Player notes: "Sudden Sam" McDowell was a terrific hard-throwing lefty for the Indians during the 1960s. He led the American League in strikeouts every year from 1965 to 1970 except for one (1967, when he finished 2nd to Jim Lonborg of the league champion Red Sox. Some feel he could have been a better pitcher if he had varied his pitches, but all he wanted to do was throw the fastball - he loved to overpower hitters. In addition to having great velocity, McDowell was also a bit wild (he also led the league in wild pitches three times), making him perhaps the pitcher American League batters feared the most through most of the decade of the 60s.

Traded to the San Francisco Giants for Gaylord Perry and Frank Duffy after the 1971 season, McDowell never was as effective after leaving Cleveland. He was admittedly a heavy drinker, and his quick fall off after age 30 has been attributed to alcoholism. Had it not been for his drinking problem, "Sudden Sam" may very well have been a Hall of Famer.

Response from Cary Seidman:

You note that he threw his fastball too much. That was way off. He used to try to get the crummy hitters, who couldn't have hit his fastball with a tennis racket, with his off-speed pitches. He used to say that they knew they couldn't hit his fastball, and he knew that they knew, and they knew that he knew that they knew (you get the idea) so he'd throw something offspeed which was unexpected....which they would then clobber. Guys like Yaz, Willie Horton, Tony Oliva, Harmon Killebrew were no problem for Sam. It was the stiffs who killed him. In the mid 60s, at his peak, I recall him getting beat on home runs (off change-ups) hit by Larry Haney of the Orioles and Dick Tracewski of the Tigers....not exactly household names.