Steve Hargan Was the Last Starting Pitcher in MLB History to Hit a Walk-Off HR

 

Former MLB pitcher Steve Hargan passed away on October 30th at the age of 83. His death was not announced until this past Saturday.

A native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Hargan pitched collegiate baseball at Ball State University. Prior to the 1961 season, he would be signed by the Cleveland Indians where he would spend the bulk of his professional career.

Hargan would make his big-league debut with the Tribe during the 1965 season and by the middle of the following season would join the team's starting rotation which consisted of Luis Tiant, "Sudden" Sam McDowell and Sonny Siebert. His finest season came in 1967 when he posted a 14-13 record with a 2.62 ERA tossing 15 complete games while leading the AL with 6 shutouts. In of those shutouts, Hargan blanked the Baltimore Orioles for 12 innings until Tony Horton hit a walk-off HR off O's reliever Moe Drabowsky. 

That season Hargan would hit a walk-off HR of his own in a game against the Kansas City A's. It would be the last time any starting pitcher or any AL pitcher would ever hit a walk-off HR. The only other pitcher to hit a walk-off HR since Hargan was San Diego Padres reliever Craig Lefferts in a game against the San Francisco Giants in April 1986. 

Hargan would be named to the 1967 AL All-Star Team but did not pitch due to a hamstring injury he sustained running the bases prior to the midsummer classic. It would be a harbinger of things to come for Hargan as tendonitis and an ulnar nerve reduced his effectiveness in both the 1968 and 1969 seasons going 8-15 with a 4.15 ERA and 5-14 with a 5.70 ERA in these respective campaigns.

Hargan appeared to regain his form in 1970 going 11-3 with a 2.90 ERA. But he would regress yet again in 1971 going 1-13 with a 6.19 ERA. His struggles continued into 1972 when he was eventually sent to Triple-AAA Portland Beavers before spending all of 1973 with the Double-AA Oklahoma City 89ers. 

Prior to the 1974, the Tribe sent Hargan to the Texas Rangers which proved to be the shot in the arm he needed. Hargan was part of a Rangers team that would contend in the AL West and finish only 5 games back of the eventual World Series champion Oakland A's. Hargan went a respectable 12-9 with a 3.95 ERA in a starting rotation which included future Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins, Jim Bibby, Jackie Brown and the teenaged David Clyde. Hargan would pitch decently in 1975 going 9-10 with a 3.80 ERA before largely working out of the bullpen during the 1976 season.

The Rangers would leave Hargan unprotected during the off-season expansion draft and he would be selected by the Toronto Blue Jays. However, Hargan would only pitch in a half a dozen games for the Jays in 1977 before he was reacquired by the Rangers along with infielder Jim Mason in exchange for Roy Howell who would become the Jays' every third baseman in their early years. 

However, Hargan's return to the Rangers was equally short-lived and he would be sold to the Atlanta Braves after only half a dozen appearances. Hargan would split the 1978 season in the minor leagues with the Minnesota Twins and Pittsburgh Pirates, but he would never pitch in the big leagues again. In 354 appearances over 12 seasons (including 215 starts), Hargan went 87-107 with a 3.92 ERA striking out 891 batters over 1632 innings pitched against 614 walks along with 56 career complete games and 17 career shutouts.

Hargan retreated from baseball once his playing days ended living the life of a bachelor in Palm Springs, California in a condo he bought during his pitching career. R.I.P.