Dave Pagan pitched for several years in the 1970s and threw
the first shutout in Seattle Mariners history.
David Percy Pagan was born September 15, 1949 (some sources
say 1950), in Nipawin, a small town on the plains of central Saskatchewan. He
grew up on a farm outside Snowden, a much smaller town to the west-northwest—population
around 75. As a child he fell in love with baseball and, though opportunities
to play were limited in such a small town, he showed an aptitude for pitching.
After graduating from high school (where he lettered in basketball, volleyball,
badminton and track) in 1969 he went to a baseball camp in British Columbia,
where he made connections that led to his enrollment at Bellevue Community
College near Seattle, a school that had a brand-new baseball program. He got
his first Seattle Times write-up on May 14, 1970:
Pagan Posts 0.38 ERA
Helmsmen Pitcher Has Bright Future
By Dick Rockne
Dave Pagan is draft free and endowed with baseball talent.
He is loaded with options.
“If I don’t play professional baseball in the United States,” Pagan said today, “then I’m going to play for Moose Jaw.”
Whatever his decision, the 20-year-old veteran of the Torch River Baseball League will be making a step up. The T.R.B.L. in Saskatchewan, Canada, included Pagan’s home town, Snoden [sic], plus Choiceland, Weirdale and White Fox.
Pagan, a right-handed pitcher, explained that “they are small towns.”
“And it isn’t the highest league in the world.”
Moose Jaw must be something else.
“They’ve got a semipro team,” Pagan said. “And unless I get a good offer, I think I’ll wait out a year and play there.”
“We’ll probably lose him,” said Jim Harryman, Pagan’s coach at Bellevue Community College. “He’s a prospect.”
The Helmsmen have clinched the State Community College Western Division championship. Of their 14 league victories, Pagan, a freshman, earned credit for seven of them en route to a microscopic earned-run average of 0.38. His overall record is 8-3.
“Fundamentally, he is sound,” Harryman said. “And he has the temperament of a good pitcher—very easy going. In fact, if he has a weakness, it’s that he’s too easy going.”
It is safe to say that a man of 20 with pitching talent who does not have to worry about any kind of draft—military or baseball—has a right to be easy going. In Canada there is no military draft and Canadians are not subject to major-league baseball’s free-agent draft. All 24 teams can bid for his services.
Pagan found his way to Bellevue through a baseball camp at Oliver, B.C. Harryman explained that Dale Parker of Seattle, who oversees the summer-long camp, saw Pagan’s potential. Jim had a look and brought him to Bellevue.
“I want to make it clear that Dave is the only out-of-state boy on scholarship on our team,” Harryman said.
“I’m still not used to it here,” said Pagan, who grew up on a farm near Snoden (Pop. 75). “There’s always a rush around here…no place to go, but always a rush.”
Pagan said he relies on the fast ball, curve and slider. He throws sidearm or three-quarters…
Less than two weeks later Dave was signed by New York Yankee scout Eddie Taylor and sent to the Johnson City (Tennessee) Yankees of the Rookie class Appalachian League. He had a 5.04 ERA in four starts with Johnson City, but still was moved up to the Oneonta Yankees of the Class A New York-Pennsylvania League. There he went 4-3 with a 2.95 ERA in 58 innings, with an impressive ratio of 56 strikeouts and 11 walks.
In 1971 Dave went to spring training with New York. On March
3 a filler article from the Associated Press appeared in various newspapers,
under headlines like “Pagan’s hometown is quite a place” and “Not Enough People
to Count”:
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., (AP)—Dave Pagan, a minor league pitcher training with the New York Yankees, comes from a town called Snowden in Saskatchewan, Canada—so small they don’t even bother to count the population.
Pagan, therefore, doesn’t know how many people live there. But there can’t be too many.
Pagan’s telephone number in Snowden is 8.
Dave lasted in the major league camp until March 20, when he
was one of eleven players cut and sent to the minor league camp. He wound up
with the Fort Lauderdale Yankees (some of these towns shouldn’t really have
teams named “Yankees”) and spent the season there; he went 9-10 with a 4.12 ERA
in 155 innings, with 123 strikeouts and 76 walks.
Dave spent 1972 with the Kinston Eagles of the Class A
Carolina League. He led the league with a 2.53 ERA and with 192 strikeouts,
with a 14-9 record and 56 walks in 185 innings.
In 1973 Dave was supposed to have a chance at making the
major league roster, but was sent to the minor league spring training camp on
March 17. He began the season with the West Haven Yankees of the Class AA
Eastern League, where he started 12 games, completing eight, with a 6-2 record
and 1.86 ERA In 92 innings. On June 25, after an injury to Steve Kline, he was
called up to the majors; the Newark
Star-Ledger said “The youngster is a fireballer and made a good impression
in the Yankee camp this spring.”
