Hal Woodeshick--1962
He was an All-Star?
"Me? An All-Star? Whatcha talkin' 'bout
Willis?"
The truth of matter is, yes, Hal
Woodeshick was indeed an All-Star.
Bouncing through organizations in the
late 1950s and early 1960s, Woodeshick
failed to distinguish himself until he
landed with the expansion Houston Colt
.45s in 1962.
In the rotation for the majority of his early
career, Woodeshick found himself in the
Houston bullpen in 1963 after posting a
5-16 as a starter during the .45s initial
season. There the southpaw dominated,
going 11-9-10, 1.97; limiting opposing
batters to just 75 hits in 114 innings.
In the '63 Mid-Summer Classic,
Woodeshick hurled two shutout innings,
allowing just one hit and fanning Yankee
first sacker Joe Pepitone. He would hand
over the ball over to Don Drysdale who
closed out the National League's 5-3 win,
with two more scoreless innings.
The next season, the native of
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania would lead
the Senior Circuit with 23 saves, but
somehow be left off the All-Star Squad.
In 1965, Houston traded Woodeshick
(and Chuck Taylor) to the St. Louis
Cardinals for Mike Cueller and Ron
Taylor, as the clubs swapped lefties and
Taylor's.
With St. Louis, Woodeshick helped the
Cardinals to the pennant in '67 with solid
bullpen work as his 5.18 ERA was a
result of one bad week in June. The
left-hander would toss a scoreless inning
of mop-up work in Game 6 of the World
Series, as the Cards rallied behind Bob
Gibson's fastball to top the Red Sox in
Game 7.
Woodeshick would post a losing record
for his career, going 44-62 in 11
seasons; however he would log 61 saves
(57 coming after 1962) in being one of
the NL's most reliable relievers of the
mid-1960s.
And that's what I'm talking 'bout.
(7/14/10)
"Me? An All-Star? Whatcha talkin' 'bout
Willis?"
The truth of matter is, yes, Hal
Woodeshick was indeed an All-Star.
Bouncing through organizations in the
late 1950s and early 1960s, Woodeshick
failed to distinguish himself until he
landed with the expansion Houston Colt
.45s in 1962.
In the rotation for the majority of his early
career, Woodeshick found himself in the
Houston bullpen in 1963 after posting a
5-16 as a starter during the .45s initial
season. There the southpaw dominated,
going 11-9-10, 1.97; limiting opposing
batters to just 75 hits in 114 innings.
In the '63 Mid-Summer Classic,
Woodeshick hurled two shutout innings,
allowing just one hit and fanning Yankee
first sacker Joe Pepitone. He would hand
over the ball over to Don Drysdale who
closed out the National League's 5-3 win,
with two more scoreless innings.
The next season, the native of
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania would lead
the Senior Circuit with 23 saves, but
somehow be left off the All-Star Squad.
In 1965, Houston traded Woodeshick
(and Chuck Taylor) to the St. Louis
Cardinals for Mike Cueller and Ron
Taylor, as the clubs swapped lefties and
Taylor's.
With St. Louis, Woodeshick helped the
Cardinals to the pennant in '67 with solid
bullpen work as his 5.18 ERA was a
result of one bad week in June. The
left-hander would toss a scoreless inning
of mop-up work in Game 6 of the World
Series, as the Cards rallied behind Bob
Gibson's fastball to top the Red Sox in
Game 7.
Woodeshick would post a losing record
for his career, going 44-62 in 11
seasons; however he would log 61 saves
(57 coming after 1962) in being one of
the NL's most reliable relievers of the
mid-1960s.
And that's what I'm talking 'bout.
(7/14/10)
