Tom Candiotti Marquee

b. August 31, 1956 · Milwaukee Brewers 1983–1984, Cleveland Indians 1986–1991, 1999, Toronto Blue Jays 1991, Los Angeles Dodgers 1992–1997, Oakland Athletics 1998–1999

Tom Candiotti learned the knuckleball from Phil Niekro and rebuilt a career around it that lasted sixteen years and 2,725 innings. Cleveland picked him out of the minor leagues in 1986 and he led the American League in complete games that season with seventeen.

He pitched better than his record: a 3.73 earned run average across a career spent almost entirely with clubs that finished below .500, and six seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers in which he was reliably good and reliably 2 or 3 games under.

Born in Walnut Creek, California in 1956, Candiotti struck out 1,735 batters across 2,725 innings and finished 151-164, having thrown 68 complete games. He later worked as a broadcaster and is an accomplished bowler.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
Player of the Week	2	1987, 1992

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1983	MIL	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
1984	MIL	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
1986	CLE	36	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
1987	CLE	32	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
1988	CLE	31	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
1989	CLE	31	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
1990	CLE	31	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
1991	CLE/TOR	34	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
1992	LAD	32	56	3	6	1	1	1	9	.107
1993	LAD	33	60	1	8	2	2	1	13	.133
1994	LAD	23	50	2	7	1	3	1	9	.140
1995	LAD	30	55	2	6	0	2	3	16	.109
1996	LAD	28	45	3	4	0	2	0	14	.089
1997	LAD	42	32	0	3	0	2	1	10	.094
1998	OAK	33	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	1.000
1999	CLE/OAK	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
Career	—	452	299	11	35	5	12	7	71	.117

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1983	MIL	4	4	10	8	55.2	62	20	16	21	3.23
1984	MIL	2	2	8	6	32.1	38	19	10	23	5.29
1986	CLE	16	12	36	34	252.1	234	100	106	167	3.57
1987	CLE	7	18	32	32	201.2	193	107	93	111	4.78
1988	CLE	14	8	31	31	216.2	225	79	53	137	3.28
1989	CLE	13	10	31	31	206.0	188	71	55	124	3.10
1990	CLE	15	11	31	29	202.0	207	82	55	128	3.65
1991	CLE/TOR	13	13	34	34	238.0	202	70	73	167	2.65
1992	LAD	11	15	32	30	203.2	177	68	63	152	3.00
1993	LAD	8	10	33	32	213.2	192	74	71	155	3.12
1994	LAD	7	7	23	22	153.0	149	70	54	102	4.12
1995	LAD	7	14	30	30	190.1	187	74	58	141	3.50
1996	LAD	9	11	28	27	152.1	172	76	43	79	4.49
1997	LAD	10	7	41	18	135.0	128	54	40	89	3.60
1998	OAK	11	16	33	33	201.0	222	108	63	98	4.84
1999	CLE/OAK	4	6	18	13	71.1	86	58	30	41	7.32
Career	—	151	164	451	410	2725.0	2662	1130	883	1735	3.73

On this day & linked events

1956

Born August 31, 1956

Walnut Creek, CA, USA

1983

Major-league debut: Tom Candiotti

Tom Candiotti made a major-league debut on August 8, 1983.

1999

Final major-league game: Tom Candiotti

Tom Candiotti played a final major-league game on July 24, 1999.

Image: Cleveland Indians, public domain