#142 Dick Stigman The Sporting News Rookie Stars

I can usually count on the Baseball Reference 'Bullpen' page for some tidbits about a player I'm posting. Apparently the guy who did Dick Stigman's page was in a hurry. Here it is in it's entirety:

In 1965-66, Stigman became the first pitcher ever to make ten consecutive starts without a decision. This is still a record, although it has been tied by Randy Lerch and John D'Acquisto, both in 1977.

OK, so I turn to the ever trusty SABR bio project and sure enough I learn that:

1) Dick Stigman was signed out of Minnesota by the Cleveland Indians' Cy Slapnicka, the same scout who signed Bob Feller, Bob Lemon and Herb Score. 

2) Stigman was picked for the All Star team by White Sox manager Al Lopez but sat out both of the games played that year.

3) He was a member of the 1965 Twins that made the World Series but didn't get into a game.

4) On May 26, 1959 while pitching for San Diego, the AA affiliate of the Indians he pitched 10 and two third innings of no hit baseball. Unfortunately he chose to shine the same night Harvey Haddix pitched his incredible 'Almost' Perfect Game. Stigman's feat got buried on the back pages.

SABR never disappoints.

Stigman pitched six years in the minors before his 1960 debut. He went 5-11 that year which makes one wonder why Lopez tabbed him for the All Star team. It was not a case of needing a Cleveland rep since Vic Power was on the squad. Looking at his 1960 game logs shows that Stigman was 4-4 when the squad was likely chosen but he had a decent ERA. It also shows he walked 10 batters(!) the day before the July 11 All Star Game for the Indians against Al Lopez' White Sox(!!). But the AS game was being played in Cleveland so I can see Lopez asking him to "come back tomorrow, kid. You can't possible do worse than you did today."

Stigman pitched one more year for the Indians and was traded to the Twins where he blossomed. He went from 2-5 in 1961 to 12-5 as a swing man with the Twins in '62. He was 12-12 in 1963 as a starter and then was moved back to the bullpen.

He was traded to the Red Sox for the 1966 season, lasted one year and was traded again, this time to the Reds. He spent the '67 year pitching in the Reds' chain and then retired.

#277 Turk Lown

Turk Lown has to be the 20th White Sox pitcher with a red framed card and a shot taken at Yankee Stadium with the 3rd base side grandstands in the background. OK, maybe not the 20th. But there have been several and they tend to run together and when you add in the nearly identical Detroit Tigers' pitchers' cards.... well, I am getting deja vu all over again.

Anyway, Turk Lown (real name Omar Joseph Lown) came out of Brooklyn and was signed by his home borough Dodgers in 1942. After a year in the minors he spent three years in the military and then returned to pitch his way up through the Dodgers' system. He had some pretty good years along the way. But the Dodgers being the Dodgers Lown had a hard time squeezing himself into a big league role and in 1951 the Cubs rescued him via the old Rule 5 draft.

With the Cubbies through May of 1958 (he spent part of 1954 and all of 1955 in the minors) Lown evolved from a spot starter/reliever into a closer, or at least a game 'finisher'. In '56 he pitched 61 times and in '57 he led the NL in appearances with 67. He had 47 games 'finished' in both of those seasons and saved 25 which was a lot back then. He moved to the Reds and then the White Sox in 1958.

He and Jerry Staley formed a formidable one-two bullpen punch in 1959 for the pennant winning Sox and manager Al Lopez gave them much of the credit for that clubs' success. Lown led the way with a league high 15 saves. He appeared three times in the World Series that year and allowed two hits and no runs in 3.1 innings.

Lown slumped in 1960, rebounded with a good year in '61 and after a decent year in 1962 he left the game. He'd been released by the Sox and turned down an invite to the Reds' spring camp. He took a job with the postal service in Colorado and worked there for many years.

I love the S-O-X caps the White Sox wore in the late 50's. And the touch of red on the cap's lettering was duplicated in the stirrups. Those road unis are pretty sweet. So, maybe having all the Sox pitchers in the same type shot isn't so bad. My copy is a replacement and it's still one of the lesser quality cards in my set. It looks better in person but the scan brings out the surface marks.