 13 he held the Phillies to one hit, by pitcher Cole Hamels, in a 5-1 home win. By season’s end he had started 26 games, appearing in relief only once. He finished 11-9 with an ERA of 2.84, seventh-best in the National League.

In 2011 Dickey’s record fell to 8-13 and his ERA climbed to 3.28, but he had134 strikeouts. In his last start of the season, against Philadelphia at Citi Field on September 24, Dickey tossed 6⅓ innings of no-hit ball until Shane Victorino drove a double to left field.

Once the season was over, Dickey prepared for a journey of another kind: Mount Kilimanjaro — to benefit Red Light District Outreach Mumbai, which combats human trafficking in India. He included two friends, Kevin Slowey from the Minnesota Twins and Dave Racaniello, bullpen catcher for the New York Mets organization.

“I always thought it would be a fantastic pilgrimage to hike to the summit,” Dickey said.22

Though the Mets advised Dickey to reconsider the climb, even telling him there would be risk of voiding his $4.25 million contract for 2012 if he were injured.23

Undaunted, he and his friends reached the summit on January 14.

On March 29, 2012, Dickey’s first book, Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball (Penguin Press), was published. It includes a descriptive incident when, as an 8-year-old boy, he was sexually assaulted by his babysitter. In another occurrence, the offender was a teenage male.

In terms of Dickey’s baseball success, the 2012 season was memorable. He led the National League with 223⅔ innings pitched, 230 strikeouts, 33 starts, five complete games, and three shutouts. He was 20-6, had a 2.73 ERA, and was named to the National League All-Star team. Selected NL Pitcher of the Year by The Sporting News, he also won the Branch Rickey Award in recognition of his community service. He captured the Cy Young Award as best pitcher in the National League, taking 27 of the 32 first-place votes and finishing with 209 points, well in front of 2011 winner Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (96 points).

On December 6, 2012, Dickey was named to receive the Tony Conigliaro Award. The award goes to a player “who has overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination and courage that were trademarks of Tony C.”24 Dickey obtained the recognition for confronting child sexual abuse and prevailing over the lack of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right arm.25

As successful as 2012 may have been, the Mets finished in fourth place in the N.L. East division again, and on December 17, 2012, Dickey was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays.

His second book, Throwing Strikes: My Quest for Truth and the Perfect Knuckleball (Penguin Press), was published on March 26, 2013.

Dickey won 14 games while losing 13 for Toronto in 2013, and won the AL Gold Glove Award after leading the league in assists by a pitcher with 40. He duplicated his won-lost record in 2014 as his salary increased from $5 million to $12 million. In 2015 he was 11-11, but his record fell to 10-15 in 2016 as the Blue Jays won the AL East.

The team beat the Texas Rangers three games to two in the Division Series. Dickey started Game Four, allowing five hits and one run in 4⅔ innings as the Blue Jays beat the Rangers, 8-4. In the American League Championship Series he started Game Four and was the losing pitcher in the 14-2 loss to the Royals. He lasted only 1⅔ innings. Beating the Blue Jays in six games, the Royals went on to win the 2015 World Series.

In 2016 Toronto earned a wild-card slot against Baltimore, winning 5-2. The Blue Jays swept the ALDS from Texas, but lost the Championship Series to the Cleveland Indians in five games.

Dickey was not on the active roster for the postseason. Tom Dakers, Toronto blogger for SB Nation, explained why:

“After a crappy April, he was pretty good in the first half. His second half was terrible, and on a team with an embarrassment of riches in the starting pitching department, he was left off the playoff roster.”26

As he pondered retirement, on November 3, 2016, Dickey was granted free agency for the fifth time. Atlanta wasted little time scooping him up: On November 10 he signed a two-year contract with the Braves worth $15,500,000.

Dickey’s life and his faith walk have been committed to the “bulldog” mentality his former Tennessee teammate Travis Copley spoke of.

“You may hit me. You may knock me around and knock balls out of the park.

“But I am always going to get back up and keep coming at you.”27

R.A. and his wife, Anne, have four children and as of 2016 resided in the Nashville area. He was selected to the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.

Last revised: March 1, 2017

Notes

1 Skip Nipper, “The Pride of Nashville: R.A. Dickey,” 262downright.com, January 5, 2014. [Blog post]. Retrieved October 6, 2016, from 262downright.com/2014/01/05/the-pride-of-nashville-r-a-dickey/.

2 R.A. Dickey, Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball (New York: Penguin Group, 2012), 65.

3 The Tennessean (Nashville), May 1, 1993: 66.

4 The Tennessean, May 6, 1993: 26.

5 The Tennessean, June 1, 1993: 13.

6 Dickey, Wherever I Wind Up, 80.

7 Telephone interview with R.A. Dickey, December 1, 2016.

8 2015-16 University of Tennessee Baseball Media Guide

9 Ross Newhan, “Case of Missing Ligament Gets Draftee Out of Joint,” Los Angeles Times, August 25, 1996. Retrieved October 9, 2016, from articles.latimes.com/1996-08-25/sports/sp-37663_1_collateral-ligament/.

10 R.A. Dickey, Throwing Strikes: My Quest for Truth and the Perfect Knuckleball (New York: Penguin Group, 2013), 84.

11 Alan Schwarz, “New Twist Keeps Dickey’s Career Afloat,” New York Times, February 27, 2008. Retrieved October 9, 2016, from nytimes.com/2008/02/27/sports/baseball/27dickey.html/.

12 Newhan.

13 The Sporting News, August 25, 2003: 46.

14 Schwarz.

15 Tim Kurkjian, “The Knuckleball Experiment,” ESPN.com, December 1, 2012. espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/8677078/mets-pitcher-ra-dickey-orel-hershiser-making-knuckleballer-espn-magazine-interview-issue/. Accessed November 2, 2016.

16The Tennessean (box score), August 19, 2003: 18.

17 Kurkjian.

18 Wherever I Wind Up, 230.

19 Wherever I Wind Up, 246.

20 Wherever I Wind Up. 252.

21 Wherever I Wind Up, 283.

22 Jonathan Zeller, “R.A. Dickey on Embracing the Knuckleball and Preparing to Climb Mount Kilimanjaro,” New York Magazine, November 1, 2011. ,nymag.com/daily/sports/2011/11/ra-dickey-on-preparing-to-climb-kilimanjaro.html. Accessed November 1, 2016.

23 Wayne Coffey, “NY Mets Starting Pitcher R.A. Dickey Completes Grueling Journey and Gets to the Top of Mt. Kilimanjaro,” New York Daily News, January 15, 2012. nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-mets-starting-pitcher-dickey-completes-grueling-journey-top-mt-kilimanjaro-article-1.1006343. Accessed October 30, 2016.

24 Matt Pepin, “R.A. Dickey wins Tony Conigliaro Award,” Boston.com. December 6, 2012. boston.com/sports/extra-bases/2012/12/06/ra_dickey_wins. Accessed November 27, 2016.

25 http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Tony_Conigliaro_Award, accessed November 5, 2016.

26 Tom Dakers, “On R.A. Dickey,” Bluebird Banter.com. October 25, 2016. bluebirdbanter.com/2016/10/25/13406972/on-r-a-dickey. Accessed December 5, 2016.

27 Wherever I Wind Up, 3.