Juan Marichal
Juan Marichal | ||
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Pitcher | ||
Born: October 20, 1937 | ||
Batted: Right | Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | ||
July 26, 1960 for the San Francisco Giants |
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Final game | ||
April 16, 1975 for the Los Angeles Dodgers |
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Career statistics | ||
Win-Loss | 243-142 | |
ERA | 2.89 | |
Strikeouts | 2303 | |
Teams | ||
Career highlights and awards | ||
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Member of the National | ||
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Elected | 1983 | |
Vote | 83.7% |
Juan Antonio Marichal Sánchez (born October 20, 1937, in Laguna Verde, Dominican Republic) is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball known for his high leg kick, dominating stuff and intimidation tactics, which included aiming pitches directly at the opposing batters' helmets. Marichal played for the San Francisco Giants for most of his career and he also played for the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers for the final two seasons of his career.
Contents |
Biography
Marichal's delivery was renowned for one of the fullest windups in modern baseball, with a high kick of his left leg that went nearly vertical. Marichal maintained this delivery his entire career, and photographs taken near his retirement show the vertical kick only slightly diminished. The windup was the key to his delivery in that he was consistently able to conceal the type of pitch until it was on its way. Marichal was discovered by Ramfis Trujillo, the son of late Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Ramfis was the primary sponsor of the Baseball Team (Aviacion Dominicana), which Marichal pitched a 2-1 victory game in his native Monte Cristi. From the very moment the game ended, Marichal was a member of Aviacion Dominicana team, enlisted to the Air Force right on the spot by Ramfis' orders.[1]
Marichal entered the major leagues in 1960 with the San Francisco Giants, for whom he made an immediate impression. In his debut, on July 19. 1960, he threw a one-hit shutout against the Philadelphia Phillies, walking one and striking out 12[2]. He started 10 more games that seasons, finishing at 6-2 with a 2.66 ERA. He improved his victory totals to 13 and 18 over the following two seasons, respectively, before finally cracking the 20-victory plateau in 1963, when he went 25-8 with 248 strikeouts and a 2.41 ERA. Marichal enjoyed similar success through the 1969 season, posting more than 20 victories in every season except 1967, and never posting an ERA higher than 2.76. He led the league in victories in 1963 and 1968 when he won 26 games. He and Sandy Koufax were the only 2 major league pitchers in the post-war era (1946-date) to have more than 1 season of 25 or more wins. Each pitcher had 3 such seasons in their careers.
Marichal finished in the top 10 in ERA seven consecutive years, starting in 1963 and culminating in 1969, in which year he led the league. During his career he also fininshed in the top 10 in strikeouts six times, top 10 in innings pitched eight times (leading the league twice), and top 10 in complete games 10 times. He led the league twice in shutouts, throwing 10 of them in 1965.
Marichal exhibited exceptional control. He had 2,303 strikeouts with only 709 walks, a strikeout-to-walk ratio of about than 3.25 to 1. This ranks among the top 20 pitchers of all time, ahead of such notables as Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Walter Johnson and Roger Clemens, who each have strikeout-to-walk ratios of less than 3:1. Over his career, he led the league in the fewest walks per nine innings four times, and finished second three times -- totalling eleven years in which he finished in the top 10, all while also finishing in the top 10 for strikeouts six years.
