American baseball player (born 1938)
Baseball player
Arthur Mahaffey Jr.
(born June 4, 1938) is an American former
professional baseball
starting pitcher
, who played in
Major League Baseball
(MLB) for the
Philadelphia Phillies
(
1960
?
1965
) and
St. Louis Cardinals
(
1966
). He batted and threw right-handed. In a seven-season MLB career, Mahaffey posted a 59?64 record, with 639
strikeouts
, and a 4.17
earned run average
(ERA), in 999.0
innings pitched
.
[1]
Mahaffey was signed as an amateur free agent by the Philadelphia Phillies on June 29, 1956, out of
Western Hills High School (Cincinnati, Ohio)
. He began his
Minor League Baseball
career that summer.
[1]
After 4
1
⁄
2
seasons playing in the Phillies'
farm system
, he received his MLB call-up, playing in his first Phillies game on July 30, 1960; Mahaffey pitched the final two innings of a game against the
St. Louis Cardinals
. He retired the three batters he faced in the eighth inning. In the ninth,
Bill White
led off with a single to right field and then was
picked off
by Mahaffey at first base. The next batter,
Curt Flood
, singled to center field, and he, too, was picked off by Mahaffey, who threw to first with Flood tagged out on a throw from first to second.
[2]
[3]
He finished the
1960
season with a 7?3 record, an ERA of 2.31, 14 games played, while finishing third in the 1960
National League
(NL)
Rookie of the Year
balloting (which was won by
Frank Howard
of the
Los Angeles Dodgers
).
[1]
Mahaffey set a club record with 17
strikeouts
in a game against the
Chicago Cubs
on April 23, 1961.
[3]
Though he ended the
1961
season with an ERA of 4.10, and a record of 11?19 (leading the NL in losses), in 36 games, he was selected to represent the Phillies on the
NL All-Star
team. Mahaffey ended the
1962
season with a record of 19?14, and a 3.94 ERA, with a career high 177 strikeouts, in 41 games. He was selected again in 1962 for the NL All-Star team, finishing 26th in balloting for
NL Most Valuable Player (MVP)
, despite leading the league in
home runs
allowed with 36, and earned runs allowed with 120. Mahaffey had a 7?10 record in 26 games with the
1963
Phillies, to go along with a 3.99 ERA. In
1964
, he finished the season with a record of 12?9, with an ERA of 4.52, in 34 games.
[1]
The ill-fated
1964 team
was in first place in the NL, with a 6
1
⁄
2
-game lead, with just 12 games remaining in the season, before starting a 10-game losing streak that cost the team the pennant. Mahaffey pitched in two of the games in that infamous skid, losing a 1?0 game (the first of that losing streak) on a
steal
of
home
by
Chico Ruiz
of the
Cincinnati Reds
, and was taken out while winning 4-3 in a game against the
Milwaukee Braves
, in which
Rico Carty
hit a ninth-inning
bases-loaded
triple
, plating all 3 runners, off of reliever
Bobby Shantz
, to win the game for the Braves, 6-4.
[3]
1965
was his last season in Philadelphia, which saw him finish with a 2?5 record, and an ERA of 6.21, in 22 games, mostly in relief.
[1]
Mahaffey was traded by the Phillies on October 27, 1965, along with
catcher
Pat Corrales
, and
outfielder
Alex Johnson
, to the Cardinals, in exchange for
shortstop
Dick Groat
, catcher
Bob Uecker
, and
first baseman
Bill White. In his only season with the Cards, he had a 1?4 record, in 12 games, with an ERA of 6.43.
[1]
Mahaffey was the starting pitcher in his final big league game, on July 17, 1966, in the second game of a
doubleheader
against the Chicago Cubs; that day, he gave up three hits, and three runs, in
1
⁄
3
of an inning, in a game the Cubs won by a score of 7?2.
[1]
[4]
Mahaffey was dealt along with
Jerry Buchek
and
Tony Martinez
from the
Cardinals
to the
New York Mets
for
Ed Bressoud
,
Danny Napoleon
and cash on April 1, 1967.
[5]
Mahaffey would never play for the Mets.
[1]
As of 2014, Mahaffey resides in
Allentown, Pennsylvania
.
[6]
Highlights
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Art Mahaffey
,
Baseball-Reference
. Accessed July 6, 2009.
- ^
Jul 30, 1960, Phillies at Cardinals Box Score and Play by Play
,
Baseball-Reference
. Accessed July 6, 2009.
- ^
a
b
c
Gordon, Robert.
"Legends of the Philadelphia Phillies"
, p. 97. Sports Publishing LLC, 2005.
ISBN
1-58261-810-0
. Accessed July 6, 2009.
- ^
Jul 17, 1966, Cubs at Cardinals Box Score and Play by Play
,
Baseball-Reference
. Accessed July 6, 2009.
- ^
"Mets, Cards Engage In 5-Player Deal,"
The Associated Press
(AP), Sunday, April 2, 1967.
Retrieved March 2, 2023.
- ^
Carchidi, Sam (21 September 2014).
"Phillies pitcher Art Mahaffey: Ruiz's move came at perfect moment"
.
Philadelphia Inquirer
. Retrieved
27 January
2021
.
External links
[
edit
]