Jim Rittwage

In September 1970, amid a woeful stretch for Cleveland baseball, a David and Goliath battle played out in front of 7,857 fans in Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. The 97-win Orioles, who had already clinched the American League East, started Dave McNally in pursuit of his 24th victory. Cleveland gave local flamethrower Jim Rittwage his first big-league start. Rittwage outpitched McNally and struck out Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning to preserve a 4-2 Cleveland victory. The juggernaut Orioles began a 17-game winning streak the next day; their only other loss in 1970 would be Game Four of the World Series. Rittwage would never again win a major-league game.

A sandlot phenom from the Cleveland suburbs, Rittwage turned down better offers to sign with his hometown team out of high school and spent seven seasons working his way to the big leagues, but his stay was brief – eight games that September, three of them starts, and one extraordinary victory. He never made it back to the majors and retired before his 30th birthday.

James Michael Rittwage was born October 23, 1945,1 in Cleveland and grew up in nearby Bedford Heights. His father, William (1914-1990) worked as an electrician; his mother Ethel, née Busch (1923-2008) was a homemaker. Jim was the oldest of five children: Jack, Noreen, William, and Dale arrived between 1946 and 1954. Besides playing baseball, Rittwage spent his youth hunting, fishing, and working on cars.2

Rittwage excelled at Bedford High, clinching the Greater Cleveland Conference in his junior year with a two-hitter to beat Garfield Heights 2-1, as well as headlining the local sandlots on the “Go” team in the National Amateur Baseball junior division3, managed by his father William.4

In 1963, Rittwage posted a 9-2 record, 1.34 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 67 innings for the summer sandlot team. He caught the eye of a Bedford legend, former Cleveland Naps outfielder Elmer Flick, who was scouting for the Indians.5 Flick had been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame the summer before Rittwage’s senior year. Among other things, the Detroit Tigers had once asked for him in a straight-up trade for Ty Cobb. By then 87, Flick spent a lot of time getting to know the local flamethrower.

“I’ve been watching him for several years,” Flick said after Rittwage signed. “Believe me, he’s a pitcher – not just a thrower. This kid will make it.” Despite competition from eight other clubs, Cleveland scout Paul O’Dea signed Rittwage in November 1963.6 The prospect forged a relationship with Flick that lasted throughout his career.

“Well, I had to pick him up and take him to the ballgames,” Rittwage recalled with fondness. “He’d ask me how many miles did we go today? You know, this went on for maybe two, three weeks. And I said Elmer, let me ask you a question: Why do you keep asking me how many miles I have on my car. He just said, ‘I get a nickel a mile.’”7

Rittwage skipped the low minors and began his pro career with the Charleston (West Virginia) Indians of the Class AA Eastern League. He debuted in July with 2 1/3 innings of one-hit relief.8 His first start was a 2-1 loss in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, although he went the full six innings in the back half of a twinbill, allowing three hits and striking out six. A two-run home run in the first inning by future Miracle Met Ron Swoboda was enough to lose the game.9 The teenage Rittwage made 12 appearances with a 3.24 ERA in his first pro season.

The next year, he reported to spring training in Tucson, Arizona, along with a handful of other “bonus babies” – players who had been given a signing bonus of $10,000 or more and were required to make the major-league roster by the following season or else risk being exposed to waivers. These seven “bonus babies” created a roster crunch for the organization. Along with Rittwage, the blue-chip prospects included future big-leaguers Vern Fuller and Mike Hedlund.10

Rittwage made the team, prompting legendary Cleveland sportswriter Hal Lebovitz to write, “Rittwage is still with the Indians and there is an excellent chance he’ll remain with the varsity all year. If he’s sent out there’s a danger all of Bedford will picket the stadium.”11

He didn’t make it into a game in April, and when rosters were reduced in May, he was exposed to waivers and claimed by the Kansas City Athletics.

As Rittwage was claimed by Kansas City, Cleveland selected 18-year-old outfielder Joe Rudi on waivers from Kansas City. In what was apparently an agreed-upon maneuver, both players would spend the required one season in the minor-league system with their new team before they were traded back to their original clubs in December. The tactic was certainly to circumvent the rules, but the commissioner and other teams didn’t protest, so the transaction stood. Rudi would make a large impact with the Athletics when they moved to Oakland in 1968, winning three championships, making three All-Star teams, and finishing runner-up in MVP voting twice.

