Former Cleveland Indians All-Star Has Died

Sam McDowell, the left-hander the Cleveland Indians knew as Sudden Sam, died Monday at his home in The Villages, Florida. He was 84.

For 11 seasons, from 1961 through 1971, McDowell was the hardest throw on the Cleveland staff and one of the most feared arms in the American League.

The Pittsburgh native signed with the Indians out of Central Catholic High School and debuted at 18. The nickname came from the fastball: it arrived before hitters were ready.

In a Cleveland uniform, he was a six-time All-Star. He led the league in strikeouts five times, including 325 in 1965, when he also led the American League with a 2.18 ERA, and 304 in 1970, when he went 20-12, threw 305 innings and finished third in Cy Young voting.

He is one of only two pitchers in franchise history with more than 2,000 strikeouts. Bob Feller has 2,581. McDowell has 2,159, second, and his 9.21 strikeouts per nine innings remains the club record.

He ranks 11th in Indians wins with 122.

The cost of that power was control. He led the league in walks five times and could be as wild as he was overwhelming.

Cleveland dealt him to San Francisco after the 1971 season in a trade that brought back Gaylord Perry and Frank Duffy. He later pitched for the Yankees and his hometown Pirates, finishing in 1975 at 141-134 with a 3.17 ERA and 2,453 strikeouts. Most of the strikeouts, and the best of the work, belonged to Cleveland.

The Indians inducted him into the franchise Hall of Fame in 2006. In later years he returned often as an Alumni Ambassador, telling Municipal Stadium stories at Progressive Field to fans who had never seen him pitch and to those who still remembered the fastball.

What the club emphasized Tuesday was the life after his battle with alcohol.

Guardians senior vice president Bob DiBiasio called McDowell one of the great pitchers in baseball history and a strikeout king, then added that his life was a story of redemption.

After treatment and training, McDowell counseled athletes dealing with addiction and depression. His career and recovery helped inspire the Sam Malone character on “Cheers.”

Cleveland remembers the arm first: the kid who arrived at 18, the All-Star who could strike out 300, the name that still sits next to Feller’s in the record book.

The rest of the story is why the organization kept bringing him back.