| Art Mahaffey | |
|---|---|
 Mahaffey in 1961. | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: (1938-06-04)June 4, 1938 (age 87) Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| July 30, 1960, for the Philadelphia Phillies | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| July 17, 1966, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 59–64 |
| Earned run average | 4.17 |
| Strikeouts | 639 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Arthur Mahaffey Jr. (born June 4, 1938) is an American former professionalbaseballstarting pitcher, who played inMajor League Baseball (MLB) for theNational League (NL)Philadelphia Phillies (1960–1965) andSt. Louis Cardinals (1966). He batted and threw right-handed. In a seven-season MLB career, Mahaffey posted a 59–64 record, with 639strikeouts, and a 4.17earned run average (ERA), in 999.0innings pitched.[1]
Mahaffey was born on June 4, 1938, inCincinnati, Ohio. He attendedWestern Hills High School in Cincinnati.[2] His father had been a professional boxer, under the name Kid Mahaffey.[3][4] He played high school andAmerican Legion baseball.[5][6]
Mahaffey's parents moved from their home of 22 years in Cincinnati, to another part of Cincinnati so Mahaffey could play baseball both at Western Hills under coach Paul Nohr, and for the French-Bauer Bentley Legion Post under coach Joe Hawk. The Bentley teams played 60-70 games a summer, and coach Hawk practiced the team four hours a day, even on game days. In addition to Mahaffey, other major league players who learned under Hawk includedDon Zimmer,Herm Wehmeier,Dick Drott,Jim Brosnan andRuss Nixon.[3]
Bentley was state champion in 1954, with Mahaffey as its star pitcher.[7][8] In the same year, at just 16-years old, Mahaffey was an honorable mention selection to theHamilton County Class A high school baseball All-Star Team.[9] He had a 27–4won–loss record in high school, and a 28–3 record for Bentley.[10]
Mahaffey was signed as an amateur free agent by the Philadelphia Phillies on June 29, 1956.[11] Ten teams had been interested in signing Mahaffey. He wanted to play for a National League team so he could play some games in his hometown, but thought he had a better chance of making the team with the Phillies rather than theCincinnati Reds.[7]
Mahaffey pitched 41⁄2 seasons in the Phillies'farm system. He began hisMinor League Baseball career in the summer of 1956, playingClass D baseball. In 1957 he playedClass B andClass C baseball. At the Class CSalt Lake City Bees, ex-Brooklyn Dodger catcher and Bee's player-managerCliff Dapper helped Mahaffey improve hiscontrol as a pitcher. Dapper would catch Mahaffey's games and set targets for Mahaffey on the inside and outside of the plate, teaching Mahaffey how to move the ball while pitching.[12][4][13]
Overall in those two years he had a 16–15 won–loss record and hisearned run average (ERA) was never below 4.79.[12][13] His pitching improved considerably in 1958. After a positive spring training with the Phillies, he was assigned to theSingle-A Williamsport Grays, playing in only three games.[14][15] He then played with the Class BHighpoint-Thomasville Hi-Toms of theCarolina League, under managerFrank Lucchesi. He had a 5–1 record and 2.12 ERA in sixstarts, before missing the second half of the 1958 season after having either anappendectomy or hernia.[16][14][10]
Now 20-years old, Mahaffey began the 1959 season with theTriple-ABuffalo Bisons. He did not pitch well in his only start. The team believed he needed more experience and an opportunity to pitch more regularly, and sent him back to Williamsport.[17] At Williamsport, Mahaffey had an 8–0 record in nine starts, with a 1.67 ERA.[18] He was recalled to Buffalo in June, winning five of his first six decisions by early August.[19] At one point he had 12 consecutive wins between the two teams.[20] Overall, he was 8–5 with a 4.42 ERA at Buffalo in 1959, with 81strikeouts and 47bases-on-balls in 108innings pitched.[21]
In 1960, Mahaffey pitched in 22 games for Buffalo, with an 11–9 record and 3.74 ERA, before being called up to the Phillies on July 28.[1][22]
Mahaffey played in his first Phillies game on July 30, 1960. He pitched the final two innings of a game against theSt. Louis Cardinals. He retired the three batters he faced in the seventh inning. In the eighth,Bill White led off with a single to right field and then waspicked off by Mahaffey at first base. The next batter,Curt Flood, singled to center field, and he, too, was picked off by Mahaffey, who threw to first with Flood tagged out on a throw from first to second. In his very next game, against the San Francisco Giants, Mahaffey picked off the next hitter to get a base hit against him,Jim Marshall.[23][24][25][13]
Mahaffey won his first four games as a Phillies pitcher.[26] In only his second winning start, he pitched a complete game six-hitter in a 3–2 victory over theMilwaukee Braves, led by future Hall of FamersHank Aaron andEddie Mathews (who hit a two-run home run).[27][28][29] He finished the1960 Phillies' season with a 7–3 record, an ERA of 2.31, 14 games played, while finishing third in the 1960 NLRookie of the Year balloting (which was won byFrank Howard of theLos Angeles Dodgers).[1][30]
