Williams Wins Rookie of the Year

From This Week in 1960s Baseball ...

(November 30, 1961) Billy Williams today was selected as the National League Rookie of the Year.

Billy Williams

The 23-year-old outfielder batted .278 for the Chicago Cubswith 25 home runs and 86 RBIs. Williams also scored 75 runs and hit 20 doubles and 7 triples. He finished second on the team to George Altman in runs batted in and triples.

Williams won the award by receiving 10 out of 16 votes. Milwaukee Braves catcher Joe Torre finished second with 5 votes.

Williams would play with the Cubs for 16 seasons. He would be named to the National League All-Star team 6 times and win the NL batting title in 1972 with a .333 average. He would finish his 18-year major league career with 2,711 hits and a .290 batting average.

Williams would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987. 

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Career Year: Vada Pinson – 1963

Vada Pinson was such a solid player for the Cincinnati Redsin the first half of the 1960s that it is actually something of a challenge to pick a career year for him. But 1963 proved to be the most productive season overall for the Reds’ center fielder. And it proved to be another season when Pinson’s excellence was overshadowed by a fleet of future Hall of Famers who patrolled the outfield as his contemporaries – including one on his own team.

Vada Pinson

“Overshadowed” aptly applied to the best years of Pinson’s 18-season career. Called up by the Reds for the last month of the 1958 season, he claimed the center field job in his 1959 rookie season and promptly led the major leagues in runs scored (131) and doubles (47). He batted .316 as a rookie with 20 home runs and 84 runs batted in, and was named to the 1959 All-Star team.

Rookie of the Year for 1959? Unfortunately, in 1959 a player had to have fewer than 75 official at-bats to keep his rookie status. Pinson had 96 at-bats in 1958, and thus didn’t qualify (though he would have under today’s rules).

He hit .287 in 1960 and led the league again in doubles with 37. In 1961, he batted .343 and led the major leagues with 208 hits. He also won his only Gold Glove that season, finishing third in the balloting for Most Valuable Player (won by teammate Frank Robinson).

All terrific seasons, and Pinson would have more. But none of his seasons was more “complete” as a hitter than the performance he turned in for 1963. Pinson batted .313 (seventh in the National league) and again led the majors in hits with 204. He appeared in all 162 games, tying him for first with Bill White and Ron Santo. His .514 slugging average was fifth in the league. He finished third in total bases (335), second in doubles (37), first in triples with 14, eighth in singles (131), third in stolen bases (27) and fourth with 106 runs batted in. 

An All-Star season? Not for Pinson. From 1961 through 1963, he batted  a combined .316 and averaged 20 home runs and 98 RBIs per season. But there were no All-Star appearances again in his career after 1960. The National League's 1963 All-Star team included Tommy Davis, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron as the starting outfielders, with Roberto Clemente, Stan Musial, Willie McCovey and Duke Snider in reserve.

All of them except Davis ended up in the Hall of Fame. None of them had a better 1963 season than Vada Pinson.

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Astros Ace

From Player Profiles at 1960s Baseball …

Right-hander Larry Dierker was the first Houston Astros pitcher to win 20 games in a season and retired after 13 seasons in Houston with the most wins in the history of the franchise. (He remains second all-time in Houston victories to Joe Niekro).

Larry Dierker

Dierker was signed by Houston in 1964 while he was still 17 years old, and he debuted with the big league team at the end of the 1964 season. He pitched in only 9 games in the minor leagues.

Dierker was a starter from the beginning of his major league career. He was 7-8 with a 3.50 ERA in 1965 and 10-8 with a 3.18 ERA in 1966. Injuries limited him to 6-5 in 1967, but he was 12-15 with a 3.31 ERA in 1968 and was 20-13 with a 2.33 ERA in 1969. His 20 complete games and 305.1 innings pitched are still franchise records. At the close of the 1960s, the 22-year-old Dierker already had accumulated 55 major league victories.

