WHY I THINK SAL MAGLIE SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN
By- Damien
Sal Maglie was one of the toughest pitchers around. He was so tough to hit because he was unpredictable, fast, and an intimidator. He once said that he would knock down his own mother on Mothers’ Day if she was crowding his plate. Batters did not enjoy going up against Maglie. Nicknamed “The Barber” for his intimidating brush back pitches, Maglie has to his credit an ERA title and an incredible .657 career winning percentage. He started his career with the New York Giants by going 5-4 on a 2.35 ERA in 1945 but didn’t pitch again in the Majors until 1950, as he was banned from professional baseball by commissioner Happy Chandler, as were all of the other players who jumped from the MLB to the Mexican League. In his first full season, he went 18-4 and led the NL in ERA, shutouts, and winning percentage at the advanced age of 33. Maglie didn’t stop, as he went 23-6 in 1951 with a 2.93 ERA (the second lowest in the league) and allowed the fewest hits per nine innings (7.7) in the NL. He again won 18 games on a 2.92 ERA in 1952 before slipping to 8-9 in 1953. Maglie then went 14-6, 9-7, 13-5 (as the runner up for Cy Young and MVP honors), and 8-6 before falling to 3-7 at the age of 41 in his final season of 1958. After his retirement, he became a pitching coach and a scout. Sal Maglie was a wonderful pitcher and a tough competitor who was perhaps the best pitcher in all of baseball for the entirety of his brief career. I never faced him on the mound. Most batters who faced Maglie thought of him as a definite Hall of Famer. If he'd only gotten started earlier...
LIFETIME STATISTICS
Games career: 303 season high: 47 in 1950
Starts career: 232 season high: 37 in 1951
Complete Games career: 93 season high: 22 in 1951
Shutouts career: 25 season high: 5 in 1950 and 1952 led NL: 5 in 1950
Games Finished career: 35 season high: 9 in 1950
Wins career: 119 season high: 23 in 1951 led NL: 23 in 1951
Losses career: 62 season high: 9 in 1953
Winning Percentage career: .657 season high: .818 in 1950 led NL: .818 in 1950
ERA career: 3.15 season low: 2.71 in 1950 led NL: 2.71 in 1950
WHIP career: 1.250 season low: 1.092 in 1956
Innings Pitched career: 1,723 season high: 298 in 1951
Strikeouts career: 862 season high: 146 in 1951
Strikeouts Per Nine Innings career: 4.5 season high: 5.1 in 1956
Walks career: 562 season high: 86 in 1950 and 1951
Strikeouts Per Walk career: 1.53 season high: 2.04 in 1956
Saves career: 14 season high: 4 in 1951 and 1957
Fielding Percentage career: .974 season high: 1.000 in 1945, 1951 and 1956 led NL: 1.000 in 1951 and 1956
Double Plays career: 26 season high: 7 in 1951
Putouts career: 96 season high: 23 in 1951
Assists career: 280 season high: 53 in 1951
DID YOU KNOW?
-also finished fourth in the NL MVP Award voting in 1951, tenth in 1950, 22nd in 1954, and 23rd in 1952
-was a two time all-star (in 1951 and 1952)
-allowed the fewest hits per nine innings in the NL in both 1951 and 1956 (7.3)
-pitched a no-hitter on September 25, 1956
-pitched nine or more complete games in a season six times
-went 1-2 with a 3.41 ERA in three World Series, including the 1954 sweep of the Cleveland Indians
-struck out 15 Yankees in the 1956 World Series
-batted .271 in 1953
-was traded to the other league four times, which is the all time MLB record
-ranks 21st in career winning percentage
-was used once as a pinch runner in 1945
I also like what Early Wynn said, when asked if he would knock down his own grandmother: "Why not? My grandma was a d--- good hitter." (blanking that out in case you think it's a bad word- not something I'd say but I think it's on the lower end of the curse word scale)
ReplyDeleteIt's weird, because Maglie's career just started so late. It's true that his career was interrupted by WW II, but in 1942 he was a 25 year-old minor league reliever. Really, the first time ever he was actually dominant was in the Provincial league, after leaving Mexico. In Mexico, though he won 20 games both years, his ERAs, at 3.19 and 3.92, were hardly eye-popping.
Fun fact for the day: Maglie's nickname, in Spanish, is "Barbero".
But his career is probably too short for hall of fame consideration.