Sal Maglie
Salvatore Anthony Maglie was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball, and later a scout and a pitching coach. He played from 1945 to 1958 for the New York Giants, Cleveland Indians, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, and St. Louis Cardinals. Maglie was known as "Sal the Barber", because he gave close shaves—that is, pitched inside to hitters. A gentle personality off the field went unnoticed during games, his foreboding physical appearance contributing to his menacing presence on a pitcher's mound. He was the last of 14 players to play for the Giants, Dodgers and Yankees at a time when all three teams were in New York City. During a 10-year major league baseball career, Maglie compiled 119 wins, 862 strikeouts, and a 3.15 earned run average.
Born and raised in Niagara Falls, New York, Maglie had to play ball secretly growing up because his parents discouraged it. Signed by the Buffalo Bisons of the International League in 1938, he pitched in the minor leagues for five years, then took two years off during World War II to work at a Niagara Falls defense plant. He started pitching again with the Jersey City Giants in 1945, then made his major league debut with the Giants later that year at the age of 28, starting 10 games for the Giants. It would be five years before he returned to the major leagues, as he joined the upstart Mexican League in 1946 and was subsequently blacklisted from Major League Baseball for five years by Commissioner Happy Chandler. Not until he was 33 in 1950 did Maglie become a full-time pitcher in the major leagues.
For the first part of the 1950 season, Maglie pitched out of the bullpen for the Giants. Moved into the starting rotation midseason, he threw shutouts in four straight starts and pitched 45 consecutive scoreless innings. Emerging as the Giants' ace in 1951, he led the National League with 23 wins as the Giants reached the 1951 World Series. Maglie followed this with an 18-win performance in 1952, but back trouble threatened his career in 1953. Inserting a lift into one of his shoes to correct a tilted pelvis, he returned in 1954, winning the game which clinched the NL pennant for the Giants as the team won the 1954 World Series. Maglie spent one more season with the Giants in 1955 before being claimed off waivers by the Indians on July 31. Seldom used with Cleveland, Maglie joined the Dodgers in May 1956 and went on to finish second in NL Most Valuable Player and MLB Cy Young Award voting. He threw a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies on September 25 and pitched in the 1956 World Series. Maglie spent three more seasons with the Dodgers, Yankees, and Cardinals before retiring in 1959. During his career, he had a 1–2 record in four World Series starts and also appeared in two of baseball's most famous games, Bobby Thomson's Shot Heard 'Round the World game in 1951 and Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956.
After his playing career, Maglie served one year as a scout for the Cardinals, two stints with the Boston Red Sox as a pitching coach, and one season with the Seattle Pilots as a pitching coach. He held a variety of jobs in Niagara Falls before retiring in 1979. In 1983, Hyde Park Stadium in his hometown was renamed Sal Maglie Stadium. Maglie died on December 28, 1992, due to bronchial pneumonia complications.
Early life
Salvatore Anthony Maglie was born on April 26, 1917, in Niagara Falls, New York, the youngest of three children of Giuseppe Maglie and Maria Breve. His father, an Italian immigrant from Taranto, worked blue collar jobs around town. Sal showed an interest in baseball from an early age, but his parents discouraged it, and he tried to keep his playing a secret from them. When he played sandlot ball, he was not initially good at pitching and usually played other positions. Niagara Falls High School did not have a baseball team, though he did become a basketball star for them. He was offered a basketball scholarship by Niagara University but turned it down because baseball was his favorite sport.After high school, Maglie worked for Union Carbide, pitching on the company team as well as for local semipro teams. In 1937, he tried out as a pitcher for the Rochester Red Wings but was rejected after just three pitches. However, while pitching for the Niagara Cataracts in 1938, he caught the attention of Steve O'Neill. The manager of the Double-A Buffalo Bisons of the International League, he was impressed enough with Maglie's skills to sign the pitcher to a contract.