From 1970 through 1976, Dierker was 82-67 with a 3.49 ERA. He averaged 188 inning pitched per season, an average slightly skewed down by the mere 27 innings Dierker pitched in 1973. He was the Astros’ workhorse and the team’s ace for more than a decade.

In November of 1976, Dierker was traded with Jerry DaVanon to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bob Detherage and Joe Ferguson. He appeared in only 11 games for the Cardinals in 1977, going 2-6 with a 4.58 ERA. The Cardinals released him after the season, and he retired as a player, though he returned to Houston 20 years later for a highly successful 5-season tour as the team’s manager.

Dierker finished with a career record of 139-123, all but 2 of those victories coming with Houston. His career earned run average was 3.31. He pitched 2,333.2 innings including 106 complete games and 25 shutouts. Dierker was a member of the National League All-Star team in 1969 and 1971.

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Mets Spend for Spahn

From This Week in 1960s Baseball …

(November 23, 1964) - The New York Metsannounced today that they had purchased left-handed pitcher Warren Spahn from the Milwaukee Braves.

Warren Spahn

The 43-year-old Spahn was 6-13 with a 5.29 ERA for the Braves in 1964, his twentieth season with that franchise. Spahn won 355 games for the Braves, and won 20 or more games in a season 13 times, tying him with Christy Mathewson for the most 20-win seasons by a National League pitcher. Only a year before, he was 23-7 for the Braves and led the league in complete games for the seventh consecutive season. Spahn pitched only 4 complete games in 1964.

Spahn would make 20 appearances in 1965 before being released by the Mets and signed by the San Francisco Giants. For 1965, he would have a combined record of 7-16 and a 4.01 ERA. At the end of the 1965 season, Spahn would retire with 363 career victories, the fifth highest total in major league history and the most by a southpaw.

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Oh, What a Relief: Hal Woodeshick

Few players had as many “miles” on them as Hal Woodeshick piled up during first half of his career. He played for 7 different teams in his 11-year major league career, and spent 9 years in the minor leagues with 11 different teams … with 2 years in the Army. When he did finally arrive in the big leagues to stay, Woodeshick established himself as a “lights out” closer with a wicked slider and a bulldog temperament that was made for pitching his way out of crises.

Hal Woodeshick

Woodeshick signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1950 when he was 18 years old. He bounced around the minors for most of the next decade, arriving in Detroit in 1955 and making his major league debut in 1956 in 2 appearances with the Tigers. In 1958, he was traded with Jay Porter to the Cleveland Indians for Hank Aguirreand Jim Hegan. He was 6-6 for Cleveland as a spot starter in 1958, posting a 3.64 ERA. He was then acquired by the Washington Senators and won 6 games over the next 2 seasons, with intermittent returns to the minors.

When the Senators moved to Minnesota to become the Twins, Woodeshick stayed in Washington, drafted by the expansion Senators. He was 3-2 with a 4.02 ERA when he was traded to Detroit for Chuck Cottier. After going 1-1 in 12 appearances with the Tigers, Woodeshick was purchased by the Houston Colt .45s.

As part of the team’s first starting rotation (that included Dick Farrell, Ken Johnson, Bob Bruceand George Brunet), Woodeshick went 5-16 with a 4.39 ERA. In 1963, he moved to the Houston bullpen and became the team’s closer, going 11-9 with a 1.97 ERA and 10 saves. He would be a reliever for the rest of his career.

In 1963, Woodeshick emerged as one of the National League’s best relievers. He appeared in 61 games and finished 48 with a league-leading 23 saves and a 2.76 ERA. In June of 1965, he was traded by the Astros with Chuck Taylor to the St. Louis Cardinals for Mike Cuellarand Ron Taylor. Appearing in 78 games combined, he went 6-6 with a 2.25 ERA and 18 saves. His 1965 earned run average with the Cardinals was 1.81 in 51 appearances.

