Former MLB pitcher Ken Holtzman, who won three consecutive World Series rings with the Oakland A's in the 1970's along with one more ring with the New York Yankees, passed away on April 14th of heart failure. He was 78.
Holtzman, a native of St. Louis, was a fourth-round pick of the Chicago Cubs in the inaugural MLB draft in 1965. That September, Holtzman would make his MLB debut with the Cubs at the age of 19.
A Jewish southpaw, Holtzman was unfairly compared to Sandy Koufax. Although Holtzman did best Koufax in what turned out to be Koufax's last regular season game in 1966 and would surpass Koufax to win more games than any other Jewish pitcher in MLB history, Koufax was a class unto himself.
Nevertheless, Holtzman developed into a very dependable big-league pitcher with the Cubs as the number two starter behind future Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins in the late 1960's and early 1970's. Holtzman did have flashes of the spectacular. In 1967, his military service commitment with the National Guard limited Holtzman to starting games on the weekends. In 12 starts, Holtzman went 9-0 with a 2.53 ERA. While a member of the Cubs, Holtzman tossed two no-hitters. The first was in 1969 against the Atlanta Braves and the second was in 1971 against the Cincinnati Reds. In the former no-hitter, Holtzman did not strikeout a single batter. This has not occurred in the 151 no-hitters thrown since.
Following the 1971 season, the Cubs traded Holtzman to the Oakland A's for outfielder Rick Monday (who was the first player selected overall in the inaugural 1965 MLB draft). Holtzman was the final piece of the puzzle for the A's rotation as he was the number three starter behind Catfish Hunter and Vida Blue.
In his four seasons with the A's, Holtzman won no fewer than 18 games earned a career high 21 wins in 1973. Holtzman would earn back-to-back AL All-Star selections in 1972 and 1973 along with earning three consecutive World Series rings with the A's from 1972 through 1974. He would earn at least one win in each of those three World Series and was the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the 1973 Fall Classic against the New York Mets.
Alas all good things must come to an end. Prior to the 1976 season, Charlie Finley began to break up the A's as he would send Holtzman along with Reggie Jackson to the Baltimore Orioles for Don Baylor, Mike Torrez and journeyman pitcher Paul Mitchell.
However, Holtzman would only make 13 starts in an Orioles uniform before being dealt yet again that June to the New York Yankees in a 10-player deal which saw Holtzman along with catcher Elrod Hendricks and pitchers Doyle Alexander and Grant Jackson join the Bronx Bombers while the Orioles would acquire Rick Dempsey, Scott McGregor and Tippy Martinez who would become the nucleus of the 1979 AL champion O's and a World Series winner in 1983.
Although Holtzman would win his fourth World Series ring with the Yankees in 1977 he did not pitch in the World Series. Indeed, Holtzman's pitching deteriorated significantly once he wore Yankee pinstripes. In June 1978, the Yankees would deal Holtzman back to the Cubs in exchange for a young relief pitcher named Ron Davis. Holtzman would conclude his big-league career in Wrigley in 1979. In 451 career games (410 of them starts), Holtzman went 174-150 with a 3.49 ERA striking out 1601 batters while walking 910 in 2861.1 innings pitched completing 127 games.
Holtzman would largely stay out of the public eye but would return to manage in the short-lived Israel Baseball League in 2007.
I leave you with Holtzman recording the final out of his first no-hitter when he got none other than Hank Aaron to ground out to end the game. R.I.P.
No comments:
Post a Comment