Blast From the Past: Sal Maglie 1951

I've always thought of Sal Maglie as a Dodgers because he was the losing pitcher in Don Larsen's World Series Perfect Game.  The bulk of Maglie's career was with the Giants with 1951 being his best season by a fairly wide margin.  Maglie got a late start on his career.  His first MLB season was at age 28 for the Giants, but then he took a 5 year detour through the Mexican League before Commissioner Happy Chandler lifted the ban on Mexican League jumpers which allowed Maglie to resume his Giants and MLB career in 1950 at age 33.

Maglie had a distinctive and intimidating pitching style.  Like Ryan Vogelsong, who we all know and love, he was a gentleman who became a different person on the mound.  Talk about a game face!  Maglie did not shave on game days and wore a frightful scowl on his face.  He did not try to throw strikes on the inside corner, preferring to come in high and off the plate so the pitch seemed to graze the hitter's chin.  All his other pitches were on the outer half of the plate.  That's how he got the nickname "Sal the Barber" because he seemed to shave hitter's chins with his fastball.

Sal Maglie was a vital cog in the Giants pennant winning drive in 1951 putting together a 23-6 W-L record with a 2.93 ERA.  Again, it is interesting to look up stat lines of star pitchers from the past and see shockingly low K rates.  I wonder if any pitcher could be successful in today's game with that approach?

Like his teammate, Larry Jansen, Maglie developed back problems which sapped his effectiveness in future seasons.  He did go 14-6 with a 3.26 ERA for the World Series Winning Giants in 1954.  He pitched part of a season for the Dodgers in 1956 culminating in his losing the perfecto to Don Larsen when he pitched very respectably himself allowing 2 runs in 5 hits in 7 IP.

After his playing career ended he had two stints as pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox.  While several pitchers, including Bill Monbouquette, Earl Wilson, Dick Radatz and Jim Lonborg credit Maglie with boosting their careers, he lost his job twice due to new managers, Johnny Pesky and Dick Williams, wanting to pick their own pitching coaches.

A few years ago, my family and I visited my brother-in-law who was living in Niagara Falls, NY.  I recall driving past a metal sign marking Sal Maglie's home in Niagara Falls.