Two Young Latino Pitchers Dominate the Opposition on July 19, 1960

On This Day in Baseball History July 19, 1960: A pair of young Latino pitchers throw complete game 1-hitters, both losing their no-hit bids in the eighth inning.

25-year old Cuban Pedro Ramos of the Washington Senators defeated the Detroit Tigers 5-0 at Detroit's Navin Field by hurling a 1-hit, 9-strikeout, 4-walk game that was disrupted by Rocky Colavito's eighth inning leadoff single that just got by Senators' shortstop Jose Valdivielso.

Ramos' gem was one of the only bright spots of the 1960 season for the Cuban hurler. Ramos was on track to lead the American League in losses for a third year in a row. Ramos would go 14-18 in 1958, 13-19 in 1959, 11-18 in 1960 and he would also add another consecutive league leading 11-20 record in 1961. Ramos would finish his 15-year career with a 117-160 record.

Here is the boxscore for Pedro Ramos' 1-hit complete game victory against the Detroit Tigers from the July 20, 1960 edition of the New York Times:

For Further Reading:

- Click here to Access Pedro Ramos' career statistics from Baseball Reference.com

- Click here to Access the biography of Pedro Ramos by Peter Bjarkman from the SABR Baseball Biography Project 

As I posted on my BaseballSisco blog, Juan Marichal made his career debut with a 1-hit, 12-strikeout, 1-walk complete game 2-0 gem against the Philadelphia Phillies at Candlestick Park. As with Pedro Ramos, Marichal would lose his no-hit bid in the eighth inning by allowing a single to Clay Dalrymple.

Marichal would fare considerably better in his career than Pedro Ramos did. Marichal would become one of the premier pitchers during the era of the Pitcher of the 1960's. Pitching against such stiff competition as Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson and Warren Spahn, Marichal was able to finish with a 243-142 record over a 16-year career.

Marichal led the league in victories twice with a 25-8 record in 1963 and a 28-9 record in 1968. Marichal also put up seven straight sub 3.00 ERA seasons from 1963-1969 with a league and career best 2.10 ERA in 1969. Even more impressive was Marichal throwing 260+ innings in a season eight times with a league leading 321.1 in 1963 and a league leading and career high 325.2 in 1968. Marichal would finish the 1960's with 191 wins and 195 complete games.

Here is the boxscore of Marichal's 1-hit complete game victory against the Philadelphia Phillies from the July 20, 1960 edition of the New York Times:

For Further Reading:

- Click Here to Access Juan Marichal's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com

- Click here to Access the biography of Juan Marichal by Jan Finkel from the SABR Baseball Biography Project 

Though both Latino hurlers had careers that went in different directions, they both share a moment in time when both threw 1-hit complete games on the same day.

Hasta la próxima, nunca dejaremos de jugar el Beisbol,

Baseball Sisco

#baseballsisco

#baseballsiscokidstyle

Juan Marichal Debuts With a Complete Game 1-Hitter on July 19, 1960

On This Day in History July 19, 1960: 21-year old rookie Juan Marichal of the Dominican Republic makes his major league debut for the San Francisco Giants and does so in an impressive fashion. Facing the Philadelphia Phillies at home at Candlestick Park, Marichal was throwing a no-hitter until the Phillies sent up pinch hitter Clay Dalrymple with two outs in the eighth inning.

Dalrymple ruined the young pitcher's bid for a no-no in his debut with a solid single to center field on the first pitch Marichal delivered to the plate. Had Marichal been able to no-hit the Phillies, he would have been the second pitcher to throw a no-hitter in his debut after Charles Leander "Bumpus" Jones (January 1, 1870 – June 25, 1938) did so for the Cincinnati Reds on October 15, 1892 ***Bobo Holloman and Ted Breitenstein of the St. Louis Browns also threw no-hitters in their first major league starts but each had appeared in relief before making their first start.

Marichal would complete his game with a 1-hit, 12-strikeout, and 1-walk gem as the Giants beat the Phillies 2-0. Here is the boxscore of that game from the July 20, 1960 edition of the New York Times:

Marichal would become the first Dominican enshrined in Cooperstown in 1983. Marichal did it with style, flair and a bulldog determination. Pitchers today can take notes on how Marichal was able to succeed in an era where he was often overshadowed by such names as Koufax, Gibson, Drysdale and Ford. Luckily for us, we have similar pitchers in today's game in the form of Scherzer, Kershaw, Hernandez and Grienke.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,

Baseball Sisco

#baseballsisco

#baseballsiscokidstyle

For Further Reading:

- Click here for Juan Marichal's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com

- Click here for Juan Marichal's Hall of Fame page from the National Baseball Hall of Fame website

283 Wins with 16 Gold Gloves AND Most Wins in the 1960's AND NOT in the Hall of Fame

This question from Pete was two questions that I rolled into one since the answer is the same for both. At first the question of who is the pitcher who has 283 career wins with 16 Gold Gloves and is NOT in the Hall of Fame led me to initially say that the answer was Mike Mussina. The answer was incorrect. Mussina had a career 270-153 record with 7 Gold Gloves. My next answer would prove correct.

Jim Kaat had a 283-237 career record with a total of 16 Gold Gloves in a row from 1962-1977. 14 were in American League with the Twins and White Sox while his last 2 were with the Philadelphia Phillies. The only pitcher with more Gold Gloves than Jim Kaat is Greg Maddux who has a total of 18 Gold Gloves.

For the second question: Who won the most games in the 1960's, I joked to Pete that it surely couldn't have been Jim Kaat which got a big laugh out of him. It is Jim Kaat with a catch. The question wasn't quite correct. Pete says he said A.L. but I didn't hear it.No matter, the following is still interesting.

