Marichal, Juan A.
Baseball
b. Oct. 20, 1937, Laguna Verde, Dominican Republic
The right-handed Marichal was known as the "Dominican Dandy," not for his style of dress but for his style of pitching. He threw a fastball, slider, curve, and screwball from a whole assortment of angles, using a high leg kick to further throw off the hitter's timing.
Marichal had a number of brilliant seasons with the San Francisco Giants during the 1960s. His misfortune was that there always seemed to be one other pitcher, usually Sandy Koufax, who had an even better year to win the Cy Young award.
After joining the Giants midway through the 1960 season, Marichal became a regular starter in 1961. He had an 18-11 record in 1962, when they won the pennant, but he pitched only 4 innings in their seven-game World Series loss to the New York Yankees.
Marichal became San Francisco's ace the following season, leading the league in victories with a 25-8 record and in innings pitched with 321. He had a 2.41 ERA that year. He led the league with 22 complete games in 1964, when he had a 21-8 record and a 2.48 ERA, and in 1965 he had a league-leading 10 shutouts en route to a 22-13 record and a 2.13 ERA.
In 1966, Marichal led the National League in winning percentage at .806 on a 25-6 record with a 2.23 ERA. An injury limited him to 26 starts and a 14-10 mark in 1967, but he came back the following year to lead the league in victories with a 26-9 record, in complete games with 30, and in innings pitched with 326.
His last 20-victory season was 1969, when he had a 21-11 record and a league-leading 8 shutouts and 2.10 ERA. It was the seventh season in a row in which he had an ERA well under 3.00. Marichal was only 12-10 in 1970 but he bounced back with an 18-11 record and a 2.94 ERA in 1971, when the Giants won the Western Division title. Marichal gave up only 2 runs in 8 innings but lost his only start in the league championship series, won in four games by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Marichal was only 17-31 during the next two seasons. He went to the Boston Red Sox briefly in 1974 and retired after appearing in 2 games with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1975.
In 16 seasons, Marichal had a 243-142 record, a .631 winning percentage, with 52 shutouts and a 2.89 ERA. He struck out 2,303 hitters while walking only 709 in 3,507 1/3 innings.