Playing career
Minor leagues (1938–45)
Maglie began his professional career with Buffalo in 1938, appearing in five games and posting a 3.75 earned run average while losing his only decision. He spent a full season with Buffalo in 1939, pitching in 39 games but posting a 4.99 ERA and a 3–7 record. In 1940, he struggled to an 0–7 record and a 7.17 ERA in 23 games before asking to be sent to a lower-level minor league circuit in order to hone his skills.For the rest of the 1940 season, Maglie pitched for the Class D Jamestown Falcons of the Pennsylvania–Ontario–New York League, where he had a lower ERA and a 3–4 record in seven starts. In 1941, Maglie pitched for the Single-A Elmira Pioneers of the Eastern League. He credited team owner and former major league pitcher Jack Ogden with teaching him one of the most important lessons he learned in his whole baseball career. "Sal, when you pitch," Ogden said, "pitch to that man that's at the plate. Don't worry about the man that's up next." Maglie led the league in games pitched and innings pitched and ranked among the leaders in wins and losses His ERA was 2.67.
The United States became involved in World War II that December, but Maglie was spared from having enlist in military service when he failed his physical; a chronic sinus condition kept him from enlisting. Since many players were unavailable, the New York Giants signed him and assigned him to their Double-A affiliate, the Jersey City Giants of the International League. Maglie was used mainly out of the bullpen, making only seven starts among his 50 games, but he had a 9–6 record and a 2.78 ERA. However, he resigned after the season to serve the war effort domestically, by working in a defense plant in Niagara Falls for two years.
Maglie returned to Jersey City at the beginning of the 1945 season, where he was this time used as a starter. Through August, he had a 3–7 record and a 4.09 ERA in 13 games. That month, he was promoted to the major league Giants.
Rookie season (1945)
On August 9, 1945, Maglie made his major league debut, relieving Harry Feldman in the fourth inning and pitching innings without allowing any runs to score in a 5–3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. He made his first major league start on August 14, throwing a complete game and allowing just two runs in a 5–2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. In his next start, he threw a shutout against the Pittsburgh Pirates, allowing only three hits. On September 3 and September 7, he threw two more shutouts in back-to-back outings. In 13 games during his rookie season, he had a 5–4 record, a 2.35 ERA, 32 strikeouts, 22 walks, and 72 hits allowed in innings pitched.Mexican League, suspension (1946–1949)
A candidate to rejoin the Giants' rotation in 1946, Maglie attended spring training with the ballclub but was not happy with how he was treated by Mel Ott, the Giants' manager. Mexican League president Jorge Pasquel, whom Maglie had met while playing winter ball in Cuba during the 1945-46 offseason, was offering large contracts to players who would leave the major leagues to come play in the Mexican League, and Maglie accepted the offer. Because of this, Maglie was banned from organized baseball by Commissioner Happy Chandler along with other players who left. For the next two seasons, he pitched for the Pericos de Puebla, managed by Dolf Luque, who had been Maglie's pitching coach with the Giants and his Cuban winter league team. It was from Luque that Maglie learned the art of throwing high, inside pitches that just missed the batters' heads, diminishing their confidence. In 1946, he had a 20–12 record and a 3.19 ERA for Puebla. His win–loss record was very similar in 1947, as he had a 20–13 record, this time with a 3.92 ERA.Several other major leaguers, such as Max Lanier, Danny Gardella, and Mickey Owen, had also made the jump to the Mexican League, but the presence of these players failed to generate enough revenue to justify expenses. With the Mexican League in disarray, Maglie stopped pitching for Puebla after 1947, but he could not rejoin the Giants because he was still banned. He joined a barnstorming team in 1948 that Lanier had organized; however, the team's earnings failed to cover expenses, and they folded in August 1948. Maglie went back to Niagara Falls and purchased a house and a gas station, but he still wanted to play baseball and joined the Drummondville Cubs of the independent Provincial League in 1949, leading the team to a league championship. On June 5 of that year, Chandler lifted the ban on the players who had jumped to the Mexican League, but Maglie chose to spend the entire season with Drummondville. He returned to the Giants in 1950.