One regular-season game in Marichal's career deserves mention, involving him and Milwaukee Braves' Hall of Famer Warren Spahn in a night contest played July 2, 1963, before almost 16,000 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The two great pitchers matched goose-eggs until Giants superstar Willie Mays homered off Spahn to win the game 1-0 — in the 16th inning. Both Spahn and Marichal tossed complete games, something that almost certainly will never happen again in the big leagues. Marichal allowed eight hits in the 16 innings, striking out 10, and saddling eventual career home-run king Hank Aaron with an 0-for-6 collar. Spahn permitted nine hits in 15 and one-third innings, walking just one (Mays intentionally, in the 14th, after Harvey Kuenn's leadoff double) and striking out two. The game, almost the innings-duration of two contests, lasted only 4 hours, 10 minutes. (Information courtesy of Retrosheet)
Johnny Roseboro
Marichal is also remembered for a notorious incident that occurred on August 22, 1965, in a game played against the Giants' arch-rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Batting against Sandy Koufax, Marichal felt that Dodger catcher Johnny Roseboro's return throws had flown too close to his head. Words were exchanged, and Roseboro, throwing off his catcher's helmet and mask, rose to continue the argument. Marichal responded by hitting Roseboro's unprotected head with his bat. The benches cleared into a 14-minute brawl, while Giant captain Willie Mays escorted the bleeding Roseboro (who would require 14 stitches) back to the clubhouse. Marichal was ejected, suspended for nine days and fined $1,750. Roseboro filed a lawsuit, but eventually settled out of court, supposedly for $7,000. Marichal and Roseboro would eventually go on to become close friends, reconciling any personal animosity and even autographing photographs of the brawl.
Many people protested the apparently light punishment meted out, but as it was it hurt the Giants considerably. They were in a neck-and-neck pennant race with the Dodgers and the race was decided with only two games to play. Marichal's nine-day suspension cost him two pitching turns, and the Giants lost the pennant by two games.
1970-1975
In 1970, Marichal experienced a severe reaction to penicillin which led to back pain and chronic arthritis. Marichal's career stumbled in 1970, when he only posted 12 wins and his ERA shot up to 4.12, before straightening itself out with a stellar 1971 season in which he won 18 games and his ERA dropped below 3.00. It was his final great season, however, as he posted 6-16 and 11-15 records in 1972 and 1973 respectively. He played briefly with the Boston Red Sox in 1974 and the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1975 before retiring. He finished his career with 243 victories, 142 losses, 244 complete games, 2,303 strikeouts and a 2.89 ERA over 3,507 innings pitched. His teams appeared in two postseasons (in 1962 and 1971) but were not victorious in either series against the New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates, respectively. Between 1962 and 1971, The Giants averaged 90 wins a season, and Marichal averaged 20 wins a year.
All-Star performances
Marichal pitched a no-hitter on June 15, 1963, and was named to nine All-Star teams. He was selected MVP in the . His All-Star Game record was 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA.
Honors
![Marichal's statue outside AT&T Park](https://web.archive.org/web/20070928073649im_/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/50/Juan_Marichal_statue.jpg/200px-Juan_Marichal_statue.jpg)
Juan Marichal was selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983. His uniform number 27 has been retired by the Giants. In 1990, Marichal, who was working as a broadcaster for Spanish radio, was on hand to see his son-in-law, José Rijo, win the World Series Most Valuable Player Award.
In 1999, he ranked #71 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. He was honored before a game between the Giants and Oakland Athletics with a statue outside AT&T Park in 2005, and was named one of the three starting pitchers on Major League Baseball's Latino Legends Team.
Trivia
- Marichal was the second native of the Dominican Republic to pitch in the major leagues. Rudy Hernández of the Washington Senators preceded him by sixteen days.
- In an article in 1976 in Esquire magazine, sportswriter Harry Stein published an "All Time All-Star Argument Starter," consisting of five ethnic baseball teams. Marichal, a Dominican, was the right-handed pitcher on Stein's Latin team.
- According to an article in Time Magazine, in 1966 Marichal seemed to fall victim to a jinx cast upon him by Pittsburgh Pirates sportscaster Bob Prince, who waved a Green Weenie at him during a Pirates-Giants game. The next day Marichal caught the third finger of his pitching hand in a car door and missed two scheduled starts.
See also
- Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame
- List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
- List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
- List of Major League Baseball wins champions
- Top 100 strikeout pitchers of all time
- List of Major League Baseball no-hitters
External links
- Juan Marichal at:
Preceded by Johnny Callison |
Major League Baseball All-Star Game Most Valuable Player 1965 |
Succeeded by Brooks Robinson |
Preceded by Willie Mays |
Major League Player of the Month May, 1966 |
Succeeded by Gaylord Perry |
Preceded by Bob Gibson |
National League ERA Champion 1969 |
Succeeded by Tom Seaver |