Milt Pappas

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Milt Pappas
Pitcher
Born: May 11, 1939 (1939-05-11) (age 69)
Detroit, Michigan
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
August 10, 1957
for the Baltimore Orioles
Final game
September 18, 1973
for the Chicago Cubs
Career statistics
Win-Loss record     209-164
Earned run average     3.40
Strikeouts     1,728
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Milton Stephen (Milt) Pappas (original name (Miltiades Stergios Papastergios) (born May 11, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan) is a former professional baseball pitcher. A 17-year veteran, he pitched for the Baltimore Orioles (1957-1965), Cincinnati Reds (1966-1968), Atlanta Braves (1968-1970) and Chicago Cubs (1970-1973).

A control specialist, Pappas pitched in 520 games, starting 465, with 209 wins, 164 losses, 43 shutouts, 1728 strikeouts and a 3.40 ERA in 3186.0 innings pitched.

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[edit] Baltimore Orioles

In 1957, as a senior at Cooley High School, Pappas was scouted by several teams, but signed with the Orioles at the suggestion of Hal Newhouser, a former star pitcher for the Detroit Tigers who lived in the Detroit area. Pappas signed for $4,000 and pitched only three games in the minor leagues before being called up in August. He made his Major League debut on August 10 in relief against the New York Yankees. In 1959 he made the Orioles’ starting rotation and began a streak of 11 consecutive double-digit win seasons with a 10-10 record. Even as a young pitcher, Pappas exhibited excellent control, never walking more than 83 batters in a season. Pappas soon became the ace of the Oriole’s staff, and was named an All-Star in 1962, pitching in both All-Star games (from 1959 to 1962, Major League Baseball had two All-Star games). He was also named starting pitcher in the 1965 All-Star Game. In each year from 1959 through 1965 Pappas never had a losing record, winning between 13 and 16 games.

[edit] Cincinnati Reds

In December of 1965 Pappas and another pitcher, Jack Baldschun, and outfielder Dick Simpson, were traded to the Cincinnati Reds for superstar Frank Robinson. Reds president Bill DeWitt believed that Robinson was "an old 30." The outrage from the Cincinnati fans over the deal made it difficult for Pappas to adjust to pitching in Cincinnati. (The trade has been made famous in the 1988 movie Bull Durham, where Susan Sarandon's character says, "Bad trades are a part of baseball, I mean who can forget Milt Pappas for Frank Robinson, for gosh sakes.") He posted a winning record in 1966 (12-11), but with a 4.29 ERA—more than a run above his career ERA to that point. That same year, Robinson won the American League Triple Crown and Most Valuable Player Award, and led the Orioles to winning the World Series, in which he won that MVP award. In 1967 Pappas won a team- and career-high 16 games, but when he got off to a slow start in 1968, the Reds traded him to the Atlanta Braves in a six-player deal. Two of the three players the Reds got in return were another starting pitcher, Tony Cloninger, and infielder Woody Woodward.

Pappas's inconsistency during his stay in Cincinnati was only part of the reason the Reds traded him. After the 1966 season Pappas and veteran pitcher Joe Nuxhall exchanged harsh words through the media. Nuxhall claimed that Pappas was not giving 100 percent and that he had to start in place of Pappas twice during the season because Pappas was suffering from "migraines." The following season, Pappas complained that the Reds were violating the contracts of their players by not allowing them to fly first-class. He was especially upset that Nuxhall, by now a broadcaster, was himself flying first-class while Milt and the other players had to sit in tourist. In 1968, Pappas criticized the club when they refused to cancel a game the day of Senator Robert F. Kennedy's funeral. These controversies, combined with his performance, prompted the Reds to trade Pappas to Atlanta.

[edit] Atlanta Braves

Even in a much smaller ballpark (Fulton County Stadium), Pappas went 10-8 for the Braves with a 2.37 ERA. In 1969 injuries sidelined him for much of the first four months of the season, and he won only 6 games with 10 losses with a 3.62 ERA. Yet Atlanta won the NL West title, and Pappas finally achieved his goal of the post-season (Baltimore had won the 1966 World Series after trading Pappas during the 1965 off-season). In the playoffs against the New York Mets, Pappas made his only post-season appearance, allowing three runs in 3 innings in relief.

