Juan Marichal

[kairos12]

HOF member Juan Marichal won 25 games or more three times in his career. 1963, 1966, and 1968.

In those 3 seasons he did NOT win the Cy Young Award nor did he ever win it.

[SHRED]

1. And this was during an era...

...where relief pitching was rarely used if ever.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Always Remember That High Leg Kick

Looked like Bruce Lee at the peak of his windup!

[brush]

3. He was a fantastic pitcher in the same era as Koufax, Gibson, Bunning, Drysdale...

all stiff competition. The incident at the plate with Roseboro hurt his chances also.

Loved his classy, high kick wind-up.

[Cicada]

4. I remember when he learned he was going to the major league

I was a kid in the stands when he was called up from the Tacoma Giants. He got the call and immediately walked out of the dugout right past where I was standing in the aisle. Needless to say he was ecstatic, a smile a mile wide. Nice memory.

[camelfan]

5. He was also the winning pitcher in a 16-inning duel

with HOFer Warren Spahn. Both pitchers pitched all 16 innings and the Giants won on a Willie Mays dinger at Candlestick Park. Many, many fond memories of going to games there.

https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-2-1963-marichal-outduels-spahn-16-inning-thriller

[Brother Buzz]

8. Willie's homer that day was a bookend to his first home run, and a cool bit of serendipity

An Offbeat Record Held By Willie Mays


Willie Mays holds the record for hitting home runs in the most different innings. Mays hit at least one home run in every inning from one to sixteen. His first-inning and sixteenth-inning home runs, both off Warren Spahn, are the most noteworthy. The one in the first inning was the first of Mays’s career, and the sixteenth-inning blast broke up one of the all-time great pitching duels and provided a 1-0 victory for Juan Marichal.

The following list shows the first home runs Mays hit in innings 1-13, and the only one he hit in innings 14-16.:


1 5-28-1951 Warren Spahn Boston
2 6-6-1951 Willie Ramsdell Cincinnati
3 4-18-1954 Carl Erskine Brooklyn
4 6-27-1951 Don Newcombe Brooklyn
5 8-30-1951 Vern Law Pittsburgh
6 6-23-1951 Turk Lown Chicago
7 6-18-1951 Joe Presko St. Louis
8 6-17-1951 (1G) Howie Pollet St. Louis
9 7-22-1951 (1G) Ken Raffensberger Cincinnati
10 6-22-1951 Dutch Leonard Chicago
11 7-4-1955 (2G) Lino Donoso Pittsburgh
12 6-4-1955 Warren Hacker Chicago
13 7-3-1951 Jocko Thompson Philadelphia
14 4-30-1954 Warren Hacker Chicago
15 9-27-1968 Ted Abernathy Cincinnati
16 7-26-1963 Warren Spahn Milwaukee

I attended many, many Friday night games at Candlestick (Ninety-cent bleachers and a sleeping bag, Baby!). Unfortunately, Marichal was mostly reserved for the premier Saturday games, so I seldom saw him pitch.

[MichMan]

6. Every one of those seasons, someone else had a better year

1963 Koufax went 25-5 with a 1.88 era compare to Marichal 25-8 & 2.41

1966 Koufax went 27-9 & 1.73 vs Marichal 25-6 & 2.23


In both years, the Dodgers also went to the World Series


1968 Denny McLain won 30 games for Detroit & Detroit won the WS

[Bob Loblaw]

7. Who won those years?

[BootinUp]

9. I used to hate his winnin' Giant ass. Heh

Very good.