Mahaffey set a club record with 17strikeouts in a game against theChicago Cubs on April 23, 1961.[24][31] Though he ended the1961 season with an ERA of 4.10, and a record of 11–19 (leading the NL in losses), in 36 games, he was selected to represent the Phillies on both 1961NL All-Star teams; pitching two scoreless innings in the July 31 game that ended it the first tie in All-Star game history.[1][32][33][34] The team finished in last place, winning only 47 games and losing 107.[35] Mahaffey did not win a game from June 25 to August 22, but on August 22 he pitched a one-hit shutout against theChicago Cubs. Only a slow hop single by future Hall of Fame third basemanRon Santo[36] in the first inning kept Mahaffey from a no-hitter.[37]
In 1962, Mahaffey pitched the NL's opening day game against the Reds, and would go on to have his best season.[38] Mahaffey ended the1962 season with a record of 19–14, and a 3.94 ERA, with a career high 177 strikeouts, in 41 games, completing 20 of 39 starts.[1][20] He was selected again in 1962 for the NL All-Star Team, and was the losing pitcher in the game, giving up three runs in two innings.[39] He finished 26th in balloting forNL Most Valuable Player (MVP),[40] despite leading the league inhome runs allowed with 36, and earned runs allowed with 120.[41] He pitched 274 innings that year, despite having a sore arm.[42]
On April 29, 1963, Mahaffey became the first Phillie to appear on the cover ofSports Illustrated.[20] Mahaffey had a 7–10 record in 26 games with the1963 Phillies, to go along with a 3.99 ERA. In1964, he finished the season with a record of 12–9, with an ERA of 4.52, in 34 games.[1]
The ill-fated1964 team was in first place in the NL, with a 61⁄2-game lead, with just 12 games remaining in the season, before starting a 10-game losing streak that cost the team the pennant. Going into September, Mahaffey was 12–6. He pitched in two of the games in that infamous skid. He lost a 1–0 game (the first of that losing streak) on asteal ofhome byChico Ruiz of theCincinnati Reds, with Hall of FamerFrank Robinson at bat, and without Ruiz's manager knowing he was going to try and steal home. On September 26, Mahaffey was taken out after seven innings while winning 4–3 in a game against theMilwaukee Braves. Braves' rookieRico Carty, who had a .330batting average that year, hit a ninth-inningbases-loadedtriple, plating all 3 runners, off of relieverBobby Shantz (on Shantz's 39th birthday), to win the game for the Braves, 6-4.[24][20][43][44][45][46]
Mahaffey and others wondered why managerGene Mauch had used the lefthanded Shantz against the righthanded Carty in that situation. RighthanderEd Roebuck came in to relieve Shantz. Shantz had come to the Phillies in mid-August, and had pitched well in the final month-and-a-half of his 16-year career, only giving up seven runs in 31.1 innings pitched (2.01 ERA). The game against the Braves was the last appearance of his career.[20][46][47][45]
1965 was Mahaffey's last season in Philadelphia. He finished with a 2–5 record, and an ERA of 6.21, in 22 games, mostly in relief.[1] Over his career as a Phillie, Mahaffey was 59–64 with a 4.17 ERA and 46 complete games and nine shutouts.[1][20]
During his career, Mahaffey suffered a variety of injuries, in addition to his minor league bout of appendicitis or having a hernia. He had arm ailments. He was hit in the head as a baserunner in a 1961 game against the Cincinnati Reds byEddie Kasko from only two-three feet away, who was throwing the ball to first base during adouble play. The throw gave Mahaffey a concussion and broke his cheek, and he missed the season's last 25 days. As the game was in Cincinnati, Mahaffey's parents were in attendance. Mahaffey was in the hospital for five days without getting up, and suffered throbbing headaches for months. He also suffered a shoulder injury during a basepath collision, as well as a dislocated ankle while pitching.[20][4][48][49]
Mahaffey was traded by the Phillies on October 27, 1965, along withcatcherPat Corrales, andoutfielderAlex Johnson, to the Cardinals, in exchange forshortstopDick Groat, catcherBob Uecker, andfirst basemanBill White.[11] In his only season with the Cards, he had a 1–4 record, in 12 games, with an ERA of 6.43.[1] Mahaffey was the starting pitcher in his final big league game, on July 17, 1966, in the second game of adoubleheader against the Chicago Cubs; that day, he gave up three hits, and three runs, in1⁄3 of an inning, in a game the Cubs won by a score of 7–2.[1][50]
He played part of the 1966 season for the Triple-ATulsa Oilers, the Cardinals affiliate in thePacific Coast League, where he was 4–4 with a 5.05 ERA.[51] In 1967, Mahaffey was dealt along withJerry Buchek andTony Martínez from theCardinals to theNew York Mets forEd Bressoud,Danny Napoleon and cash on April 1, 1967.[52] In early 1967, he unsuccessfully tried out for the Giants.[53] He split the 1967 season, his last, between the Mets' Triple-A affiliate, theJacksonville Suns, and the Chicago Cubs'Double-A affiliate, the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs, and never again played in the major leagues, retiring at age 29.[54][1]
Mahaffey married his high school classmate Catherine (Hollenbeck) Mahaffey; a dietician who helped the very thin Mahaffey gain weight when he was beginning his professional career.[5][4] After baseball, he owned an insurance brokerage business. He arranged a golf tournament to help longtime teammate and friendChris Short with medical bills, after Short suffered acerebral aneurysm in 1988, and helped set up a scholarship at theUniversity of Delaware in Short's name.[20]
As of 2024, Mahaffey resides with his wife Janet in theAllentown, Pennsylvania area[20][55]