In 1966, he appeared in 59 games for the Cardinals, but lost his closer position to Joe Hoerner. Yet Woodeshick had another solid year coming out of the Cardinals’ bullpen, going 2-1 with a 1.92 ERA and 4 saves. In 1967, he went 2-1 with a 5.18 ERA, and retired after being released by the Cardinals after the end of the season.

Woodeshick was 44-62 in 11 major league seasons with a career earned run average of 3.56. He racked up 61 saves and was a member of the National League All-Star team in 1963.

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Swap Shop: How Billy Pierce Brought His Heart to San Francisco

In more than one way, Billy Pierce was the difference that got the San Francisco Giants into the 1962 World Series, and he accomplished this when he was generally considered washed up and a shell of what he had been a decade before.

Billy Pierce

The glory years for Pierce came in the 1950s when, as the ace of the Chicago White Sox staff, he rivaled New York Yankees southpaw Whitey Ford for recognition as the best left-hander in the American League, if not the American League's best pitcher, period.

Pierce was signed by the Detroit Tigers and traded to the White Sox in 1949. He was a combined 27-30 in his first 2 seasons with the White Sox, and then won 15 games in both 1951 and 1952, followed by an 18-12 campaign in 1953. After slipping to 9-10 in 1954, he won 15 games again in 1956 (while leading the major leagues with a 1.97 ERA) and was a 20-game winner for the White Sox in 1956 and in 1957. He led the league in complete games from 1956 through 1958, and overall posted a 186-152 record in 13 seasons with the White Sox.

In November of 1961, San Francisco sent Bob Farley, Eddie Fisher and Dom Zanni to the White Sox for Pierce and Don Larsen. It was one of the most important moves made by the Giants front office over that winter, as Pierce, who was 10-9 in his last season with Chicago, won his first 8 decisions for the Giants. He moved to the bullpen through the heat of the summer, and returned to the starting rotation in August, winning 5 out of 6 decisions.

The 1962 National League regular season ended in a dead heat between the Giants and their West Coast rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Finishing the regular season at 15-6, Pierce was selected by Giants manager Alvin Dark to pitch the opener of the 3-game playoff and responded with a 3-hit, 8-0 shutout. Game 2 in Los Angeles saw the Dodgers tie the playoffs with an 8-7 victory.

On October 3, 1962, the playoff and the pennant race came down to a single game. In the top of the third, an RBI single by Harvey Kuenn and a sacrifice fly by second baseman Chuck Hiller gave the Giants a 2-0 lead. The Dodgers scored one run against Juan Marichal in the fourth inning and took the lead in the sixth inning on Tommy Davis’ 2-run homer.

In the seventh inning, the Dodgers went up 4-2. In the top of the ninth, the Giants scored 4 runs on only 2 hits, and led 6-4 with the Dodgers coming up for their last at-bats.

As a member
of the San Francisco Giants in 1962

In the bottom of the ninth, Dark turned again to Pierce to wrap up the game and the pennant. After shutting out the Dodgers just 2 days before, Pierce added one more scoreless inning to his playoff ledger, retiring the Dodgers in order to give the Giants their first National League pennant since 1954.

Note: Pierce pitched 2 more seasons with the Giants

Eddie Fisher

(winning a total of 6 games) and retired. But the trade that cinched a pennant for San Francisco also had a major impact on the career of one other player, pitcher Eddie Fisher. While he was in Chicago (the first of 2 tours with the White Sox), Fisher spent time in the bullpen next to Hoyt Wilhelm and learned how to throw the knuckleball, a pitch that would transform him into one of the best relievers of the 1960s.

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Yankee Super Sub

From Player Profiles at 1960s Baseball …

It was John Blanchard’s misfortune to play for some of the best New York Yankees teams of all time, in positions stocked with MVPs and Hall of Famers. As a catcher, he played back-up to HOFer Yogi Berra and Elston Howard, who collected 4 MVP awards between them. As an outfielder, he was competing with HOFer Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris (5 MVPs between them) as well as Tom Tresh and Berra.

