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Jim Maloney was perhaps the best pitcher you've never heard of. He pitched in the National League during an era with Sandy Koufax, Ferguson Jenkins, Don Drysdale (who Maloney made his major league debut against at the age of 20), Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, & Tom Seaver, all Hall of Famers.
Maloney threw a high 90's fastball, routinely clocked at 99 (although Sven Draconian is skeptical). He tossed two no-hitters, and lost another in the 11th inning (more on this later). His pitch counts are the stuff of legend.
Let's talk about his 1965 season:
20-9, 2.54 ERA, 33 GS, 244 K, 110 BB, 1.171 WHIP, 148 ERA+, 8.1 bWAR
Maloney threw three spectacular games in 1965.
-In his first tart of the year against the Braves, Maloney doesn't give up a hit until light hitting SS Denis Menke singles to lead off the 8th. With the score 2-0 Reds, Braves manager Bobby Bragan calls Hank Aaron off the bench to pinch hit. Maloney induces a ground ball double play, Maloney retires the next four in order, Reds win 2-0.
-June 14 against the Mets might be the most well pitched loss in baseball history. Brian Kenny would break twitter if somebody did this today. Maloney takes a no-hitter into the 11th inning (!), when Johnny Lewis, enjoying a career season in which he would hit 15 home runs, leads off the inning with a homer. Maloney survives the rest of the inning unscathed. The Reds have Pete Rose, Vada Pinson, & Frank Robinson due up. Robinson gets a two out single, before Gordy Coleman makes the final out. Reds lose, 1-0.
Maloney's final line: 11 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 18 K's, 1 BB.
-August 19th, @ Chicago, first game of a double dip. Maloney throws 9 no-hit innings, but the score is 0-0. Here we go again. Light hitting SS Leo Cardenas hits a solo HR for the Reds in the top of the 10th. Down 1-0, Doug Clemens leads off the bottom of the 10th with a walk, putting a man on first with no outs for future hall of famers Billy Williams & Ernie Banks. Williams pops out to LF, and Banks hits into a game ending double play.
Maloney tosses a 10 inning no-hitter, and check out this ridiculous line: 10 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 12 K's, 10 BB's, 40 batters faced.
40 batters faced. With 12 K's & 10 BB's. Maloney easily threw over 200 pitches, probably around 280 or more. There is a decent chance he threw 300.
On September 25th, Maloney threw a 2-hit shutout against the Astros, in his fourth best start of the season, a game that would be the best start of most guys careers.
All told, Maloney threw 255.1 innings, 14 CG's, 5 shutouts. He allowed 13 HR's and hit only 5 batters, great numbers for a power pitcher.
Coming off a 12-5 season with a 2.77 ERA in 1969 Maloney ruptured his achilles in 1970 at the age of 30, which effectively ended his career. You would think arm problems would have sunk him with that workload, but that was not the case. Maloney threw 200+ pitches per game, with velocity that would be elite today. He would have been 35 & 36 the years the Big Red Machine won the world series, around the same age as Pete Rose & Tony Perez. Maybe he'd have been more famous had he not injured his foot. He did pitch 7 games for the 1970 Reds, the first year of the BRM, for a team that won 100+ games but lost to the Pirates in the NLCS. He also pitched one game in relief in the 1961 World Series, a four game sweep of the Reds at the hands of one of the most famous teams of all time, the Mantle/Maris *61 Yankees.
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