Dick Donovan
Dick Donovan | |
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Pitcher | |
Born: Boston, Massachusetts | December 7, 1927|
Died: January 6, 1997 Weymouth, Massachusetts | (aged 69)|
Batted: Left Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
April 24, 1950, for the Boston Braves | |
Last MLB appearance | |
June 12, 1965, for the Cleveland Indians | |
MLB statistics | |
Win–loss record | 122–99 |
Earned run average | 3.67 |
Strikeouts | 880 |
Stats at Baseball Reference | |
Teams | |
Career highlights and awards | |
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Richard Edward Donovan (December 27, 1927 – January 6, 1997) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched for the Boston Braves (1950–1952), Detroit Tigers (1954), Chicago White Sox (1955–1960), Washington Senators (1961), and the Cleveland Indians (1962–1965). A Boston native, he graduated from North Quincy High School and served in the United States Navy during and after World War II.
Donovan batted left-handed and threw right-handed, stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed 190 pounds (86 kg). During a 15-year major league career, he compiled 122 wins, 880 strikeouts, and a 3.67 earned run average, with 101 complete games, 25 shutouts and five saves. In 2,0171⁄3 career innings pitched, he allowed 1,988 hits and 495 bases on balls.
Donovan, as a member of the White Sox, led the 1957 American League in winning percentage, posting a 16–6 (.727) won-lost record. He pitched in the 1959 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He lost his only World Series start in Game 3, but saved Game 5 for the White Sox, and pitched in relief in Game 6, allowing two hits, three earned runs, walked one, and struck out none. In his only postseason appearance, he compiled 0 wins, 1 loss, 1 save, 5 strikeouts, and a 5.40 earned run average. At the plate in the Series, he went 1-3 (.333 batting average).
His 1962 season was his career-best, when he won 20 games in 34 games started with 16 complete games and five shutouts in 2501⁄3 innings pitched, all of them new career-highs, for Cleveland. The previous season, 1961, had seen Donovan lead the American League in earned run average with a stellar 2.40 mark in 1682⁄3 innings for the first-year expansion edition of the Senators.
See also
External links
- Career statistics from Baseball Reference
- 1927 births
- 1997 deaths
- American League All-Stars
- American League ERA champions
- Atlanta Crackers players
- Baseball players from Massachusetts
- Boston Braves players
- Chicago White Sox players
- Cleveland Indians players
- Deaths from cancer in Massachusetts
- Detroit Tigers players
- Fort Lauderdale Braves players
- Evansville Braves players
- Hartford Chiefs players
- Major League Baseball pitchers
- Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players
- Sportspeople from Boston
- Sportspeople from Quincy, Massachusetts
- Washington Senators (1961–1971) players
- American baseball pitcher, 1920s births stubs