John Blanchard

Never a strong defensive player, in the outfield or behind the plate, what Blanchard could do was hit with power. Given enough at-bats, he fully demonstrated his hitting ability, especially as a pinch hitter, and especially in clutch situations. He was an integral part of the Yankees’ success in the early 1960s, even with limited playing time.

Blanchard was signed by the Yankees in 1951 and had an outstanding season for Joplin in 1952, hitting .301 with 30 home runs and 31 doubles. He spent the next 2 years in military service and made his first appearance in a Yankees uniform in 1955. From 1956 through 1958, he hit well in the Yankees’ farm system, and was promoted to the big league club for good in 1959.

He spent more time sitting than playing in New York, never appearing in more than 93 games in any single season. He hit .242 in 99 at-bats in 1960, with 4 homers and 14 RBIs. He got more playing time and more at-bats in 1961, responding with the best season of his career: a .305 batting average with 21 HRs and 54 RBIs. Four of his homers came as a pinch hitter. That season the Yankees set a major league record with 240 team home runs, and six different players hit 20 or more round-trippers. During the 1961 World Series, Blanchard appeared in 4 games, hitting .400 with a double, 2 HRs and 3 RBIs.

In 1962, Blanchard’s batting average slipped to .232 with 13 home runs and 39 RBIs. He hit 16 homers with 45 RBIs in 1963, but his role was delegated more and more to pinch hitting, at which he was always a threat. In 1964 he produced 7 home runs and 28 RBIs in only 161 at-bats.

In May of 1965 the Yankees traded Blanchard with pitcher Rollie Sheldon to the Kansas City Athletics for Doc Edwards. He appeared in only 52 games for the A’s before being sold to the Milwaukee Braves in September. He retired after the 1965 season.

In 8 big league seasons, Blanchard hit .239 with 67 home runs and 200 RBIs. Blanchard appeared in 5 World Series with the Yankees, hitting a combined .345. He holds the major league record with 10 World Series pinch-hit at-bats.

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Stan Bahnsen Named AL’s Best Rookie

From This Week in 1960s Baseball …

(November 19, 1968) – New York Yankees pitcher Stan Bahnsen today was named American League Rookie of the Year for the 1968 season.

Stan Bahnsen

Finishing second to Bahnsen was outfielder Del Unser of the Washington Senators.

In 34 starts for the Yankees, the right-handed Bahnsen was 17-12 with a 2.05 ERA, sixth best in the American League. Bahnsen pitched 10 complete games and struck out 162 batters in 267.1 innings.

Bahnsen led all Yankees starters in earned run average and strikeouts. He was second on the staff in innings pitched and victories to Mel Stottlemyre (21-12).

It would be Bahnsen’s best season in a Yankees uniform. He would win 9 games in 1969 and 14 games in both 1970 and 1971. Traded to the Chicago White Sox in December of 1971, Bahnsen would win 21 games in 1972 and 18 games in 1973.

He pitched for 16 seasons in the major leagues, compiling a 146-149 record with 6 different teams. Bahnsen’s career ERA was 3.70. In 5 seasons with the Yankees, Bahnsen was 55-52 with a 3.10 ERA.

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The Glove Club: Ron Hansen

Ron Hansen was hardly the prototype for the 1960s shortstop. The shortstops of that era tended to be physically compact and quick, with sure hands and a bat loaded mostly with singles. That was the prescription for the shortstops of that era, led notably by the likes of Luis Aparicio, Tony Kubek, Dick Groat and Roy McMillan. (The glaring exception, of course, was Ernie Banks, the game’s best slugging shortstop since Honus Wagner.)

