They all see his right elbow is stuck at a slight angle, like the gentle bend of a tree branch. “You can’t not notice that,” Clippard said.
In 1981, McCatty finished second to Rollie Fingers in the American League Cy Young voting. He led the league in wins and posted a 2.33 ERA. He fired fastballs in the mid-90s and cut an imposing, 6-foot-3 figure. He threw 16 complete games. In his first six starts that season, McCatty pitched nine, nine, 10, nine, 92 / 3 and nine innings.
In spring training of 1982, McCatty began to feel nagging pain where his biceps met his right shoulder. His coaches asked him if he could pitch. “Yeah,” McCatty said. “I can pitch.”
Early that 1982 season, McCatty started against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Jim Rice stood in the on-deck circle, ready to lead off the second inning. He yelled at McCatty, “You’re not right.” McCatty glanced at him and yelled back, “I know.”
McCatty kept pitching. His fastball dropped into the low 80s. His ERA rose to 3.99. “It was terrible,” McCatty said. “It was the most frustrating year of my life, as far as playing. I wanted to go play so bad. It was really frustrating knowing that you could do things and now you weren’t capable of doing them.”
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
1. charityslave is thinking about baseball Posted: September 14, 2012 at 01:36 PM (#4235902)And he hasn't.
Then again, I thought Randy St Claire was a quite acceptable coach as well.
He just didn't have this array of talent to work with.
Reggie/Vida/Catfish/Rudi/Tenace/Campy/Bando/Fingers/Holtzman
The Billyball A's, with the great young pitching and outfield
The Bash Brothers + Smoke, Eck, Welch, etc.
The Moneyball A's (with a pretty decent front 3)
And not to jinx them, but maybe even the Bernie Leaning A's of 2012.
Almost no continuity between any of these teams, except Rickey, who could probably still lead the 2012 A's in OBP.
McCatty, 1979-1980: 407 IP, 97 ERA+
1981: 186 IP, 148 ERA+
1982-1983: 296 IP, 96 ERA+
All of a sudden in 1981, he didn't give up as many hits, walks, or homers.
Then in 1982, he went back to very similar rate stats.
I guess he actually was hurt, but 1981 was a pretty fluky year anyway.
ERA+ from 23-27: 66, 85, 149, 92, 81.
This sounded a little fishy, due mostly to the fact that Rice in 1982 was the least likely Red Sox regular to ever lead off the second inning (since he hit third all year). And it turns out, McCatty didn't throw in Boston until September (or face them at all until late in the year), where Rice was in his customary third spot in the lineup.
Wasn't Oakland Arizona-based that far back? The Sox trained in Fla.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main