Dave made his debut on July 1, starting the second game of a
doubleheader at home against Cleveland. From Jim Ogle’s “Inside Pitch” column
in that day’s Jersey Journal:
Yanks’ Dave Pagan—jumping to big leagues
NEW YORK—It isn’t often that a youngster off a Canadian farm jumps from Class AA into the major leagues with barely three years in pro ball behind him.
That, however, is what Dave Pagan, 23-year-old right-hander, has accomplished. How did he feel? What are his thoughts as he starts for the first time today? Can he take the big change?
Picking him up when he was awakened by a phone call last Monday and transformed into a major leaguer, here are the thoughts of a young man handed the chance of a lifetime.
“We stay at a motel in Quebec City,” Dave says, “so we are sort of scattered around. When Doc Edwards (ex-Yankee catcher, now West Haven manager) woke me up with a phone call at 11 o’clock my first reaction was that something happened at home. I had to walk about an eighth of a mile to Doc’s room so I had time to think.
“I thought I might be going up to Syracuse and a lot of things…everything except going to the Yankees. When I walked into his room he stuck out his hand and said, ‘congratulations, you’re going to the big leagues.’ I guess I just stood there looking at him, not believing it.
“I stood there with my mind more or less blank, not realizing what was happening to me. I stayed about 20 minutes, while Doc tried to get me on a plane, but there was no way to get to Cleveland on Monday.
“When I got to my room, I called my wife, Brigitta, right away. She wasn’t as excited as I thought she’d be; but neither of us are overly emotional. She took the whole thing in stride, but her first real question was: ‘Now can we afford a house?’
…”We don’t wear sports jackets on trips in the minors,” Dave said. “All my clothes were back in West Haven. I was tired, weary, didn’t have a room but ran into Ron Blomberg, had a bite to eat and went to his room.
“We went to the park early and I quickly found out it’s true what they say…there’s no place to play except the majors. There were three uniforms all laid out for me, my bag was unpacked. I didn’t have to do a thing…everything was handed to me. When I put on those Yankee double-knits I felt six inches taller, wondering how this happened to me.
“I expected to be hazed,” Dave said with a grin, “and I was. They sent me to a non-existent press conference and all laughed when I returned, then Bobby (Murcer) told me Ralph Houk wanted to see me. I didn’t know if he did or not, but that wasn’t a gag. Ralph told me I’d pitch Sunday (today). I was glad to know I’d have a couple of days to get used to the Stadium before pitching.
“I have never seen the Stadium and the game in Cleveland was the first major league game I ever saw. I noticed that up here all the players are in the game all the time, never missing a thing. The post-game atmosphere after a victory was the same, yet different. I guess it was more professional and less school boyish.
“I don’t think I’ll worry too much about my first start. I’ll think about it, have butterflies and maybe Saturday night will be tough…but I’ll make it.”
Things didn’t go well for Dave, though—he was taken out
after he allowed four straight singles to start the second inning. The Yankees
did win the game, 11-3, with Fred Beene getting the win in an eight-inning
relief stint. Dave’s second appearance was six days later, as he pitched 4 1/3
innings of effective relief in a loss at Minnesota. He then sat in the bullpen
until July 27, when Steve Kline returned from the disabled list and Dave was
sent to AAA Syracuse.
In his first start with Syracuse Dave had to come out of the
game in the sixth due to a blister on his right index finger, a problem that
would continue to plague him. He started six games for Syracuse, pitching 41
innings with a 2.41 ERA, 40 strikeouts and 16 walks. When the International
League season ended he was called back up to the Yankees, and on September 9th
he pitched three mop-up innings in a 10-3 loss to the Brewers. The Jersey Journal reported:
When the Yankees fall behind, 7-1, chances are a lot better than even that the game is over. So it was yesterday, but in the sixth inning Dave Pagan appeared on the scene and thoughts of next year began to hover over the old ball yard, which has three weeks to go.
Showing much more poise and confidence than he did on an earlier visit to New York, Pagan turned in three strong innings of two-hit ball. He had good control, appeared to be in command and he has to be rated as a 1974 prospect.
“We brought him up,” Ralph Houk said, “chiefly to work with him. He is going to Clearwater to the Instructional League to continue working on some pitches. He showed a lot more this time.”
Three days later Dave pitched the last four innings in a
loss to the Red Sox, allowing one run on three hits; that ended his season. On
December 2 the Newark Star-Ledger
named him, along with Thurman Munson, Doc Medich, and Bobby Murcer as the
Yankees closest to untouchable as far as trades; three days later it was
rumored that he was going to be traded to the Phillies in a major deal
involving Graig Nettles, Mel Stottlemyre, and Larry Bowa (it didn’t happen).