Ron Hansen

Hansen stood out from that group, both physically and as a hitter. He was huge by shortstop standards, standing 6-foot, 3 inches and weighing nearly 200 pounds. And he could hit with power. He hit 22 home runs with 86 RBIs in 1960, when he was an All-Star and American League Rookie of the Year. Both marks proved to be career bests for Hansen, who was plagued by back problems throughout his baseball career. From 1963 through 1965 – the only consecutive full seasons he could manage in a 15-year major league career – he averaged 13 home runs and 66 runs batted in.

But any hitting was a bonus. Hansen’s strength was his defense. And it was formidable.

He was graceful, almost fluid, as a shortstop, and quicker than he appeared. He had great range and a great arm. He made any infield a better defensive unit, and made pitchers better with his presence in the field.

As a rookie with the Baltimore Orioles in 1960, Hansen led American League shortstops in putouts. He led the league again in putouts in 1964 as a member of the Chicago White Sox. He led American League shortstops twice in double plays and 4 times in assists. Inexplicably, he never received a Gold Glove for his consistently outstanding fielding.

In 1965, Hansen set a record for handling 28 chances at shortstop in a double header. Playing for the Washington Senators in 1968, he completed the first unassisted triple play in the American League in 41 years.

When he first saw Hansen play as a rookie, New York Yankees manager Casey Stengel remarked to the press, “That kid looks like he was born at shortstop.”

He was.

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Lights Out: Ken Johnson

Defense Done Him In

When: April 23, 1964

Where: Colt Stadium, Houston, Texas

Game Time: 1:56

Attendance: 5,426

The first no-hitter of the 1964 season was also the first no-hitter in major league history to be thrown by the game’s losing pitcher.

Ken Johnson

Houston starting pitcher Ken Johnson came into the game having won his first 2 starts of the young season. Johnson had gone 6-2 for the Reds in 1961 before he was selected by the Houston Colt .45s as their twenty-ninth pick in the 1961 expansion draft.

Johnson went 7-16 in Houston’s inaugural season, though he pitched better than his won-loss record indicated: 3.84 ERA with 178 strikeouts in 197 innings. He also pitched 5 complete games and one shutout.

In the 1964 season, Johnson would go 11-17 despite lowering his ERA to 2.65. He would pitch 6 complete games this season and, again, a single shutout.

It should have been 2.

The Cincinnati starter was Joe Nuxhall, the left-hander who, in his major league debut on June 10, 1944, set a record as the game’s youngest player at age 15. Nuxhall had struggled through the early 1960s but had embarked on a major comeback season in 1963, when he went 15-8 with a 2.62 ERA. For 1964, he would finish the season at 9-8 with a 4.07 ERA, but he would record 4 shutouts in an injury-abbreviated campaign.

The first of those shutouts would be needed today.

Both Johnson and Nuxhall pitched scoreless ball through the first 8 innings. Through those 8 innings, Nuxhall scattered 5 hits and struck out 4 Houston batters. Johnson was simply overpowering … and unhittable. Through the first 8 innings, he struck out 9 Reds batters and walked only 2. And after 8 innings, the Reds’ line score read zeroes in hits as well as runs.

A no-hit performance wasn't good enough to win.

The shutout ended in the top of the ninth. Nuxhall grounded out to open the inning. Then Pete Rose reached first base on an error by Johnson. His throw into the dirt squirted by first baseman Pete Runnels, allowing Rose to move to second base. Rose went to third on a ground out by Chico Ruiz, and then scored when Houston second baseman Nellie Fox bobbled a ground ball off the bat of Vada Pinson. Pinson was safe at first and the Reds were ahead 1-0 without the benefit of a hit. Frank Robinson flied out to left field to end the inning.

In the bottom of the ninth, Nuxhall struck out leadoff hitter Eddie Kasko and induced Fox to ground out to short. Runnels’ hot grounder to third was mishandled by Ruiz, putting Runnels on first with the tying run. Bob Lillis went into the game to run for Runnels, but to no avail. Nuxhall struck out Johnny Weekly to end the inning and the game.