Kansas City general manager Hank Peters said all the right things in May 1965: “We listed him (Rittwage) as a ‘top prospect’ and were determined to claim him at the earliest opportunity.”12 The Athletics assigned him to the Birmingham Barons of the Southern League (Class AA) while Cleveland assigned Rudi to Single-A Dubuque in the Midwest League. Before he made the trip to Birmingham, Rittwage married Bonnie Venditti.13 He had three daughters with Bonnie in the coming years (Lea, Lisa, and Lori).

Rittwage began the season in the rotation but spent the bulk of the summer in the bullpen, making eight starts against 24 relief appearances. He led the league with 18 wild pitches but threw three complete games, including a 10-inning four-hitter in Lynchburg, Virginia, for his final victory of 1965.14

After the season, Cleveland and Kansas City swapped Rittwage back for Rudi, this time along with veteran outfielder Jim Landis heading to Cleveland and young catcher Phil Roof joining Rudi in Kansas City.

“Maybe they did me a favor,” Rittwage said after the season. “If I’d stayed with the Indians, I probably would have spent the season on the bench, like Mike Hedlund did, instead of getting pitching experience in the minors like I know I need.”15 Hedlund made just six appearances in his age-18 season and didn’t stick in the majors until 1969 with the expansion Kansas City Royals.

Cleveland Plain Dealer beat writer Russell Schneider considered the trade “retribution – or even collusion” – i.e., when the trade of Landis for Roof “was cooked up, it was a perfect opportunity for a ‘throw in,’ and to square matters by re-exchanging Rittwage for Rudi.” Now each player could be returned to the minor leagues without limitation, and Rittwage would spend the next five seasons stalled in the minors.16

Cleveland vice president of player development Hoot Evers was delighted to have Rittwage back in camp in 1966. “I really hated to lose Jim last summer, and I was overjoyed that we were able to get him back,” Evers said in February. “Rittwage has outstanding control, a very good fastball and is really competitive. He needs to improve his curve and perhaps develop an off-speed pitch, but he’s a good one.”17 He was assigned to the Pawtucket (Rhode Island) Indians of the Eastern League.

The Indians of the early ’60s were generally not a successful lot, finishing no better than fifth from 1961 through 1967. The 1966 iteration raised eyebrows by racing out to a 10-0 start. During the streak, the varsity club played an exhibition against Pawtucket, which they lost 1-0. Rittwage pitched one inning in the game.18 They would sink back to their accustomed level by season’s end, finishing in fifth place at 81-81.

Rittwage won his first game with a two-hit, 12-strikeout shutout. As late as mid-July, he led the Eastern League in strikeouts, and would finish with 103 in 127 innings, with a 4-9 record and 4.11 ERA. He lost two months to arm trouble in midseason.19

He returned to Pawtucket in 1967, starting a career high 23 games (9-9, 3.21 ERA) and was selected to start an exhibition game for the big-league squad against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field on July 6. Though it was a meaningless game, it drew over 11,000 fans and featured plenty of star power. Backed by All-Stars Rocky Colavito and Max Alvis, Rittwage faced a Pittsburgh lineup with most of its starters — including Matty Alou and Maury Wills, as well as Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and Bill Mazeroski). He blanked the Bucs for five innings before allowing three runs (two earned) in the sixth. The Indians broke the deadlock in the ninth for a 4-3 victory.20

Reporting to spring training in 1968, Rittwage, by then 23, began to express frustration. “I guess that’s my only complaint with this organization. I don’t really know where I stand,” he told the Plain Dealer.21 For a fifth straight season, he was sent to Double A, this time in Waterbury, Connecticut, and had a successful season split between the rotation and bullpen. His ERA was 1.69 in late July and was still as low as 1.84 in mid-August.22 He finished the minor-league season with a career best 2.33 ERA but did not receive a call to Cleveland when rosters expanded in September.

Rittwage started 1969 with the Portland (Oregon) Beavers of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League but was sent back to Waterbury in June.23 If there was a year that Rittwage seemed to slip from Cleveland’s radar, this was it. Gone were the frequent updates on the Bedford star in the Plain Dealer. The only news of his season was a September note that put words to his frustration: “Nothing is happening to me,” he said. “I’m not making any progress.”24

“They should play me or trade me,” Rittwage recalled years later, referring to his late ’60s stint with the organization.25 In the years before Marvin Miller ushered in free agency, with players bound to teams in perpetuity with the reserve clause, and without rules limiting the number of times a player could be optioned to the minor leagues, even the most powerful players were largely thwarted.

