Fun facts about Sterling Slaughter:
-Born in Danville, IL, Sterling attended Arizona State University and was a first-team All-American in 1963.
-He signed with the Cubs in 1963, becoming the first Sun Devil to sign a pro contract. A few years later, fellow ASU players like Sal Bando and Reggie Jackson would follow in his footsteps.
-After winning ten games with a 3.00 ERA at AA Amarillo in his first pro season, he made it to the big leagues with the Cubs in 1964.
-Sterling made a few relief appearances before winning his first career start on May 30, blanking the Braves for seven innings on one hit (and five walks) in a 2-0 victory. He held future Hall of Famers Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron hitless in six plate appearances, striking out each man once.
-In his very next start, Slaughter stymied the Braves again, going the distance in a 5-2 win. He allowed only one earned run on six hits and struck out a career-high eight. He also singled off of opposing pitcher Hank Fischer for his first and only career hit.
-Unfortunately he couldn't keep it up and was used sparingly as the season went on, ending up 2-4 with a 5.75 ERA in 20 games (six starts). Supposedly arm troubles hampered his performance.
-Back in the minors in 1965, Slaughter was second in the AA Texas League with 15 wins to go with a 3.00 ERA. He didn't fare as well in the following two seasons between AA and AAA, and his career was over in 1967 at age 25.
Oh wow what a name! If only he played at the same time as Urban Shocker... a team could feature Slaughter & Shocker as their 1-2 in the rotation.
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with the back of the card showing off his batting stats when he's a pitcher? Never seen that before.
Devon - Maybe they could bring in Darrin Blood as a spare bullpen arm.
ReplyDeleteGood catch! I didn't even notice. If you look at the stats presented, those are still his pitching totals, they just mislabeled them. The "AVG" is his ERA, the runs and hits are his W/L, and so forth. Whoops!
sterling slaughter would be a tremendous amalgam of sterling sharp and webster slaughter. yes, the mets recent swoon has me longing for football more than ever.
ReplyDeleteThe error of pitching stats in batting is also found on the 1970 Tony Cloningers card. Although a lifetime .192 hitter, ironically enough he had one of greatest hitting performance by a pitcher of all time (two grand slams, 9 RBI in one game)
ReplyDeleteAlso on the 1967 Johnny Klippstein card.
ReplyDeleteMax - Who do you follow again? Is it Giants and Saints? Probably high hopes for both. I know I'm drinking the purple Kool-Aid, if only the Ravens can patch together a secondary.
ReplyDeleteholste42 and Jim - Thanks for the additional info!