[edit] Chicago Cubs

In 1970 the Braves pulled Pappas from their rotation after only three starts, after he compiled a 6.06 ERA and allowed six home runs. On June 23 they traded him to the Chicago Cubs, where he got another chance to prove he was still a major league starter. Pappas posted a 7-2 record with a 2.36 ERA at home (while pitching in hitter-friendly Wrigley Field), and a 10-8 record with a 2.68 ERA overall. In 1971 Pappas went 17-14 (the wins being a career best) with a 3.51 ERA. On September 24 of that year, against the Philadelphia Phillies at Wrigley Field, Pappas struck out three batters (two of whom were Greg Luzinski and Don Money) on nine pitches in the fourth inning of a 6-1 loss, becoming the 10th National League pitcher and the 16th pitcher in Major League history to accomplish the nine-strike/three-strikeout half-inning. Five days later, against the Montreal Expos at Jarry Park, Pappas was again part of baseball history, albeit on the other side: he was responsible for Ron Hunt's 50th hit by pitch of the season, which broke the single-season record of 49 set by Hughie Jennings in 1896. Pappas complained, unsuccessfully, to home plate umpire Ken Burkhart that the pitch had been over the plate, and that Hunt had made no effort to get out of the way.

In 1972 Pappas again won 17 games, but this time against only seven losses—half his loss total of 1971. He also posted a 2.77 ERA, his best since his 2.60 in 1965, his last year in Baltimore. On September 2 of that year, at Wrigley Field, Pappas no-hit the San Diego Padres. He retired the first 26 batters and was one strike away from a perfect game with a 2-2 count on pinch-hitter Larry Stahl, but home-plate umpire Bruce Froemming called the next two pitches—both of which were close—balls. Pappas believed he had struck out Stahl, and years later continued to bear ill will towards Froemming.[1][2] Some 25 years later, a Chicago radio personality, during an interview with Pappas, got Froemming on the phone and the two argued on the air. Pappas also said in 2006 that he has seen video tape footage of that game on WGN and can see Froemming smirking immediately after the walk was issued; Froemming denied the charge. To date, Pappas has the dubious distinction of having the only perfect game bid broken up on a walk to the 27th batter he faced.

Undeterred, Pappas ended the game by retiring the next batter, ex-Cub Gary Jestadt. The no-hitter remains the last the Cubs have been involved in—either in pitching it or having it pitched against them. They have gone the longest of all Major League teams since they were last involved in a no-hitter. [1] (They have also gone the longest of all Major League teams since a no-hitter was last pitched against them, that being Sandy Koufax's perfect game in 1965, which Pappas said in that same 2006 interview surprised even him.) Eleven days after his no-hitter, he recorded his 200th career victory, also at Wrigley Field, defeating the Montreal Expos 6-2. In 1973 he won only 7 game with 12 losses and a 4.28 ERA. He did have one highlight that season, however: he surpassed the 207 career victories of Hal Newhouser, the man who scouted and signed him. Prior to the start of the 1974 season he was released by the Cubs.

Pappas's manager on the Cubs, Leo Durocher, prided himself on getting along with the variety of characters that make up a Major League team. But Durocher lost all patience with Pappas, whom he considered an ingrate and a cancer on the team, though he acknowledged his pitching skills. This is well documented in Durocher's memoir "Nice Guys Finish Last."

[edit] Wife's disappearance

On September 11, 1982, Pappas’s wife, Carole, disappeared after leaving the couple’s home in the Chicago suburb of Wheaton. A group of four men known as the Ripper Crew were believed to have killed Mrs. Pappas in a satanic ritual. In 1984, Tom Kokoraleis, who was convicted for the murder of Lorraine Borowski led police to a field where Carole Pappas was allegedly buried, but searchers could find no remains. [2]

For five years, no sign was found of her car, clothing, or body. In 1987, almost five years to the day Mrs. Pappas disappeared, workers draining a shallow pond only four blocks from the Pappas home discovered the car Mrs. Pappas had been driving, a white and burgundy 1980 Buick, as well as her body. A DuPage County Coroner's jury ruled the cause of death as drowning. Police theorized Pappas mistook a driveway near the pond for a road leading to her subdivision, vaulting 25-30 feet from the bank into the pond. Pappas, a recovering alcoholic, may have been drinking, however blood alcohol content could not be confirmed.

[edit] Giving up Roger Maris' 59th home run in 1961

In 1998, as Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa surpassed Roger Maris’ single season home run record, Pappas admitted that he threw nothing but fastballs to Maris in giving up Roger’s 59th home run in 1961. Pappas explained that he was upset that commissioner Ford Frick was planning to put an asterisk next to the new home run mark if Maris did not eclipse Babe Ruth’s 60 home runs in 1927 on or before the Yankees’ 154th game.

[edit] Trivia

  • Pappas became the first pitcher ever to win 200 games without a single 20-win season.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Amspacher, Bruce (2003-04-11). What Really Happened? An Interview with Major League Pitching Great Milt Pappas. Professional Sports Authenticator. Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
  2. ^ Weinbaum, William (2007-09-20). Froemming draws Pappas' ire, 35 years later. ESPN. Retrieved on 2007-09-26.

[edit] External links