April 18, 1960: Camilo Pascual sets Opening Day record with 15 strikeouts

Entering the 1960 season, Pascual had been a pitching machine. During a 10-month period from mid-April 1959 through the Caribbean Series in February 1960, Pascual threw a staggering 410⅓ innings with the Senators and the Cienfuegos Elephants of the Cuban Winter League, recorded 363 strikeouts, and compiled a cumulative 34-15 record.

Griffith declined Paul’s offer, and on April 18, 1960, Pascual showed why he was considered such a prized commodity by his owner and such a coveted one by other baseball executives. “Camilo Pascual, the pitching Pearl of the Antilles,” said the Washington Post the next day, “made the 60th opening day for the Senators a memorable one yesterday when he tossed a three-hitter and set a new club record [for a nine-inning game] of 15 strikeouts backed by four Washington home runs, which humiliated the Boston Red Sox, 10-1.”2

Along with his franchise milestone, Pascual’s 15-strikeout game established a major-league Opening Day record for strikeouts, topping Don Drysdale’s 14 in 11 innings for the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 12, just six days before Pascual’s gem.3

In a scheduling oddity, the American League began its 1960 season six days after the National League, with Washington and Boston commencing with a one-game set a day ahead of the rest of the junior circuit. With a crowd of 28,327 on hand at Washington’s Griffith Stadium, President Dwight D. Eisenhower threw out two first pitches. The first was caught by Washington right fielder and Kansas native (the same as Ike) Bob Allison, who had received AL Rookie of the Year honors in 1959, and the second by Senators pitcher Jack Kralick. It was Eisenhower’s seventh Opening Day toss in eight years. (Vice President Richard Nixon had pinch-hit for the commander-in-chief in 1959.)

Pascual said after the game that he would have liked to meet the president, but his halting English played a self-conscious role in his backing out at the opportunity. For Red Sox hitters, it was too late for any of them to back out of the game once the afternoon affair began. Pascual started the contest by retiring the first four Red Sox batters, two by strikeout. The fifth-place hitter, Ted Williams, opened his 19th and final big-league season by smashing a full-count pitch over the 31-foot-high center-field wall between the 408- and 418-foot markers.4 Shirley Povich wrote that “it landed among the alley dwellings on Fifth street.”5

It was reported to be the longest home run hit at Griffith Stadium since Mickey Mantle hit two home runs over the same wall on Opening Day 1956. Williams’s 493rd lifetime home run tied Lou Gehrig for fourth place on the all-time list.6 It also made Williams – who had hit his first big-league home run nearly 21 years to the day earlier on April 23, 1939 – the first major-leaguer to homer in four different decades.7

After the home run, Pascual allowed a windblown double to Red Sox center fielder Gary Geiger. The Senators right-hander then struck out the next two Boston hitters to end the inning.

In their half of the second inning, the Senators went ahead to stay by scoring three runs. Jim Lemon’s two-run homer started Washington’s surge, and the third tally was driven home by Pascual himself on a double to right field.

Now pitching with the lead, Pascual retired the Red Sox in order in the third, with opposing starter Tom Sturdivant his only strikeout victim. In the fourth, Pascual struck out the side for the second time, with a walk to Williams thrown in.

The Senators scored five times in their half of the inning to take an 8-1 lead. Allison and catcher Earl Battey hit home runs against Sturdivant, sending the Red Sox right-hander to the showers. Al Worthington relieved and surrendered Washington’s fourth round-tripper of the game, to shortstop Billy Consolo. Another run came home on an error by third baseman Frank Malzone.

In the fifth frame, Pascual recorded four outs, three officially. The second out of the inning was delayed when first baseman Don Mincher, who was making his major-league debut, dropped a popup in foul territory for an error. Pascual retired catcher Haywood Sullivan for a “second time” on a fly out to left. Worthington fanned to end the inning on a called strike three by home-plate umpire Charlie Berry.

In the sixth, showing he was in complete control, Pascual made quick work of three opposition batters. He racked up two more strikeouts, bringing his whiff total to 11.

Boston’s Gene Stephens led off the seventh with a walk, snapping a string of seven in a row retired by Pascual. In an unusual occurrence, Ted Williams then attempted to bunt. He was called out on interference when he ran into the batted ball.8 With one out, Stephens stole second and went to third on a throwing error by Battey. Pascual buckled down and struck out Geiger and retired shortstop Don Buddin on a grounder to third.

Williams was taken out of the game and watched from the bench as the Senators scored their final two runs of the contest in the bottom of the seventh inning on Battey’s two-run single.

Leading off the opening half of the eighth, Sullivan again popped up to first base in foul ground. Mincher this time squeezed the ball for the out. Ron Jackson pinch-hit for Worthington and took a called third strike, becoming Pascual’s 13th strikeout casualty. The next batter, leadoff hitter Pumpsie Green, notched the Red Sox’ third hit of the game, singling to right. Pete Runnels followed with a walk but third baseman Frank Malzone swung through a third strike to end the inning.