New York Giants (1950–1955)
After his return to the majors, Maglie was integral to the success of the New York Giants teams of the early 1950s, gaining a reputation as one of the game's best pitchers despite being 33 before he ever pitched a full season in the majors. He made the team out of spring training in 1950, but manager Leo Durocher used him sparingly the first part of the year, unimpressed right away with his new pitcher. Maglie emerged as the mainstay of the Giants' bullpen in the first part of the 1950 season. On July 21, he got a chance to start and worked 11 innings, emerging the victor in a 5–4 triumph over the Cardinals. After that, he became part of the starting rotation. From August 16 through September 4, he threw 45 consecutive scoreless innings, narrowly missing the National League record of straight scoreless innings set by Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell, also of the Giants, in 1933. Included in the streak were four straight shutouts, the most by a major leaguer since Doc White threw five straight in 1904. Hubbell congratulated Maglie after the game, and as of 2020, the streak was still the eighth-longest in major league history. After losing a game on July 16, Maglie won 11 decisions in a row, not losing again until September 21, his final loss of the season. Though not used as a starter regularly until July 21 and making just 16 starts, he led the NL in winning percentage, ERA, and shutouts. He had an 18–4 record, and he gave up 169 hits in 206 innings pitched. He finished 10th in NL Most Valuable Player voting after the season.By the 1951 season, Maglie had emerged as the ace of the Giants' staff. After back-to-back losses in April, he won nine games in a row from April 30 through June 5. After allowing a leadoff triple to Pete Castiglione on May 4, he allowed no further hits in a complete game, 5–1 victory over the Pirates. On May 27, he gave up just two hits in a 2–0 shutout victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Three hits were all he allowed on June 26 in a 4–0, shutout victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was named to the All-Star Game, the first of two consecutive selections. Though he allowed two runs in three innings, he was credited with the victory in the NL's 8–3 triumph. In the thick of a pennant race with the Dodgers, the Giants trailed by 11 games on August 11. Beginning August 12, Maglie won five decisions in a row and only lost one more game the full season, posting an 8–1 record and a 2.50 ERA down the stretch as the Giants forced a tie with the Dodgers at the end of the season. Against the Boston Braves on September 29, Maglie outpitched future Hall of Famer Warren Spahn, allowing five hits and no runs in a 3–0 shutout victory. Maglie and teammate Larry Jansen tied for the NL lead with 23 wins, and Maglie lost just six games while ranking among the league leaders in win percentage, ERA, strikeouts, and innings pitched. He finished fourth in NL MVP voting.
The Dodgers played the Giants in a best-of-three tie-breaker series at the end of the year, and Maglie started the deciding third game on October 3. He allowed a run in the first but settled down after that, retiring 11 batters in a row at one point. He allowed three more runs in the eighth and was pinch-hit for by Hank Thompson in the bottom of the inning with the Giants trailing 4–1. However, the Giants rallied in the ninth, ultimately winning on Bobby Thomson's Shot Heard 'Round the World home run. The Giants faced the New York Yankees in the 1951 World Series, and Maglie started Game 4 but took the loss after giving up four runs in five innings, including a fifth-inning home run to Joe DiMaggio that reporter James Hirsch called "the turning point of the game." The Giants lost the series in six games.
After his stellar 1951 season, Maglie wanted a $40,000 contract from the Giants, but the team only wanted to pay him $32,500 for the season. The parties agreed to a compromise of $35,000 on February 21, 1952. Maglie started the 1952 season with a nine-game winning streak, including three shutouts. After Willie Mays left to serve a term in the United States Army on May 29, however, Maglie struggled in his next five starts, attributing part of the problem to the loss of Mays. "You didn't have to worry about striking guys out all the time...you knew that somehow Willie would get . That takes a lot of pressure off the pitcher and gives him a chance to save his best stuff for the real tight spots." On June 26, he held the Dodgers to three hits in a 3–0 shutout. He also threw a shutout on August 9, allowing eight hits in the first game of a doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs. At season's end, Maglie was again among the league leaders in several statistics, including wins, winning percentage, ERA, strikeouts, and shutouts. He finished 23rd in NL MVP voting.
