Top 50 Players In Baltimore Sports History: Countdown 20-11
18. Mike Cuellar, SP, Baltimore Orioles
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A clever pitcher with an excellent screwball and change-up, Cuellar was traded to the Orioles in December of 1968 after spending the first 11 years of his career with the Cincinnati Reds and the Houston Astros. He had established a permanent role with one of baseball’s up-and-coming franchises, as he found a spot in the Orioles’ starting rotation. The rotation consisted of Jim Palmer, Dave McNally and Cuellar; not too shabby. The Orioles also featured slugger Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson and Boog Powell. Together, this roster began one of the strongest sequences of years in professional baseball in 1969.
In August of that year, Cuellar accomplished a sequence where he retired 35 batters in a row, without issuing a walk or giving up a hit. Cuellar achieved a win-loss record of 23–11, struck out 182 batters, and recorded an excellent 2.38 earned run average on his way to winning the Cy Young Award, as Baltimore won a club-record 109 games and the very first American League East Division title. In 1970, he went 24-8 with 3.48 ERA and 190 strikeouts. Cuellar became the first pitcher to hit a grad slam in the ALCS as he helped the Orioles win the 1970 World Series.
During his 15-season career, Cuellar had a win-loss record of 185–130 with a 3.14 ERA, 1,632 strikeouts, 172 complete games, 36 shutouts, and 11 saves in 453 games and 2,808 innings pitched. In five American League Championship Series and three World Series appearances, Cuellar pitched in 12 games, winning four games and losing four with a 2.85 ERA while recording 56 strikeouts.
17. Dave McNally, SP, Baltimore Orioles
McNally, as I mentioned before, was another huge piece in the Orioles all-star rotation. He was signed by the Orioles in 1962 and played every year of his career there except for his last. He won more than 20 games for four consecutive seasons (1968 through 1971) and was one of four 20-game winners for the 1971 Orioles (Pat Dobson, Jim Palmer, and Mike Cuellar were the other three). He was the only pitcher other than Roger Clemens to win 12 decisions in a row three times, including 17 consecutive at one time. After winning the last two decisions of the 1968 season, he opened the 1969 season with a 15–0 record.
McNally is the only pitcher in Major League history to hit a grand slam in a World Series game (Game 3, 1970, a 9–3 victory). McNally is also part of World Series history for his (and his pitching mate’s) performance in the 1966 World Series, which the Orioles swept over the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers. In the fourth game, he and Don Drysdale matched four-hitters; one of Baltimore’s hits was Frank Robinson‘s fourth-inning home run for a 1–0 Oriole victory.
McNally pitched to ERAs of under 3.70 in nine of his 11 full years with the Orioles. He finished his career with a 3.24 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP while pitching 120 complete games and 33 shutouts. In 1968, he went 22-10 with a career-high 18 complete games and a career-high five shutouts, and finished the year with a career-high 1.95 ERA. He owns a win-loss of 184-119. He lived in his hometown of Billings, Montana until his death from lung cancer on December 1, 2002.