Never before had a major league pitcher thrown a complete game no-hitter and lost. But it was the kind of frustration that Ken Johnson would experience in different ways during the 1964 season as a talented pitcher on a second-year expansion team.

Excerpt from Lights Out! Unforgettable Performances from Baseball’s Real Golden Age http://bit.ly/Hwd774

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Heady Hustle

From Player Profiles at 1960s Baseball …

While certainly not the most athletically talented infielder of his era, Cookie Rojas carved a 16-year career out of baseball smarts and hustle, and a bat that improved with accumulated at-bats.

Cookie Rojas

Rojas was signed by the Cincinnati Reds in 1956. He spent 6 years moving steadily through the Reds’ farm system, and made the team as a utility player (capable of playing any position) in 1962. He was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Jim Owens and started a 7-year tour with the Phillies in 1963, hitting .221 in 64 games. He got more playing time with the Phillies in 1964 (and hit .291), and in 1965 he became the Phillies’ starting second baseman and the team’s leading hitter at .303. In 1967, he led the National League with 16 sacrifice hits.

Following the 1969 season, Rojas was traded by the Phillies with Dick Allen and Jerry Johnson to the St. Louis Cardinals for Byron Browne, Curt Flood, Joe Hoerner and Tim McCarver. He played in only 23 games for the Cardinals, and then was traded to the Kansas City Royals for Fred Rico.

Rojas spent the next 8 seasons with the Royals, as the team’s starting second baseman for 6 of those seasons. He hit .300 for the Royals in 1971, the first of 4 consecutive years when he would be named to the American League All-Star team. His best season for all-around offensive performance came in 1973, when he hit .276 with 6 home runs and 69 RBIs. He also had 29 doubles and 18 stolen bases, both career highs.

Rojas was released by the Royals after the 1977 season. He signed briefly with the Chicago Cubs, but never played for them, opting instead to retire to coaching and later managing and a broadcasting career.

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Yaz Voted Most Valuable … Duh

From This Week in 1960s Baseball …

(November 15, 1967) – Today the Baseball Writers of America (BBWAA) voted Boston Red Sox left fielder Carl Yastrzemski the American League’s Most Valuable Player for 1967.

The choice was nearly unanimous. Why it wasn’t unanimous remains a mystery.

Carl Yastrzemski

Yastrzemski’s qualifications for the MVP were impeccable. He won the Triple Crown by leading the American League with a .326 batting average and 121 runs batted in. His 44 home runs tied him for the league lead with Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins.

Yastrzemski also led the American League in hits (189), runs (112), on-base percentage (.418) and slugging average (.622). He carried the pennant-winning Red Sox on his back during the stretch run. In September and October, Yastrzemski batted .417 with 9 home runs and 26 RBIs in 27 games. He also posted a .760 slugging average over that period.

Yastrzemski received 19 out of 20 first-place votes. The only first place vote that eluded Yastrzemski went to Twins infielder Cesar Tovar.

Tovar’s qualifications? He led the American League in games played (164) and at-bats (649) … and nothing else. Tovar batted .267 with 173 hits (second to Yastrzemski). He was also second in the league in doubles with 32. (Teammate Tony Oliva led the league with 34 doubles. Yastrzemski was third with 31.)

It was the closest Tovar would ever come to winning the MVP award.

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Homer Happy: Willie McCovey

What was most impressive about slugger Willie McCovey – beyond the career hitting statistics that earned him a place in the hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility – was his consistency as a power hitter throughout his 22-season career, even though he battled injuries in nearly half of them. Twelve times he hit 20 or more home runs in a season, and in the 6 seasons from 1965 through 1970, he hit no fewer than 31.

Willie McCovey

His total of 521 career home runs – though Hall of Fame worthy – was limited by his opportunities to play during the first 5 years of his career. McCovey was signed by the New York Giants in 1955 and made his debut with the San Francisco Giants on July 30, 1959. In the remaining 2 months of that season, McCovey batted .354 with 13 homes runs and 38 RBIs in what was essentially a third of a season. He also posted a .656 slugging average, and was named National League Rookie of the Year.

