His best years appear to have been with St. Louis. His stint with the Yankees would be a close second.

I have him as equivalent to Mike Marshall in value. He makes my top 25 relief pitcher lists but he's not close to HoM.

Not sure how old OCF is but he probably remembers the McDaniel brothers pitching for the Cards in the late 50s.
I can't remember if it was Lindy or Von but I saw one of them pitch a game at Forbes Field.
My dad would take me to one game a year - we lived outside of the city and it was a big treat to get $3.50 box seats and invariably watch the Cardinals whenever they came to town as dad was a huge Stan Musial fan (who wasn't).

Lindy had a fabulous career....never found out why Von washed out so quickly.
He had a great first year, then nothing.
Does anyone know; did he have a career-ending injury?

McDaniel is the 3rd best reliever we've seen, behind only Wilhelm and Miller, IMO.

Does anyone know; did he have a career-ending injury?

I don't know. I've always assumed he hurt his arm.

jingoist: I didn't really become a fan until 1967, and I don't remember the McDaniels.

McDaniel is the 3rd best reliever we've seen, behind only Wilhelm and Miller, IMO.

I agree, though he's more or less tied for that spot in my system with Face and Kinder. Luckily, all of the above (except Wilhelm, of course) are just far enough from my ballot that I don't have to separate them.

Should the 1960 Cy Young award have gone to McDaniel?

McDaniel - 12-4, 26 saves, 116 IP, 196 ERA+, 105 SO, 24 BB.

I think he surely should have been ranked ahead of the # 1 and 2 vote-getters:

Vern Law - 20-9, 272 IP, 122 ERA+, 120 SO, 40 BB.
Warren Spahn - 21-10, 268 IP, 98 ERA+, 154 SO, 74 BB.

McDaniel's teammate, Ernie Broglio, is probably McDaniel's only real competitor:

Ernie Broglio - 21-9, 52 G (24 GS), 0 saves (14 GF), 226 IP, 149 ERA+, 188 SO, 100 BB.

The ERA+ of Drysdale and Bunning should have made them competitive, but their W-L record weren't in CYA territory:

Don Drysdale - 15-14, 269 IP, 140 ERA+, 246 SO, 72 BB.
Jim Bunning - 11-14, 252 IP, 142 ERA+, 201 SO, 64 BB.

Frank Baumann's record was similar to Broglio's, but not as good:

Frank Baumann - 13-6, 47 G (20 GS), 3 saves (10 GF), 185 IP, 142 ERA+, 71 SO, 53 BB.

Bob Friend (18-12, 125 ERA+) is probably the only other reasonable candidate.

I'd have voted for McDaniel.

I get McDaniel's 1960 at 7.5 aWAR, which is very good in my system, one of the best ever for an eligible reliever, and only behind Stu Miller's 1965 (8.6), Radatz's 1964 (8.3) and 1963 (7.8) among the years I've done.

Note the aWAR numbers I'm quoting include hitting.

Bunning's 1960 comes out at 6.0, Drysdale at 7.3, Friend 6.0. I haven't run Spahn, Bauman, Broglio or Law yet.

All in all I think you have a reasonable case for McDaniel. As for a breakdown of his usage . . .

In his 12 starter IP his bullpen cost him 1.3 runs by letting inherited runs score that average relievers wouldn't have.

He saved 5.3 inhereted runs over average relievers, but his relievers saved him 2.8 runs when he left the bases dirty. His LI was 1.57 over his 104.3 reliever innings.

His defense was above average, saving .08 runs per 9 innings.

Add it up and I get the equivalent of 176 IP, with a DRA of 1.87 (4.50 = average). That's an incredible year.

As good as his ERA was, you can take 3.8 runs off because of his performance with inherited runners, and the performance of those that inherited his runners. And you are only adding back .08 for his defense. He also only allowed 1 unearned run all year, so his ERA, while great is significantly understating his value.