On April 30, 1953, Maglie threw a six-hit shutout in a 1–0 victory over the Milwaukee Braves. In the first game of a doubleheader against Pittsburgh on May 10, he gave up just three hits in a 4–0 shutout victory. On June 24, he picked up his third shutout of the season in a 3–0 victory over the Cardinals. However, he suffered from back problems that year and never pitched more than innings in a game after July 16, posting an 8.88 ERA and losing all five of his decisions after that date. In 27 games, he had an 8–9 record, a 4.15 ERA, 80 strikeouts, 47 walks, and 158 hits allowed in innings.
Maglie's career seemed to be over, but a chiropractor prescribed him an eighth-inch thick lift for one of his shoes to correct a tilted pelvis. In the first game of a doubleheader against Philadelphia on April 25, 1954, he threw a five-hit shutout in a 3–0 victory. On April 30 against the Cubs, he gave up two runs in 14 innings, winning the game after Mays hit a go-ahead run against Warren Hacker in the top of the 14th. He also beat the Cubs on July 21, allowing four hits and one run in a complete game, 2–1 victory. Against Cincinnati on July 31, he threw shutout innings and picked up the win. He allowed five hits and one run on August 27 in a complete game, 3–1 victory over the Braves. On September 20, 1954, he faced the Dodgers in a game that would clinch the pennant for the Giants if they prevailed. Despite a sore back, Maglie held them to one run in a complete game, 7–1 victory. The last out was a ground ball hit by Roy Campanella to the mound that Maglie tossed to first baseman Whitey Lockman; once the out was recorded, Lockman rushed to meet his pitcher and jumped in his arms in celebration. Even after throwing his no-hitter in 1956, Maglie still considered his September 20 start the best game he had ever pitched. Maglie finished the season with a 14–6 record and a 3.26 ERA in 34 games. That season, Maglie, Johnny Antonelli, and Ruben Gomez combined to win 52 games, complete 37 starts, and help the Giants pitchers post an ERA of 3.09, the lowest in the National League. Maglie ranked among the league leaders in wins, winning percentage, ERA, and strikeouts. He finished 22nd in NL MVP voting.
Maglie started Game 1 of the 1954 World Series against the Cleveland Indians, allowing two runs in seven innings. After the first two batters of the eighth reached, Maglie was replaced with Don Liddle, who gave up the fly ball to Vic Wertz that Willie Mays caught in one of baseball's most storied plays. He got a no-decision as the Giants won the game in 10 innings on a pinch-hit home run by Dusty Rhodes. The Giants went on to sweep the Indians and claim the Word Series title.
In 1955, Maglie's back continued to bother him. He got off to a disappointing start to the year, losing all three of his April starts. On April 23, against the Dodgers at Ebbets Field, Maglie had been throwing brushback pitches past the heads of several Brooklyn hitters. In the fourth inning, Jackie Robinson dropped down a bunt, intending to retaliate for the knockdown pitch by crashing into Maglie as he fielded the ball. But Maglie did not come off the pitching mound and Robinson instead collided with Davey Williams, who was covering first base. Williams was knocked to the ground in pain and had to leave the game, and Alvin Dark attempted to fight Robinson. Both benches cleared, but umpire Tom Gorman kept Dark from doing anything more than yelling. Dark got revenge in the fifth by running hard into Robinson at third base. The two exchanged words again, but umpire Babe Pinelli kept things from getting out of hand. The Dodgers went on to win 3–1.
Following the game in Brooklyn, Maglie won eight decisions in a row, and nine out of ten through July 2. After July 2, though, he only once made it past the fifth inning and posted an 8.49 ERA in seven games, bothered some by the hot 1955 summer. He was placed on waivers in July and claimed by the Cleveland Indians on July 31.