Ray Washburn
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Ray Washburn (born Ray Clark Washburn on May 31, 1938 in Pasco, Washington) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher.
Washburn, a right-hander, pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1961 to 1969 and the Cincinnati Reds in 1970.
A $50,000 "bonus baby," Washburn went 12-9 with the Cardinals as a rookie in 1962. A shoulder muscle tear midway into the 1963 season sidelined him for the remainder of the year and limited his effectiveness for the next two years afterwards. Washburn regained this effectiveness in 1966, winning 11 games against 9 losses; in 1967, he won 10 games against 7 losses as the Cardinals defeated the Boston Red Sox to win the World Series, with ace Bob Gibson winning three of those games.
1968, the "Year of the Pitcher," was Washburn’s best season; he posted a 14-8 record with a 2.26 earned run average on a Cardinals team that repeated as National League champions. The wins and ERA were a career best, as was his strikeout total (124). Washburn also no-hit the San Francisco Giants 2-0 at Candlestick Park on September 18 of that year, one day after the Giants’ Gaylord Perry had defeated the Cardinals and Gibson with a no-hitter of his own. In the 1968 World Series against the Detroit Tigers, Washburn won Game Three but was shelled in Game Six, allowing five runs in two innings, the last three coming in a record-setting 10-run third inning for the Tigers, who won the Series the next day (after trailing by three games to one).
Washburn also pitched in the 1970 World Series with the Reds in his final major league season; the Baltimore Orioles defeated them in five games.
In his career, Washburn won 72 games and lost 64 with a 3.59 earned run average and struck out 700 batters in 1209 2/3 innings pitched.
[edit] Trivia
- On May 12, 1966, Washburn threw the first pitch in the history of Busch Stadium II; the Cardinals defeated the Atlanta Braves in 12 innings. He also pitched, as a Red, in the first ever game at Riverfront Stadium on June 30, 1970, also against the Braves.