As good as he was, McCovey wasn’t good enough to find an everyday place in the Giants’ lineup, a lineup that included Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Felipe Alou and Willie Kirkland. By the end of the 1960 season, McCovey had earned a starting spot at first base. With only 260 official at-bats in 1960, McCovey finished the season with 13 home runs and 51 RBIs. A part-time player in each of the next 2 seasons, McCovey hit 18 home runs in 1961 and 20 in 1962.

By 1963, McCovey was the team’s regular left fielder, and responded in his first full season with a league-leading 44 home runs and 102 runs batted in. A foot injury limited his playing time and productivity in 1964, when he batted .220 with 18 home runs and 54 RBIs. He rebounded in 1965 with 39 home runs, and hit more than 30 homers in each of the next 3 seasons, leading the National league in home runs (36) and RBIs (105) in 1968.

McCovey’s best season came in 1969, when he batted .320 and led the National league in home runs (45), RBIs (126) and slugging average (.656). He was selected as the National League Most Valuable Player that season.

McCovey bashed 39 home runs in 1970, the most he would hit in a single season over the rest of his career. Dogged by injuries over the next few years, he managed 29 home runs and 75 RBIs in 1973, his last season with the Giants. He was traded to the San Diego Padres, and after 2 years split the 1976 season between the Padres and the Oakland Athletics. He returned to San Francisco and had a strong comeback season at age 39 in 1977, batting .280 with 28 home runs and 86 RBIs. He hit only 28 more home runs as a part-time player over the next 3 seasons, and retired in 1980. He finished with a career batting average of .270.

McCovey was a 6-time All-Star, and was the Most Valuable player in the 1969 All-Star game. He hit 231 home runs in Candlestick Park, the most by any player. And McCovey was the first major league player to twice hit 2 home runs in a single inning.

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Oh, What a Relief: Dick Radatz

In an era when 20-save relievers were as rare as 20-game winners have become today, Dick Radatz was the first major league pitcher to post consecutive 20-save seasons. In fact, he had 3 consecutive seasons with 20+ saves, from 1962 to 1964, and was easily the most dominant relief pitcher in baseball over that period.

Dick Radatz

Radatz was a star in basketball and baseball at Michigan State University when he was signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1959. Used mostly as a starter, he won 12 games pitching for 2 minor league teams in 1960, and was moved to the bullpen in 1961. That was his entry to the big leagues a year later.

At 6-foot, 6-inches and 230 pounds, his presence on the mound was imposing. His fast ball was intimidating. Radatz didn’t have an effective off-speed pitch. He didn’t need one. He came in throwing blistering heat, and for 3 years, most of the batters he faced went down swinging. In 1964, he struck out 181 batters in 157 innings, an average of 10.4 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched. The season before, he averaged 11 strikeouts per 9 innings.

He was, indeed, a “Monster,” so dubbed by Mickey Mantle, who struck out 47 times out of 63 career at-bats against Radatz. The nickname stuck.

In his 1962 rookie season, he was 9-6 with a 2.24 ERA in 62 appearances, all in relief. (Radatz never started in the major leagues.) He finished 53 games for the Red Sox, and saved the most games (24) in the American League. He turned around in 1963 and did even better: 15-6 with a 1.97 ERA and 25 saves for a Red Sox team that finished seventh with 76 victories. He struck out 162 batters in 132.1 innings in 1963.

In 1964, Radatz appeared in 79 games. He finished 67 games and saved 29, both tops in the majors. His record was 16-9 with a 2.29 earned run average.