Later that month Whitey Ford was named the new Yankee
pitching coach. On December 21 the Jersey
Journal reported:
Whitey has already talked on the phone to 14 of the 16 pitchers on the Yankee staff. “I talked to this one kid, Dave Pagan, up in Canada, and asked him to try and do some throwing before he came South,” Ford related. “He told me where he lived it was 34 below zero and he couldn’t even get warm trying to throw in the town gym. He swore it was freezing inside there, too.”
During spring training 1974 there was speculation that Dave might make the Yankees’ starting rotation, but on March 30 he was sent back down to Syracuse. On April 20, the Chiefs’ second game of the season, he pitched a five-hit shutout against Richmond; on May 1 he was recalled by the Yankees. He made relief appearances on the 4th, 12th, 19th, 21st, and 25th, alternating good and poor outings. On May 30 Dave pitched the first two innings of the annual Mayor’s Trophy exhibition game against the Mets. On June 12 the Jersey Journal, reporting on the previous day’s loss to the Angels, said:
Dave Pagan, who has been getting a lot of attention from Ford, came on with his best effort of the year…
Pagan is one of the best young arms in the Yankee organization, but doesn’t know how to pitch. Ford has been working with him ever since spring training, often going out to the bullpen during games to work with him.
“He’s coming along,” Whitey said. “He has to learn to throw a change and use his curve. He struck Schaal out with a curve and got one change over for a strike. Once he learns how to pitch, he’ll be a good one.”
On June 17 Dave got his first Yankee start of the year,
pitching five strong innings before a blister forced him out of the game; after
a relief appearance the next week he made another start on July 3 and lasted
three innings before another blister ended his day. Six days later he had much
better luck in Kansas City, as reported on in the next day’s Jersey Journal:
Happiness is Yanks’ Pagan
Rookie goes distance for first major league win
Happiness for the town of Snowden, Saskatchewan, Canada, is a victory for native son, Dave Pagan…so everyone in town, population 75…will be walking around with smiles today, congratulating Mom and Pop Pagan over Dave’s first major league victory.
“When Mace (Jim Mason) threw that last guy out,” Dave said, “I wanted to yell. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry…but, most of all, I wanted that ball. I’ve been waiting for this a long, long time.”
…On the flight here from Texas earlier in the day, Pagan was asked how far he thought his finger could go this time. “As far as I do,” Dave said in reference to a persistent finger blister.
“Since he came out of the game last Wednesday,” Gene Monahan, the trainer, said, “we’ve been using a mixture of alum, alcohol and benzoin to strengthen the skin. It appears to have worked since he had no trouble at all.”
“I thought about it around the third and fourth innings,” Dave said. “It didn’t hurt, but that’s where it began to give me trouble the last two times. This time there were no problems.”
Whitey Ford, the pitching coach, has been working steadily with Pagan ever since he came up from Syracuse. He has been trying to develop his curve and change-up, but it has been slow.
“I was happiest about the way his fast ball stayed with him for the whole game,” Ford said. “He was still throwing hard at the end, but his legs were beginning to go. He hasn’t pitched nine innings in a long time.”
Thurman Munson had a good testimonial to how hard Pagan throws as he showed a new catcher’s mitt.
“I’ve been wanting to break in a new glove,” Munson said. “When we got the six runs, I figured I could take a chance. I knew if Pagan threw at it for nine innings, he’d break it in fast. Look at it, all nicely broken in. He was smoking them all the way.”
…”That boy isn’t far behind Nolan Ryan with the heat,” said John Mayberry, who fanned twice, said. “He’s got good stuff and his ball moves. Where have they been hiding him?”
The Trenton Evening
Times’ story on the game included the quote: “'I was an outcast on the
farm,' Pagan said, speaking slowly in his native dialect. 'I was allergic to
dust. Still am.'” In the August 3 issue of the Sporting News, Dave got his first national press:
Small-Town Boy Pagan Making It Big With YanksBy Phil Pepe
NEW YORK—It’s the cliché baseball story, kid from a small town making good. It almost seems made up. In Dave Pagan’s case, it’s not made up. He really does come from a small town. How small? Here’s an example.
When the Yankees invited Pagan to spring camp a few years ago, public relations director Marty Appel sent him a questionnaire. It asked for the usual information, family and hobbies and address and so on. Next to the blank for telephone number, Pagan wrote “8.”
“You don’t understand,” Appel said. “I don’t mean your house number, we want your telephone number.”
“That,” said Dave Pagan, “is my telephone.”
And THAT is a small town.
The name of the town is Snowden, Saskatchewan. It’s in Canada and the population is 75 and you wonder how Pagan (pronounced Pay-gin) ever got started in baseball instead of hockey. For one thing, the summer probably lasts from July 4 to July 10 in Snowden and you have to wonder how they ever rounded up enough kids to have a baseball game in Snowden.
“The other day,” Dave said recently, “my mother-in-law wrote me that when I was pitching against Baltimore on the TV Game of the Week, there wasn’t one tractor out in the fields. The farmers were all watching TV.”