Jim Kaat led the American League in wins during the 1960's with a record of 142-119 during that decade. The amazing thing is that with 142 wins during the 1960's and a total of 283 wins, Kaat is not in the Hall of Fame. There are 40 pitchers that are in the Hall with less wins than Kaat. I'm not totally sure why he didn't garner the 75 percent vote needed for enshrinement into Cooperstown. Kaat pitched the bulk of his career in an era where pitchers started and finished their games regardless if they won or loss. Kaat has a total of 180 complete games to his name.

The honor of the most wins among all pitchers within the American AND National Leagues belongs to "The Dominican Dandy" Hall of Famer Juan Marichal. Marichal posted a 191-88 record from 1960-1969 winning 20 games or more 7 times for an average of 19 wins and 9 losses per season. Another astounding fact of all this is that Marichal NEVER won the Cy Young Award. The Cy Young award was given to one pitcher for both leagues from 1956-1966. From 1967 on, the award was awarded to the best pitcher in the American League and the best pitcher in the National League.

There you go. Until the next round of trivia questions.

Sisco Kid.

For Further Reading
- Click Here to Access Jim Kaat's Career Statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click Here to Access Juan Marichal's Career Statistics from Baseball Reference.com

The Greatest Pitching Duel...Ever (In my opinion)

On the 30th Anniversary of Carl Hubbell's amazing 18 inning 1-0 shutout of the St. Louis Cardinals, the greatest pitching duel for the modern age was held in San Francisco. On July 2, 1963, the Milwaukee Braves faced the San Francisco Giants. On the mound for the Milwaukee Braves was their long time ace Warren Spahn (363-245 3.09 ERA). Taking the ball for the San Francisco Giants was their ace, "The Dominican Dandy" Juan Marichal (243-142 2.89 ERA).



The game lasted a total of 4 hours and 10 minutes and was a marathon shutout of 16 innings with both starters pitching complete games. The game ended 1-0 due to a game winning home run by Willie Mays (Spahn pitched 15.1 innings, having given up the game winning hit in the bottom of the 16th). Both Spahn and Marichal matched each other with keeping the the opposing team to nearly the same amount of hits (9-8 in favor of Marichal) and both teams left 11 men on base. Both pitchers combined for 428 pitches (227 for Spahn and 201 for Marichal). Marichal struck out 10 while walking 4, Spahn walked only 1 (an intentional walk to Mays in the 14th and was his first walk in 31.2 innings) and struck out 2 but helped his own cause by doubling in the 7th inning, all at the age of 42.

In an era of forced pitched counts and 6 inning starters, its amazing to think that not only one starter would pitch 15 plus shutout innings, but both starters matched each other with the ending being decided on one pitch. Arguably the best left handed starter dueled with the greatest Latino starter of all time in a game for the ages. As I said, amazing. To see the box score (printed July 4, 1963 in the New York Times) click the image to the right.

Latino Pitching Dominance in the All-Star Game

Coming off Mariano Rivera’s record setting 4th save the recent All-Star game, I was thinking about which Latino pitchers have had dominating performances during the Mid-Summer Classic. A few come readily to mind.

1984 Fernando-Mania strikes out the AL in San Francisco

Fernando Valenzuela teams with Dwight Gooden of the Mets to strike out 6 consecutive hitters on the 50th anniversary of Carl Hubble’s amazing 5 consecutive All-Star Game strikeouts. Similar to Hubble, Valenzuela strikes out 3 future Hall of Famers: Dave Winfield, Reggie Jackson and George Brett (Hubble struck out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin).


1999 Pedro Welcomes the NL to Boston

Pedro Martinez starts the All-Star game in Boston during his record setting second Cy-Young Award winning season (Pedro won a total of three Cy-Young awards in different leagues having first won the award in Montreal in 1997 and later in 1999 and 2000 in Boston). Similar to Valenzuela, Pedro strikes out the side in the first and the next batter in the second. His victims were Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire earning him the victory and All-Star game MVP honors.

And Last but not least….

Juan Marichal’s career as an All-Star for the San Francisco Giants

Juan Marichal pitched in the era of dominant National League pitching. Some of his NL contemporaries were Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Don Drysdale, Steve Carlton, Dock Ellis, Jim Bunning, Gaylord Perry among others. His stats in the All-Star games were as follows:

Juan Marichal’s Career All-Star Game Statistics

Year	G/S	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	W	L	ERA
1962	2/0	4.0	2	2	1	1	2	1	0	2.25
1963	1/0	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0.00
1965	1/1	3.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
1966	1/0	3.0	3	0	0	0	2	0	0	0.00
1967	1/1	3.0	1	0	0	0	3	0	0	0.00
1968	1/1	2.0	1	0	0	0	3	0	0	0.00
1971	1/1	1.0	2	0	0	1	1	0	0	0.00
Total	8/2	18.0	7	2	1	2	12	2	0	0.50

In eight All-Star Games (1958-1962 had 2 All-Star Games per year), Marichal started two games and won two while losing none. He had a total of twelve strikeouts to two walks and have up only seven hits and two runs in eighteen total innings pitched. Opposing hitters had a combined .117 batting average against and a .145 on base percentage against Marichal. Just to put it in perspective, some of the players Marichal faced in these games were Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, Elston Howard, Brooks Robinson, Harmon Killibrew, Tony Oliva, Al Kaline, George Scott, Frank Robinson, Rod Carew, Carl Yastremski, Rico Petrocelli, Frank Howard and Bobby Murcer.

Any other suggestions for dominating Latino Pitching performances in the All-Star game?