Ralph Botting

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Ralph Wayne Botting (born May 12, 1955 in Houlton, Maine) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. The left-hander was drafted by the California Angels in the 7th round of the 1974 amateur draft, and played for the Angels in 1979 and 1980.

Botting made his major league debut in relief on June 28, 1979 against the Texas Rangers at Arlington Stadium. Angels starter Jim Barr came out of the game with one out in the top of the 1st inning, runners on second and third, and already behind 3-0. Botting "threw gasoline on the fire" and when the inning ended it was 8-0. He then pitched to four batters in the top of the 2nd and retired no one, though there was an error committed by Angels shortstop Jim Anderson. In 2/3 of an inning Botting allowed not only the two inherited runners to score, but gave up seven runs (six earned) of his own.

Almost four weeks later, on July 25, Botting pitched 5.1 innings of relief at Yankee Stadium to earn his first major league win. (Nolan Ryan had come out of the game after pitching one scoreless inning because he heard popping in his elbow.) He allowed 3 hits, 3 walks, and just 1 run, striking out 6. The Angels won, 9-5.

His second and last win came on August 6, 1979 in a road game against the Oakland Athletics. He was the starting pitcher, allowed 1 run in 7.2 innings, and the Angels beat the A's by a score of 5-2.

In 1980, again splitting time between the Salt Lake City Gulls (PCL) and the Angels, he made 6 starts for California, going 0-3 with a 5.81 ERA.

Career totals for 18 games pitched include a 2-3 record, 7 games started, and 5 games finished. He struck out 34, walked 28, and allowed 86 hits and 46 earned runs in 56 innings pitched. His ERA was 7.39, and his WHIP was 2.036.