Unfortunately, the people of Snowden weren’t watching the night of July 9, when Dave pitched in Kansas City. They would have liked that one. Dave pitched his first complete game and beat the Royals, 8-2, for his first major league victory.
Later his teammates took the game ball, inscribed the date and the score on it and presented it to Pagan.
“It was really nice of them to do that,” said the quiet 23-year-old father of three. “You’ll always remember your first major league win.”
Credit for Pagan must go to Eddie Taylor, the same Yankee scout who signed Mel Stottlemyre and Steve Kline. The mere fact that Taylor found Snowden is proof that he’s a good scout.
Pagan is a look-alike for a younger Stottlemyre, long and stringy. The kid has a good, live arm, so good that Earl Weaver, after watching Dave baffle the Orioles for several innings early in the season, said. “He threw better against us today than any pitcher has all year…and that includes Nolan Ryan.”
Pagan has been knocking on the Yankee door for several seasons, ever since he first attracted attention with a 14-9 record and 192 strikeouts in 185 innings for Kinston (Carolina) two years ago. He almost made the team this spring, but was sent down to Syracuse (International), where he got off to a good start and was recalled.
Most people think Pagan is back to stay, but Dave still has a problem to overcome. He suffers from blisters on the index finger of his pitching hand, which has forced him out of several games he might have won. Ryan had the same problem and corrected it.
“I talked to him about it,” Dave said. “He said the skin just has to get hard there and then you can file down the callous.”
Meanwhile, Pagan has tried another solution. He realized the blister was the result of holding the ball across the seams, causing the stitching to rub against his finger when the ball was released. He experimented holding the ball with the seams.
“It hurt my control a little,” Dave said, “but I think it’s only a matter of time until I overcome that problem.”
The change in grip also changed the direction of his fast ball. Instead of a sinker, his ball now rises, but the velocity and effectiveness are just as good as before. The important thing is that he still can throw hard and he can throw strikes. If he does that, he’ll win.
In a start against the world champion A’s, Pagan had them beaten, 3-0, on a two-hitter into the sixth when he was removed from the game. This time it wasn’t the blister, it was a slight pain in his right shoulder. It wasn’t expected to keep Dave out of action more than an extra day or two.
With an arm like that, with a future like that, no manager wants to take any unnecessary chances. Besides, if Bill Virdon did anything to hurt Dave Pagan, he’d incur the wrath of an entire town…all 75 inhabitants.
The game against the A’s referred to was Dave’s next start,
on July 14; Dave would later say that he thought he had hurt himself in the
victory over Kansas City. On the 15th the team doctor said he didn’t
think an X-ray was necessary. Dave tried throwing in the bullpen on the 17th,
19th, and 21st but still felt sore; on the 25th
he felt better and on the 28th he got another start, giving up five
earned runs in five innings in Boston, on seven hits and four walks. Four days
later, August 1st, he lasted just 2 2/3 innings in Cleveland, giving
up six earned runs. On August 8th he was sent back down to Syracuse;
the next day’s New York Times
reported:
“The back of his shoulder has been hurting,” a Yankee spokesman said. “We didn’t want to put him on the disabled list and we didn’t want to take him to the Coast, either. That way, we would’ve been two pitchers short—Pagan and Stottlemyre. So we decided to send Pagan to Syracuse and bring up [Tippy] Martinez.”
On September 13 he was brought back to New York. He made two
more relief appearances that month, allowing five baserunners in 2 2/3 innings
but no runs. The Yankee players voted him a half share of their portion of the
World Series money.
During spring training 1975 there were a number of stories
mentioning that if Dave had a good spring it could complicate Bill Virdon’s
pitching plans, including this one from the March 12 Jersey Journal:
If there is a pitcher around here who could foul up Bill Virdon’s immediate plans it would have to be Dave Pagan. Yesterday the Canadian chucker started to mess things up as the Yankees blanked the Mets, 4-0, in the opener of their five-game spring series.
Pagan, who finished last season with a sore shoulder, hurled the opening three innings and was most impressive. He yielded one hit, walked none, fanned two and hit Jerry Grote, who left the game, during his stint.
“Pagan did more pitching than I’ve seen before,” Virdon said. “The big thing is he got the ball over with something on it. He doesn’t have to have a great change up or curve, but he does have to get them over. As long as he has something in addition to the fast ball he can win.
“Dave has all the tools, but has never put it all together. It could happen overnight and, if it does, he would certainly force a review of my pitching. He certainly has the stuff, now we have to see if he can use it.”
Pagan pitched with more confidence than in the past, appearing as if he were in charge on the mound. In the past, Dave was a little shaky. Yesterday he just walked out and did the job, which opened a few eyes.
“It’s funny, but the sore shoulder I had last year may turn out to be a break,” Pagan said. “Before that, I just went out and threw the ball and didn’t think too much about where it was going. Since I had the sore shoulder, however, I’ve been concentrating more on where I throw it.
