Thursday, May 06, 2010

#255 Camilo Pascual

#255 Camilo Pascual
It's the little things in life that matter. Like the blurry be-stirruped Twin that is loitering in the background near the dugout. Who could it be? All I can say for sure is that it ain't Earl Battey.

Fun facts about Camilo Pascual:

-Camilo (aka "Little Potato") was originally from Havana, Cuba. He signed with the Senators in 1952 as an 18-year-old.

-His older brother Carlos pitched in two games for Washington in 1950.

-Camilo made his major league debut in 1954, but struggled with control for his first four seasons and went 20-54 with a 5.10 ERA in that span.

-He showed signs of what was to come with his 1958 performance, leading the Sens in ERA (3.15) and strikeouts (146), and posting the best strikeout-per-nine-innings mark in the American League (7.4).

-Pascual made his first All-Star team in 1959, and would go on to receive the honor in five seasons during a six-year period. That year he posted his first winning record (17-10) and led the league with 17 complete games and six shutouts, leading to a tidy 2.64 ERA. He would have two more complete game crowns and two more shutout crowns by the middle of the 1960s.

-On July 19, 1961, he tied a career high by striking out 15 Angels in a five-hit shutout, as the Twins won 6-0. It was one of five games that year in which he whiffed ten or more hitters.

-He performed a hat trick as the A.L.'s leading strikeout pitcher each year from 1961-1963. The 1963 season was his best: 21-9, 2.46 ERA, 18 CG, 202 K, 1.15 WHIP.

-After spending 13 years pitching for the Washington/Minnesota franchise, he was traded to...the second Senators franchise, where he spent his last two years as a full-time starter before rounding out his career with pit stops in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, and Cleveland.

-He retired in 1971, having won 174 games (fourth all-time among Cubans) and lost 170 in his 18-year career. He boasted a 3.63 ERA and completed 132 games. He struck out 2,167 batters, still 55th all time.

-Camilo coached for the Twins (1978-1980).
#255 Camilo Pascual (back)

4 comments:

  1. Awesome cartoon alert! Awesome cartoon alert!

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  2. Why do some of the cards include both minor and major league stats and other only the majors? Is it because there is no room for the minor leagues for guys that have been up for a while?

    Also, have you noticed that a lot of these men died at a relatively young age?

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  3. Max - Whoever did the art for these cards was woefully underpaid.

    Marc - Yes, in most cases the super-veterans don't have room for minor league stats. As far as the mortality rates of the players, in a 600-card set, you're probably getting a representative cross-section of humanity. I suspect that there are just as many who lived long lives. But who knows?

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  4. When you consider the percentage of ballplayers in the 60's who smoked and drank heavily, it should not be TOO much of a surprise that the number of these guys who died relatively early is probably very high - just note how many died of with either cancer or heart ailments...

    ReplyDelete