Chuck Finley

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Charles Edward Finley (born November 26, 1962 in Monroe, Louisiana) is an American former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the California Angels (later the Anaheim Angels), Cleveland Indians and St. Louis Cardinals from 1986 to 2002, compiling a 200-173 record with a 3.85 ERA over 3197 1/3 innings and 2,610 strikeouts.

Finley is better known for his long career with the California (Anaheim) Angels. After the Angels decided he was not worth keeping, he was signed by the Cleveland Indians to play for the 2000 season. He went 16-11 with a 4.17 ERA. Unfortunately, that would be Chuck's last "promising" season as a Major Leaguer. He went 8-7 with a 5.54 era for the Indians in 2001, and then in 2002 went 4-11 with a 4.44 ERA in 18 games before being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for former Indians and now Red Sox player Covelli "Coco" Crisp.

Finley was drafted by the Angels in the 15th round of the 1984 amateur draft out of Northeastern Louisiana University, but he did not sign. The Angels drafted him again in the 1st round of the secondary phase of the 1985 amateur draft. He is the only pitcher to strike out four players in one inning [1] more than once, accomplishing the rare feat three times. This can mainly be attributed to the fact that he used an excellent splitfinger pitch as his strike out weapon and that pitch would often end up in the dirt.

Finley was married to actress Tawny Kitaen from 1997 to 2002. He filed for divorce three days after Kitaen was charged with committing domestic violence against him, having beaten him with a stiletto heel. They have two daughters, Wynter and Raine.

As Finley took the mound for an April 2002 game against the Chicago White Sox at then-Comiskey Park II, the stadium's musical director, Joe Stephen, took a subtle dig at Finley's messy divorce, and played "Here I Go Again" by the band Whitesnake, referencing Kitaen's appearance in that band's videos. Stephen was later fired and the White Sox apologized.