“I got two or three change ups over and got an out on a curve, which is progress. I think I got confidence when I didn’t feel any pain in my shoulder. I was able to concentrate and think about what I was trying to do on the mound. I was getting good position on the ball, but I didn’t have all my speed.”
Last season Whitey Ford spent a great deal of time waiting with Pagan in the bullpen. Ford was trying to teach Pagan how to throw breaking pitches and off speed stuff. It was assumed he would be doing it here.
“I haven’t been doing any extra work,” Dave says. “We’ve just been taking it easy and doing the regular stuff. Maybe the time we worked last year is paying off.”
Dave did make the team after an injury to Dick Tidrow, and
he pitched a solid inning and a third of relief on April 12. But when Tidrow
came back from the DL Dave was sent back to Syracuse. He had three wins and a
1.13 ERA in relief there as of May 5, when he was recalled after Eddie Leon was
placed on waivers. He didn’t get much work, making nine more relief appearances
before being sent to Syracuse again on July 27. On September 10, after Syracuse
was eliminated from the International League playoffs, he went back up to New
York; his season totals with the Chiefs were a 5-1 record and a 2.25 ERA in 32
innings, mostly in relief, with 32 strikeouts and 15 walks.
With the Yankees Dave had a different manager than when he
had left—Billy Martin had taken over in early August. Dave got into the game of
September 13 and intentionally walked the only hitter he faced, then had a
longer outing on the 20th, reported on by Jim Ogle of the Newark Star-Ledger:
Pagan stars in relief, Yanks win, 4-1
CLEVELAND, Ohio—Billy Martin may have found the fast balling right hander reliever [sic] he’s seeking yesterday.
At least that’s the impression Dave Pagan gave as he turned in a strong relief job, picked up the first save of his major league career and enabled the Yankees to beat back the Indians, 4-1…
“I did a lot of relieving in Syracuse,” Pagan said. “I sort of like it, but I don’t know how it would go for a whole season. I’m not particular whether I start or relief, but I’d just like to get a chance to prove I belong up here.”
…Pagan, who has strange things happen to him all the time, had changed pants in the clubhouse before heading for the bullpen. Getting out there, he discovered he had forgotten to put on his belt.
“When I was told to warm up,” Dave said, “I knew I couldn’t go to the clubhouse, but I was afraid I’d lose my pants. I borrowed Mel’s [coach Wright] belt and it worked out well. It’s my good luck charm.”
Two days later Dave made his last appearance of the season,
facing and retiring one batter in relief of Ron Guidry. For the year his major
league stats were a 4.06 ERA in 31 innings, all in relief, with 18 strikeouts
and 13 walks. His teammates voted him a 2/3 share of their portion of the World
Series money (which meant he got $150.51).
Dave went into spring training 1976 on Billy Martin’s good
side, as indicated by the Newark
Star-Ledger of February 29:
“Right now I’m leaning toward (Dave) Pagan as my right handed reliever,” Martin added. “He showed me a lot last year and with a little work may do a great job. I would say our pitching will be all right…if I make the right choices.”
Dave did start the season in the Yankee bullpen, and made
his first appearance in the second game, on April 10, in Milwaukee. It turned
out to be a memorable game, as recounted by Phil Pepe in the May 1 Sporting News:
In game no. 1 [actually 2], the Yankees wiped out a 6-0 deficit in the last three innings to take a 9-6 lead going into the last of the ninth. They appeared to be on their way to victory when Don Money cracked a grand slam off Dave Pagan and the Yankees were beaten again. Or were they?
That’s when the fun began, as Money was greeted by a gang of happy Brewers at home plate and some 10,000 fans went wild in celebration of the winning shot. But there was Martin, his hat off, his head bobbing, practically attacking the first base ump, Jim McKean.
Flash back a few moments to when Pagan was preparing to pitch to Money. There’s Martin in the Yankee dugout, frantically trying to get his pitcher’s attention and to tell him to take a full wind-up, not a stretch. But Pagan didn’t see his manager and the first pitch was ball one.
Martin continued to wave frantically and Pagan still didn’t see him, but first baseman Chris Chambliss did and he turned to McKean and said, “Hey, Jim, time out.”
“I called time by raising my right hand in the air and walking toward the infield,” said McKean.
But he was too late, or too slow, or something because as he did, Pagan was delivering the pitch and Money was hitting it into the left field seats.
Money circled the bases, some of the Brewers were already down the runway, heading for the clubhouse, the Yankees were sadly trooping off the field and the umpires were gathering up the baseballs and heading for their dressing room. But Martin was going wild.
“You called time out, didn’t you?” Martin challenged.
“Yes, I did,” said McKean.
“Well, you called it and you have to back it up.”