With Pascual three outs from the win, Stephens led off the ninth. Pascual threw two balls and then threw three straight strikes past the Boston right fielder. Stephens struck out swinging for the third time – and it was Pascual’s record-setting 15th punchout. The 26-year-old hurler set down the next two hitters on a fly ball and grounder to close out the 10-1 victory.

Pascual, beginning his seventh big-league season, pitched hitless ball from the third inning through the seventh, using a befuddling mixture of curve and fastballs. His signature pitch was a rainbow curve, acknowledged as the best in baseball.9

Williams and Pete Runnels – who went on to win the first of two career AL batting titles in 1960 – were the only Red Sox starters not to succumb to Pascual’s strikeout pitch. The Cuban pitcher allowed three hits and walked three. The Senators’ defense made two errors behind him. The Boston Globe said Williams’s homer “was the only clean hit Camilo allowed,” the other two being “scratch singles.”10

“Nobody in this league can compare with that pitcher,” said Williams postgame.11

Author’s Note

Pascual’s 15 strikeouts established a career high, a total he reached one other time over his 18-year career. In 1959 Pascual led the American League in WAR (8.6), and in 1963 topped all AL hurlers in the same analytical category (6.9). Beginning in 1961, when the Senators relocated to the Twin Cities and rebranded as the Minnesota Twins, he led the American League in strikeouts for three consecutive seasons. Pascual also led the AL three times in complete games and shutouts and was a five-time All-Star. He is a member of the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame and was elected to the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame in 2012.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Evan Katz and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play. He also relied on the following sources:

Figueredo, Jorge S. Cuban Baseball A Statistical History 1878-1961 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2003).

Fogg, Sam (United Press International). “Ike Watches as Pascual, Power Pace Senators 10-1 over Bosox,” Mason City (Iowa) Globe Gazette, April 19, 1960.

Wilks, Ed (Associated Press). “Ike and Pascual Get Nats Away to Good AL Start,” Helena (Montana) Independent Record, April 19, 1960.

United Press International. “Pascual Sets Whiff Record, 15; Nats Win Opener, 10-1,” Galveston Daily News, April 19, 1960.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WS1/WS1196004180.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1960/B04180WS11960.htm

Notes

1 Shirley Povich, “Reds’ Million Offer for Pair Nixed by Nats,” The Sporting News, December 23, 1959.

2 Bob Addie, “Cuban Fans 15, Aided by 4 Homers,” Washington Post, April 19, 1960: C1. Legendary Washington pitcher Walter Johnson had struck out 15 batters in a 16-inning game in July 1908 and again in an 11⅓-inning relief outing in a 15-inning game in July 1913. Johnson also struck out 14 batters in two nine-inning games, in August 1910 and May 1924.

3 As of 2023, two more pitchers have totaled 14 Opening Day whiffs: Randy Johnson in 1993 and 1996 and Shane Bieber in 2020.

4 Williams had previously homered in Opening Day games attended by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. See Hy Hurwitz, “Ted Has Thrilled Three Presidents; Longest Blast Reserved for Ike,” Boston Globe, April 19, 1960: 44.

5 Shirley Povich, “Ike Used Shortened Backswing on Pitch,” The Sporting News, April 27, 1960: 9.

6 Shirley Povich, “K-Man Camilo’s 15-Whiff Sendoff Lifts Nats Hopes,” The Sporting News, April 27, 1960: 27. The only three with more home runs were Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, and Mel Ott.

7 Williams homered 31 times in 1939, 234 times in the 1940s, 227 times in the 1950s, and ultimately 29 times in 1960. In later years, three others have accomplished this feat – Willie McCovey, Rickey Henderson, and Omar Vizquel. Of the four, only Williams hit more than one homer in all four decades.

8 It was the second interference call of the game. In the bottom of the fifth, Washington baserunner Jim Lemon was called out for interference by first-base umpire Larry Napp, who ruled he had interfered with Boston first baseman Runnels’ attempt to catch a “wind-blown pop fly.” “Umpires Figure in Records with 2 Interference Calls,” Washington Post, April 18, 1960: C2.

9 An example: “Without a doubt the Cuban had the most feared curveball in the American League for 18 years. Camilo had a direct overhand delivery and a high leg kick that shielded the ball from the hitter until the last possible moment. To make it more deceptive he twisted his body around almost to second before delivering the ball to the plate. Pascual had a blazing fastball that he kept high in the strike zone. His curve started out at the same level and broke straight down, ending up about knee high.” Russ Kemmerer with W.C. Madden, Ted Williams: Hey Kid, Just Get It Over the Plate! (New York: Madden Publishing Co., 2002), excerpted in Bill James and Rob Neyer, The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004), 336.

10 Hy Hurwitz, “Ted Hits One, But Sox Flop,” Boston Globe, April 19, 1960: 43.

11 Povich, “Ike Used Shortened Backswing on Pitch.”