Sal Maglie

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Salvatore Anthony Maglie (April 26, 1917 - December 28, 1992) was a Major League Baseball player for the New York Giants, Cleveland Indians, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, and St. Louis Cardinals from 1945 to 1958. Maglie was a pitcher known as "Sal the Barber," because he gave close shaves—that is, pitched inside to hitters. Coincidentally, he also sported a five o'clock shadow look. He also had the distinction of being one of the few players to play for all three New York City baseball teams. He was the Dodgers' pitcher opposing Don Larsen of the Yankees in the latter's famous perfect game of the 1956 World Series. Maglie won 119 games and lost 62, with an earned run average of 3.15, over his career. Maglie had a good comeback season for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956 (who won the NL pennant by one game over Milwaukee and two games over Cincinnati), going 13-5 with 2.89 ERA. He finished second to Don Newcombe in the first balloting for the Cy Young Award, and was also second to Newcombe in MVP balloting.

Maglie was integral to the success of the New York Giant teams of the early 1950s.

After two terms (1960-62; 1966-67) as pitching coach of the Boston Red Sox, Maglie took a similar post for the expansion Seattle Pilots in 1969. He was profiled unflatteringly in Jim Bouton's book Ball Four, despite the fact that he was a boyhood hero of Bouton. Bouton commented that Maglie rarely gave useful advice to the pitchers, and frequently second-guessed their choice of pitches, often contradicting his previous second guessing.

However, Hall of Fame pitcher Don Drysdale credited Maglie with teaching him to pitch inside, for which he would be noted. Jim Lonborg, AL Cy Young Award winner in 1967 also learned to brush hitters back under instruction from Maglie.^{[citation needed]}

The book Carl Erskine's Tales from the Dodgers Dugout: Extra Innings (2004) includes short stories from former Dodger pitcher Carl Erskine. Maglie is prominent in many of these stories.

During the 1950s, Maglie lived in Riverdale, The Bronx.^[1]

[edit] See also

• List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
• List of Major League Baseball wins champions
• List of Major League Baseball no-hitters

[edit] External links

• Sal Maglie at Baseball Reference