During the 1960's and the early 1970's the pitching in the National League just seemed to be more dominant. The Dodgers had Koufax and Drysdale. The Giants had Juan Marichal. St. Louis had the intimidating Bob Gibson. The Reds had fire-baller Jim Maloney. The Phillies had ex-Tiger Jim Bunning. Later in the 60's we saw the emergence of Fergie Jenkins for the Cubs and Tom Seaver for the Mets.
Oh don't get me wrong, the American League had some good pitchers too; Whitey Ford and later Mel Stottlemyre for the Yankees. The Tigers had Denny McLain and Mickey Lolich. The Twins had Camilio Pascual and Jim Kaat. Ohio native Dean Chance was effective for the Angels and later for the Twins. My hometown Indians had Louie Tiant for a while. They also had a class pitcher named Sonny Siebert for a while.
Then came “Sudden” Sam McDowell.
From 1964 through 1971 McDowell may have been the best pitcher in the American League. I took the time to crunch some numbers and the numbers don't lie. During that eight year period McDowell put up awesome numbers pitching for a rather mediocre team. As they say, you can look it up.
Sam broke in with the Indians in 1961 but he had serious control issues. He won only six games through 1963. Things began to change in 1964 as he began to mature. That year he put together a solid season hurling 173.1 innings and striking out 177. He went 11-6 with a 2.70 ERA.
Sam's break out year was 1965. He pitched 273 innings and struck out a league leading 325. He won 17 games and had a 2.18 ERA that was the lowest in the AL that year. 1966 was a frustrating year for Sam. He worked slightly less then 200 innings but still led the AL in whiffs with 225. Even though he had a very respectable 2.87 ERA he managed only a 9-8 record.
McDowell bounced back some in 1967 going 13-15 but his ERA swelled to 3.85. Nevertheless he struck out 236. 1968 may have been Sam's best year. He toiled for 269 innings but had an ERA of 1.81. He again led the AL in strikeouts with 283 but lack of hitting support left him with a 15-14 record.
Sam kept mowing them down in 1969, notching another league leading 279 strikeouts. He went 18-14 with a 2.94 ERA. In 1970 McDowell reached the pinnacle of his profession. He finally won twenty games going 20-12. He fanned 304 batters in 305 innings. Sam slipped a little in 1971 going 13-17. His ERA went up to 3.40 but he still retired 192 by strikeout.
In a trade may have helped to ease some of the pain from the Rocky Colavito trade a decade earlier, the Indians sent McDowell to San Francisco for Gaylord Perry and shortstop Frank Duffy. Sam struggled with the Giants. During the 1973 season he went to the Yankees. In 1975 he ended his career in his birthplace of Pittsburgh.
For the Indians, their return on Gaylord Perry was a steal. Over a three year period he won 64 games while working over a thousand innings. Gaylord would eventually move on... all the way to Cooperstown. Trade throw in Frank Duffy would be the Indians’ starting shortstop for a few years too.
Although McDowell ended his promising career in a sour fashion you cannot take away his accomplishments. In the eight year period from 1964 through 1971 he pitched nearly 2000 innings. He blazed his way to 2,021 strikeouts averaging 252 per season. On five occasions he led the AL in strikeouts. He was 116-97 playing on what is sad for me to say some very uncompetitive clubs. Where they would have been without an ace like McDowell? That's a scary thought.