The short-lived Seattle Pilots, co-owned by William Daley, who had been the primary Cleveland owner when Rittwage signed in 1964, were never on solid footing and already halfway out the door to Milwaukee in the 1969-70 offseason. Seattle purchased Rittwage in October for their Pacific Coast League affiliate in Vancouver, British Columbia. If he made the team in the spring, Seattle would pay Cleveland $25,000. Otherwise, he would be returned to Cleveland.26

It didn’t work out, and Rittwage was back in Tucson in 1970. “They (the Pilots) told me they couldn’t afford me,” he said upon his return. “We’re glad to get him back,” added Cleveland Vice President Hank Peters, the man who had selected Rittwage for Kansas City in 1965.27

Flashing a “new approach to pitching” and “the best stuff in camp,” Rittwage allowed only one run in 12 exhibition innings. He began the season with the Wichita (Kansas) Aeros in the Triple-A American Association.28

“Rittwage’s only problem is that he pitches every game like the World Series,” Aeros manager Ken Aspromonte said in May. “He just has to learn to relax.”29 Rittwage split his time between the rotation and bullpen until an unusual opportunity knocked.

In a late June matchup with the Denver Bears, he pitched seven innings but fractured a bone in his left leg while sliding into second base.30 It was a hairline fracture, and he missed only a few weeks, but was summoned to Cleveland in August for a closer look at his leg.31

While the Indians doctor examined Rittwage and he threw on the sideline at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium, manager Alvin Dark took an interest. The hurler was soon called up; he was finally getting the call to “The Show.”32

“I was excited as hell,” Rittwage remembered years later. “I mean, it was wonderful. And I remember walking into the clubhouse… some of them go, ‘Welcome to the big leagues.’ I go, ‘I heard you guys were in trouble. I’m here to help.’”33

He made his debut on Monday, September 7, in a sparsely attended doubleheader in Cleveland. Entering in the eighth inning, trailing 3-1, Rittwage’s first batter was future Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, who singled and came around to score on a fielder’s choice. He walked the bases loaded before Dark replaced him.

“I was shaking like a leaf,” he said after the game. “My knees were knocking so much I couldn’t hold still. I was afraid everybody could see it, that’s how nervous I was.” Dark had heard good things about the local boy’s right arm and figured it was time to see what he had. “I want to make sure we don’t commit a mistake on Rittwage when we make up our 40-man roster before next winter’s player draft,” he said.34

He was sharp in his next relief appearance, striking out four Senators in two shutout innings. Rittwage made three more short relief appearances at the Stadium before Dark gave him his big chance – a crack at the 97-win Orioles. Against 23-game winner McNally. In Baltimore.

The Orioles had clinched a few days prior and led the Yankees by 13½ games in the American League East. Cleveland, at 73-78, trailed Baltimore by 24½ games.

On Saturday night, September 19, Rittwage and McNally traded zeroes for two innings before Baltimore scored in the third. Rittwage recovered to strike out the side in the fourth and Cleveland pounced for three runs in the top of the fifth. The rally started with a leadoff single by Rittwage, who scored on a single before Vada Pinson hit a two-run home run.

Rittwage struck out two more in the fifth, one in the sixth, and retired 14 straight Orioles until two out in the bottom of the seventh. He collected his second hit of the game with a single in the top of the sixth.

Cleveland added to its lead with an unearned run in the eighth; Rittwage’s grounder was muffed by third baseman Chico Salmon (giving Brooks Robinson a day off), scoring Chuck Hinton and giving Rittwage a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth.

A leadoff walk to 1970 MVP Boog Powell, a fielder’s choice, a wild pitch, and a one-out single by Davey Johnson put the tying run at the plate. Salmon flied out but then Cleveland shortstop Eddie Leon made an error to extend the game. Frank Robinson pinch-hit and drew a walk to load the bases. Brooks Robinson was then summoned from the bench, but Rittwage struck him out – his seventh K of the night – to preserve the victory.

How did he pitch so well against Baltimore? Contemporary news reports didn’t include any quotes from the rookie, but over 50 years later, Rittwage recalled his lone victory: “Well, we just did our job. I didn’t do anything special. I just went about my business. And when I was feeling good, I would throw the ball harder, and Baltimore pumped me up. I was blowing the ball by everybody. That’s how pumped I used to get.”35

Rittwage was summoned for a rematch a week later at Cleveland Stadium. The Plain Dealer reported that 65 to 80 Bedford residents had chartered a bus downtown to see the game.36 Neither pitcher earned a decision in a 13-inning Baltimore victory. Rittwage pitched through the seventh inning, allowed five runs, and even manned third base for three batters in the fourth inning while the lefty Rick Austin was called on to pitch to Powell. A five-run rally in the ninth saved Rittwage from his first loss.