And McKean did just that, to the chagrin of the Brewers and their fans.
“I never heard him call time out,” said Milwaukee first base coach Harvey Kuenn, “and I didn’t see him walk toward the infield.”
“I saw his hand raised out of the corner of my eye,” said second base umpire Nick Bremigan.
“It was a tough break for Milwaukee, but a honest one,” said umpire George Maloney.
“I just told the truth,” said McKean. “That’s what happened.”
The home run was disallowed and given a second chance, Money flied out. The next two Brewers went out and the Yankees won a game it appeared they had lost.
“He (McKean) showed me a lot of class,” said Martin. “He came up like a champion. I’m going to send him a Christmas card.”
For some reason Dave didn’t pitch again until May 16. After
three more relief appearances he was scheduled to start on May 30, but was sick
with a fever and was replaced. He pitched two perfect innings of relief on June
3, then got his start on the 6th at home against Oakland, as
reported on by Alan Friedman in the next day’s Newark Star-Ledger:
Pagan 6-hitter gives Yanks split
NEW YORK—Baseball teams prize a stopper, a pitcher who can put the plug in a losing streak. Most stoppers are high-priced guys with household names.Meet Dave Pagan.
The skinny, raw-boned Yankee righthander from Canada threw a six-hitter in his first major league start this year and second of his career yesterday [not actually the second start of his career, though it was his second complete game]…
But while Pagan, a 25-year-old who has been up and down with New York for the last two years, was coming to the rescue of the Yankees, he was being rescued himself…
For Pagan, it was only his second career victory. After giving up one run each in the second and third, he retired 21 of the last 22 men he faced and 16 in a row.
“A couple of years ago, I used to give up on myself but Sparky Lyle told me just to go as long and as hard as I could,” he related. “My arm feels just fine. If the game had stayed tied, I guess I would have pitched the 10th. Nothing had been said to me about coming out.”
Pagan did it mainly with a fast ball and an occasional slider, noting, “I was just worried about keeping the ball down.”
He should have gotten a cigar for the way he pitched, but he’ll settle for another start. Yankee manager Billy Martin seemed ready to oblige.
“This is the first time he’s pitched nine innings, so I wouldn’t try to come back with him on the fourth day,” Martin contended. “But right now he’s scheduled to pitch next Sunday [13th] against Texas.
“This was a really big game for us to win.”
The same day, Bus Saidt wrote about the game and Dave in his
column in the Trenton Evening Times,
including some unfair-sounding remarks from the proverbial anonymous source:
Probably the most significant development of the day, which began nearly an hour late because of unexpected rain showers and kept the expected sellout crowd to 47,131, was the emergence of Dave Pagan, finally taken off ice by Martin and permitted to make a pitching start for the first time this year.
Pagan is a 25-year-old kid from Nipawin, Saskatchewan, Canada who escaped from junior hockey to become a big league pitcher. Well, he’s been on the Yankee roster off and on for a couple of years at least. That was his eighth Yankee start yesterday, and he did plenty with it, retiring the final 16 men he face while winning his second big-league game and first in nearly two years.
There was delicious irony here because certain people close to the Yankees will tell you that Dave Pagan doesn’t have the heart or intestinal fortitude (guts is what they actually say) to be a regular winner in the bigtime. Pagan was scheduled to start recently in Detroit, but called in sick the morning of the assignment.
“He starts throwing up as soon as he hears he’s going to pitch,” one of the detractors said before the doubleheader yesterday.
Pagan threw up some more, but it was snaky sliders and a good, live fastball that paralyzed the A’s after they pushed over single runs against him in the second and third innings.
“Our coaching staff and I have been bragging on him since last year,” Martin said. “Today he was one of the few pitchers I’ve seen all year who was able to overpower the hitters. He threw strictly big-league stuff.
“That’s what he needed to get his feet wet.”
Pagan, pale, dirty blond and almost frail-looking, sucked on a beer provided by Sparky Lyle after the game.
“I don’t feel pressure as much as some guys,” he said, as though anticipating a question about his tolerance of nervous tension. “This game did build up my confidence quite a bit, though. I feel really good about it. Everybody does ‘cause it was one we really had to win, and for a long time it looked like we weren’t going to win it.
“I’m feeling more like a member of the team now, closer to the guys. I’m kind of a loner. I like being by myself a lot, but now it’s opening up. The other guys are talking to me more, sharing their spare time with me and all.
“I did get better as the game went on. The reason was I was keeping the ball down, spotting the fastball and slider good.”
Pagan arrived at a terrible good time for the Yanks. Martin is more than a little disillusioned with Dock Ellis and Rudy May. Look for Dave to get his starts with relative regularity from now on.
“His control won it for him,” suggested Thurman Munson, whose one-out triple in the ninth off loser Paul Lindblad started the Yanks’ comeback. “He threw nice and easy, didn’t overthrow.