Then something went out of his fastball. He had pitched 314 innings in the 3 previous seasons, throwing hard on nearly every pitch, and apparently the wear on his arm was beginning to show. In 1965, Radatz was 9-11 with a 3.91 ERA and 22 saves, but he registered “only” 121 strikeouts in 124.1 innings – the first time in his major league career when he averaged less than a strikeout per inning. A disastrous start in 1966 prompted the Red Sox to deal Radatz to the Cleveland Indians for pitchers Don McMahon and Lee Stange. The change in scenery didn’t help his declining velocity. Radatz finished the 1966 season with a combined record of 0-5 and a 4.64 ERA. He would play only 2 more seasons, for 4 different teams, but never regained his magic.

Radatz finished his 7-year major league career with a record of 52-43 and a 3.13 ERA. He had 122 saves. Radatz was a member of the American League All-Star team in 1963 and 1964. He was named the Sporting News American League Fireman of the Year in 1962 and 1964. 

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Holding Down First

From Player Profiles at 1960 Baseball …

For a dozen seasons, Bill White matched All-Star talent with relentless consistency as a first baseman for the San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies. He was a heads-up player who was a solid runs producer and Gold Glove defender at first.

Bill White

White was signed by the New York Giants in 1953. His rookie season came in 1956, when he hit .256 with 22 home runs and 59 RBIs for the Giants. Military service put his baseball career on hold in 1957 and 1958, and just before the 1959 season he was traded with Ray Jablonski to the St. Louis Cardinals for Don Choate and Sam Jones.

It was in St. Louis where White blossomed into one of the league’s most accomplished first basemen. He hit .302 in his first season in St. Louis, with 12 home runs and 72 RBIs. He hit .324 in 1962, with 20 homers and 102 RBIs. In 1963, he drove in a career-best 109 RBIs on 27 home runs and a .304 batting average. In 8 seasons in St. Louis, White hit .300 or better 4 times. He averaged 20 home runs and 90 RBIs per season as a Cardinal.

Following the 1965 season, White was traded with Dick Groat and Bob Uecker to the Philadelphia Phillies for Pat Corrales, Alex Johnson and Art Mahaffey.  He had a strong season for the Phillies in 1966, with 23 home runs and 103 RBIs while collecting his seventh consecutive Gold Glove award. However his batting average slipped to .276, the lowest since his rookie season but the highest it would be for the rest of his career. His numbers declined dramatically over the next 2 years, and the Phillies shipped him back to St. Louis, where White played one more season before retiring in 1969.

Following his playing career, White was a sportscaster calling New York Yankees games on both radio and television. From 1989 to 1994, he served as President of the National League.

In 13 big league seasons, White hit for a career average of .286 with 202 home runs and 870 RBIs. And no other National League first baseman could match his glove work. While he doesn’t have Hall of Fame numbers for his career, White nonetheless may be the best first baseman not in the Hall of Fame.

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Law for the Young

From This Week in 1960s Baseball …

(November 3, 1960) – Ace right-hander Vern Law, who led the Pittsburgh Pirates to the World Series championship by winning 20 games, was voted the winner of the Cy Young award for 1960.

Law finished the regular season with a 20-9 record and a 3.08 earned run average. Law had a league-leading 18 complete games in 35 starts, including 3 shutouts. He pitched a career-high 271.2 innings, fourth most in the National League.

Vern Law

During the 1960 World Series, Law was 2-0 with a 3.44 ERA against the New York Yankees.

Law played his entire 16-year major league career with the Pirates, finishing with a career record of 162-147 and a 3.77 ERA. He won 18 games for the Pirates in 1959 and 17 games in 1965. He ranks seventh all-time in victories and shutouts among Pirates pitchers.

Milwaukee Braves left-hander Warren Spahn, who was 21-10 with a 3.50 ERA, finished second to Law in the Cy Young voting. A pair of St. Louis Cardinals pitchers tied for third in the voting: Ernie Broglio (21-9 with a 2.74 ERA) and Lindy McDaniel (12-4 with a 2.09 ERA and 26 saves). No American League pitchers received 1960 Cy Young votes.

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