He got one more start in the penultimate game of the season in Detroit. This time a ninth-inning rally wasn’t enough. He walked five in five innings and lost 4-3.

With high hopes of making the team in 1971, he posted a 7.71 ERA in spring training and was sent back to Wichita. “I feel terrible, but I feel worse for my wife, Bonnie,” he lamented to the Plain Dealer. “I know Bonnie will ask me to quit and, in a way, I can’t blame her. I’ve played so many years without making it. It’s easy to get discouraged.”37

The organization still appeared to believe in Rittwage’s potential, but he was not consistent enough to get another look in Cleveland.

Aspromonte still raved about his stuff: “Rittwage’s fastball is alive. His slider is as good as anyone’s. His curve ball falls off the table. Nobody in baseball has better stuff than Jim Rittwage.”

Rittwage explained his struggles in terms of anxiety: “I can’t stand to stay in one spot longer than a few seconds. I’ve got to keep moving around. I’m full of nervous energy. I can throw nine innings one day and then feel like pitching the next. I’m too strong the first four or five innings. Everything just takes off.”

As for his performance in Tucson, he said, “I was trying too hard. I wasn’t missing the plate by a foot. I was throwing the ball against the backstop or 10 feet in front of the plate”.38

Rittwage hit his first two professional home runs in the 1971 season but finished with an undistinguished 5.73 ERA, including almost as many walks (50) as strikeouts (54) in 88 innings.

At this point, Rittwage wanted out of Cleveland. “I will be very disappointed if some other club does not pick me up in the (minor league) draft,” he said in November.39 Come 1972, however, he was still in the Indians organization.

In 1972, while playing for Triple-A Portland, Rittwage required season-ending ulnar nerve surgery in September. “I tried to hide my sore arm so they’d call me up, but it didn’t work,” he said at the time.40 That June, Rittwage threw a 139-pitch complete game and then came back the next night for a four-out save in a 17-15 victory over Eugene. “When a guy pitches as good as he did last night…he’s good for one inning,” said Portland manager Dan Carnavale.41

“I threw a fastball, and I went ‘bing’ and my arm just quivered. And that’s when I popped the ulnar nerve,” Rittwage recalled about the moment when he blew out his arm.42

Rittwage walked away from baseball when he was sent down the next spring. “I owe it to my family to think about another way to make a living,” he said to the Plain Dealer.43 He kept loose by throwing batting practice at his alma mater, Bedford High School, and returned to Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City by mid-season.

Rittwage pitched primarily in relief in his final two minor-league seasons in Cleveland and then was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in December 1973 for journeyman pitcher Denny O’Toole. St. Louis sold his contract to a Mexican team after another season in the minors, but Rittwage decided to retire.44

Putting his baseball career behind him, Rittwage at first sold life insurance and got his real estate license. He then became an owner and operator of a pair of men’s clothing stores in nearby Solon and Twinsburg with a partner. He still lived in Bedford Heights as of 2024 as he approached his 80th birthday.

Last revised: August 18, 2024

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Jim Rittwage, who provided his memories in a telephone interview with the author, April 10, 2024.

The author would also like to extend his appreciation to his father, John Danner, as well as Dr. William Morris, both Bedford High School graduates, for their assistance with background information as well as helping to make a connection with Jim Rittwage.

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

Photo credit: Jim Rittwage, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In preparing this biography, the author relied primarily on clippings from Rittwage’s file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library in Cooperstown, New York. Also helpful were Ancestry.com; Baseball-Reference.com; Newspapers.com; Angelo Louisa’s SABR biography of Elmer Flick; David Halberstam’s book October 1964 regarding the bonus baby rules and the era before free agency.

Notes

1 Baseball-reference and Retrosheet incorrectly list his birth year as 1944. According to an interview with Rittwage and his Baseball Questionnaires on ancestry.com, he was born in 1945.

2 1965 Baseball Questionnaire, accessed via ancestry.com on April 19, 2024.