“Can he be real good? I don’t know. If he gets his head screwed on the right way there’s no telling what he can be with his talent—maybe what ever he wants.”
Things took an unexpected turn, though. His next start was
on June 12, and he was taken out in the third inning, then three days later he
was involved in a blockbuster trade with the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees got
Doyle Alexander, Ken Holtzman, Grant Jackson, Elrod Hendricks, and Jimmy
Freeman in return for Dave, Rick Dempsey, Rudy May, Tippy Martinez, and Scott
McGregor. Orioles’ GM Hank Peters said, “Dempsey was the key man in this deal.
As for Pagan and Martinez, they’re the kind of young pitchers we were looking
for.” At the time of the trade the Yankees were in first place in the American
League East and the Orioles were in fifth; the Yankees stayed in first,
improving their record, and lost in the World Series (which meant Dave missed
out), while the trade turned the Orioles’ season around and they wound up in
second.
Dave didn’t pitch nearly as well, though, at Baltimore as he
had been doing at New York. His ERA at the time of the trade was 2.28, in seven
games; with the Orioles he appeared in 20 games, five of them starts, and had
an ERA of 5.98. His totals for the season were a 2-5 record and 4.73 ERA in 70
1/3 innings in 27 games, seven of them starts. It was the only season of his
career that he spent entirely in the major leagues. He was voted a full share
of the Orioles’ World Series money, which amounted to $1652.12.
The Orioles wanted to sign him to a new contract, but Dave
preferred to hold off, hoping to be left unprotected for the expansion draft
for the new teams in Toronto and Seattle, either of which he would like to play
for. It worked, as the Mariners picked him in the third round.
It took some work to get things ready in Tempe, Arizona, by
March 1977 for the Mariners’ first spring training. From the Seattle Times of
March 6:
The Mariners finally were on the main diamond, Tempe Stadium, though the park still is not fully ready and still is beset by minor crises. Yesterday, the ground crew disappeared, so Mariners were impressed into their places. [Manager Darrell] Johnson and [pitching coach] Wes Stock previously had built the pitching mound and had dragged the infield. Yesterday, coaches Jim Busby and Don Bryant operated the dragging machine, a chore originally assigned to Dave Pagan, a farm boy from Canada with experience on a tractor.
On March 28 it was reported that Dave had a sore arm and was probably going on the disabled list, but on the 31st the Tacoma News-Tribune reported:
Pagan just rared back and fired his fast ball, serving notice to the Mariners’ brass that his arm has recovered and he wants a roster spot.
“This was good for me,” said the bespectacled, sandy-haired draftee from the Yankees who also saw some service with Baltimore. “Especially at this time. I hadn’t pitched in 2 ½ weeks and I was throwing badly before.
“My body was too far ahead of the ball—that’s how I got hurt. But this is the best my arm has felt in three years. It’s nice—I had gotten to the point where I hated to go to sleep because I’d wake up thinking about it.
“I threw almost all fast balls—I think I threw one change-up.”
Dave relieved in 14 of the Mariners’ first 37 games, though
with an ERA of 5.52. Still, he was moved into the starting rotation, making his Mariner debut in that role on May 19 in Oakland. Bob Stevens summed it up in
the next day’s San Francisco Chronicle:
Mariners’ Pagan Blanks the A’s, 3-0
David Percy Pagan, a 26-year-old right hander out of tiny Nipawin, Saskatchewan, yesterday etched his name indelibly into the infant annals of the Seattle Mariners as he subdued the listless A’s, 3-0, before 2179 fans at the Coliseum.
Pagan, who was reared in the Canadian farm town of Snowden and consequently is quite at ease among small numbers of people, became the first Mariner to throw a shutout, and he did it with consummate command…
Or, as Hy Zimmerman described it in the Seattle Times:
Pagan mutes A’s in first shutout
OAKLAND—They are doing nip-ups in Nipawin—a veritable Pagan festival.
Their Saskatchewan lad, Dave Pagan, today was the Seattle Mariners’ most resplendent right-hander, author of the expansion club’s first shutout, a 3-0 victory yesterday over the Oakland A’s before the smallest crowd ever to see the M’s, 2,179.
Pagan thus also gave the Mariners their longest winning streak, three games. Immediately afterward, he called his people in Nipawin with the big news.
It was his first major-league shutout and his third complete game. It was also the M’s third complete, but the first winning one. Dave demolished the A’s on six hits and struck out eight, all in the first five innings.
The farthest he had gone before was 5 1/3 innings back in April against the New York Yankees.
Dave admitted to nervousness before the game but, as he said, “I knew what I wanted to do.”
He used his fast ball and slider to hush the A’s. The only curve he threw turned into a single.
The shutout did not come as easily as it sounds. In the fourth inning, the A’s loaded the bases with no one out. Mitchell Page and Dick Allen singled and Wayne Gross drew the only walk of the game off Pagan.
