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Tippy Martinez

Tippy Martinez Marquee

b. May 31, 1950 · New York Yankees 1974–1976, Baltimore Orioles 1976–1986, Minnesota Twins 1988

On August 24, 1983 Baltimore had run out of catchers and put an infielder behind the plate, so Toronto's runners took enormous leads. He picked off all three of them in the tenth inning — three men, three throws to first, three outs — and Baltimore won it in the bottom half on a home run. No pitcher has done it before or since.

Fourteen seasons gave him 115 saves and a 3.45 earned run average across 834 innings, eleven of them with Baltimore. He saved 21 games in that 1983 season and pitched in the World Series the Orioles won, and he was an All-Star in 1984.

He came from the Yankees in the ten-player trade of June 1976, the same one that sent Rudy May the other way. No Hall of Fame ballot has listed him.

Honors

AwardTimesYears
All-Star selection 1 1983
Pitcher of the Month 1 1982

Batting, season by season

YearTeam GABR H2B3B HRRBIBB SOSBAVG
1974 NYY 10000 000 0000
1975 NYY 23000 000 0000
1976 BAL/NYY 39000 000 0000
1977 BAL 41000 000 0000
1978 BAL 43000 000 0000
1979 BAL 39000 000 0000
1980 BAL 54000 000 0000
1981 BAL 37000 000 0000
1982 BAL 76000 000 0000
1983 BAL 65000 000 0000
1984 BAL 55000 000 0000
1985 BAL 49000 000 0000
1986 BAL 14000 000 0000
1988 MIN 3000 000 0000
Career 548000 000 0000

Pitching, season by season

YearTeam WLG GSSVIP HERBB SOERA
1974 NYY 00100 012.214 69104.26
1975 NYY 12232 837.027 1132202.68
1976 BAL/NYY 51390 1069.250 1842452.33
1977 BAL 51410 950.047 1527292.70
1978 BAL 33420 569.077 3740574.83
1979 BAL 103390 378.059 2531612.88
1980 BAL 44530 1080.269 2734683.01
1981 BAL 33370 1159.048 1932502.90
1982 BAL 88760 1695.081 3637783.41
1983 BAL 93650 21103.176 2737812.35
1984 BAL 49550 1789.288 3951723.91
1985 BAL 33490 470.070 4237475.40
1986 BAL 02140 116.018 1012115.63
1988 MIN 0030 04.08 84318.00
Career 55425462 115834.0732 320425632 3.45

On this day & linked events

1950

Born May 31, 1950

La Junta, CO, USA

1974

Major-league debut: Tippy Martinez

Tippy Martinez made a major-league debut on August 9, 1974.

1988

Final major-league game: Tippy Martinez

Tippy Martinez played a final major-league game on April 18, 1988.

Image: Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0