3 The National Amateur Baseball Federation, or NABF, is the country’s oldest amateur baseball organization. Founded in 1914 in Louisville, KY, it helps organize leagues and tournaments for youths ages 10 to 22. More information can be found at https://www.nabf.com/history.

4 “Bedford Champ in Greater,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 18, 1963: 28.

5 Fred Tharp, “Cuff Stuff,” Mansfield (OH) News-Journal, November 14, 1963: 24.

6 Russell Schneider, “Indians Put Cover on Home-Grown Product,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 11, 1965: 54.

7 Jim Rittwage, telephone interview with author, April 10, 2024.

8 “Nieman May Shuffle Staff,” The Charleston Daily Mail, July 9, 1964: 13.

9 “Rittwage Hurls Well but Indians Slump,” The Charleston Daily Mail (WV), July 10, 1964: 12.

10 Russell Schneider, “Indians ‘Expose’ 7 First-Year Men,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 13, 1965: 33.

11 Hal Lebovitz, “Ask Hal – the Referee,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 10, 1965: 39.

12 “Tribe Activates Salmon; Rittwage Claimed by A’s,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 4, 1965: 37.

13 “Bonnie Marie Venditti Marries,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 23, 1965: 10-E.

14 “Barons 4-1,” The News (Lynchburg, VA), September 5, 1965: B-2.

15 Russell Schneider, “Pinch Hitting,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, December 19, 1965: 2-C.

16 Schneider, “Pinch Hitting.”

17 Russell Schneider, “11 Greater Clevelanders Go to Tucson,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 20, 1966: 2-C.

18 “Undefeated Indians Absorb Loss in Stop at Pawtucket,” The Sporting News, May 7, 1966: 35.

19 Jim Gintonio, “Rittwage Seeking Indian Job,” Mansfield (OH) News-Journal, January 22, 1967: 2-C.

20 “Davalillo Bunt Sparks Tribe’s Win Over Bucs,” The Sporting News, July 22, 1967: 42.

21 Russell Schneider, “Tribe’s Farm Hands on Way Up – or Down,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 20, 1968: 36.

22 Earned run averages found in Russell Schneider, “Batting Around,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 28, 1968: 2-C and Russell Schneider, “Batting Around, Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 18, 1968: 2-C.

23 “Eastern League,” The Sporting News, July 5, 1969: 41.

24 Russell Schneider, “Batting Around,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 7, 1969: 2-C.

25 Rittwage-Danner Interview.

26 Russell Schneider, “Batting Around,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 31, 1969: 2-G.

27 Russell Schneider, “Batting Around,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 3, 1970: 2-D.

28 John Swagerty, “Key to Cleveland’s Future Held by Aspromonte, Aeros,” The Wichita Eagle, April 16, 1970: 3G and John Swagerty, “Rittwage, Farmer, Tidrow Top Exhibition Hurlers,” The Wichita Eagle, April 15, 1970: 4G.

29 John Swagerty, “Indians Record 3rd Over Aeros,” The Wichita Eagle, May 7, 1970: 5D.

30 Russ Corbitt, “Rittwage Shines, Mark Stays Same,” The Wichita Beacon, June 22, 1970: 1B and John Swagerty, “Brown, Denver Collar Wichita, 6-1,” The Wichita Eagle, June 23, 1970: 1B.

31 Austin Farley, “Rittwage Pitches 2-Hit Aero Win,” The Wichita Eagle, August 25, 1970: 1B.

32 Russell Schneider, “Rittwage Rediscovered by Indians,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 20, 1971: 3-C.

33 Rittwage-Danner Interview.

34 Russell Schneider, “Batting Around,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 8, 1970: 2-D.

35 Rittwage-Danner Interview

36 Dennis Lustig, “Rittwage Faces Orioles Here,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 25, 1970: 1-C.

37 Russell Schneider, “Rittwage Sent to Wichita Farm, Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 1, 1971: 1-F.

38 John Swagerty, “Cleveland’s Strongest Arm Toils in Wichita,” The Wichita Eagle, April 18, 1971: 29.

39 Russell Schneider, “Batting Around,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, November 26, 1971: 4-E.

40 Russell Schneider, “Batting Around,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 20, 1972: 2-E.

41 “Coast Toasties,” The Sporting News, July 1, 1971: 34.

42 Rittwage-Danner Interview.

43 “Rittwage Tells Tribe He Is Quitting Baseball,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 19, 1973: 2-C.

44 Russell Schneider, “Batting Around,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 3, 1975: 4-C.