The Seattle bullpen got busy, but Pagan seated them by striking out two A’s and getting the third one on a fly.
“That,” he said afterward, “took everything out of me. I didn’t have good stuff after that. It was sufficient, but not like before.”
Dave’s next start was five days later on the 24th.
That day he was the subject of Hy Zimmerman’s “Hylites” column in the Seattle Times:
Ricochet Rabbit from Nipawin…
CLEVELAND—They call him “Ricochet,” but it has nothing to do with his pitching. Larry Cox, the catcher, who pinned the label on him, explains:
“There is this TV cartoon, ‘Ricochet Rabbit,’ which has a character in it that just mopes along [Deputy Droop-a-Long]. Dave kind of mopes along too, so I call him ‘Ricochet.’”
Dave Pagan, who mopes along, is, then, an unlikely pitcher. Yet, he pitched the first shutout of Mariner history when he shushed the Oakland A’s on six hits, struck out eight of them and walked only one.
He still savors that success, but, in baseball wisdom, said: “I don’t want to build on that too much. Next time out, anything could happen.”
Next time is tonight. Dave is scheduled to start for Seattle in the opener of a two-game series with the Cleveland Indians. He has no thoughts, he said, of shutouts or strikeouts.
“Really,” he insisted, “what difference is it what the score is or how many shutouts you get, as long as you win?”
[I’ve edited out another recounting of Dave’s childhood and career.]
Dave Pagan, at first glance, looks long and lean, almost emaciated. But don’t sit next to him on an airplane. He’ll try for your meal, too. The fellow is insatiable. “Well,” he explained, “I grew up on a farm. That’s where you develop an appetite.”
Now his Mariner roomie, [Craig] Reynolds, called out to him and Dave sort of moped off.
“See why I call him Ricochet?” asked Larry Cox.
Against Cleveland Dave gave up four runs in five innings
before being removed with a stiff arm. He lasted five and 3 1/3 innings in his
next two starts, then was returned to the bullpen. On July 6 the Seattle Times included this item:
The M’s will hold a Farmers’ Day on July 24, so have posted entry lists for the events: egg-tossing, cow-milking, apple-bobbing and hog-calling. So far, though, only Larry Cox and Rupe Jones, egg-toss aspirants, have signed up. In a similar event in Texas, Dave Pagan milked and Craig Reynolds called hogs.
That same day, Dave was loaned to Milwaukee’s AAA team, the
Spokane Indians, because the Mariners needed a roster spot with Stan Thomas
coming off the DL and the they did not yet have a AAA affiliate. He had
asked to be offered to the Tacoma Twins instead, but the Twins’ farm director
passed. He got into five games with Spokane, four of them starts, and went 0-3
with a 7.56 ERA in 25 innings, with 15 strikeouts and 20 walks. Then, on July
27, he was traded to the Pirates for a player to be named later and was
assigned to their AAA team, the Columbus Clippers of the International League.
For the Clippers he appeared in eight games, five of them starts, with a 3.79
ERA in 38 innings. When their season ended he was called up by Pittsburgh, but
only got into one game for them, a scoreless three-inning relief stint on
September 7 against the Mets, which would turn out to be his final major league
appearance. His major league totals for the year, Seattle and Pittsburgh
combined, were a 5.87 ERA in 69 innings in 25 games, four of them starts. He
was voted a 1/7 share of Pittsburgh’s World Series money, which amounted to
$269.80.
In February 1978 Dave signed a new contract with the
Pirates, and on February 16 he achieved a new kind of fame by appearing in a
word search puzzle syndicated to various newspapers by King Features Syndicate.
He was sent down to Columbus during spring training, and spent the entire season there; he went 6-8 with a 4.27 ERA in 99 innings in 18 games, 16 of them starts, with 51 strikeouts and just 23 walks.
He was sent down to Columbus during spring training, and spent the entire season there; he went 6-8 with a 4.27 ERA in 99 innings in 18 games, 16 of them starts, with 51 strikeouts and just 23 walks.
In 1979 the Pirates moved their AAA affiliation to the
Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League, and that’s where Dave went. He
had a 5.57 ERA in 21 innings, mostly in relief, when he was released on May 8.
He turned up with the Mexico City Tigers of the Mexican League; the June 30 Sporting News reported that he won his
debut, 2-1, pitching a five-hitter against Coahuila. He made five starts and
one relief appearance for the Tigers, going 2-3 with a 3.55 ERA in 38 innings,
but his shoulder was still bothering him and he retired from baseball.
Dave went back to Nipawin and worked in a lumberyard, then
as a supervisor in a woodworking shop. He also continued to play baseball, sore
arm and all, for various Saskatchewan amateur teams. He was elected to the
Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987.
As with your Gelnar post - really enjoyable & exceptionally researched - a great read
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!
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