I saw him pitch when I was 10 in Puerto Rico during the Caribbean World Series....even at his "older" age....he was mesmerizing. LOVED the high leg kick, which was VERY intimidating.
R.I.P. viejo!
ESPN.com news services
Mike Cuellar, a crafty left-hander from Cuba whose darting screwball made him a World Series champion and Cy Young Award winner with the Baltimore Orioles, died Friday. He was 72.
The Orioles confirmed Cuellar's death, but did not release other details. According to The Baltimore Sun, Cuellar died of stomach cancer at Orlando Regional Medical Center in Florida.
Cuellar made his major league debut in 1959 and bounced around Cincinnati, St. Louis and Houston for almost a decade before a trade sent him to Baltimore. Wearing the black-and-orange bird logo, he blossomed as part of one of the most imposing pitching staffs in baseball history -- in 1971, he was among the Orioles' four 20-game winners.
A four-time All-Star, Cuellar was 185-130 overall with a 3.14 ERA. He was voted into the Orioles' Hall of Fame.
"He sure was an ace," Hall of Fame teammate Brooks Robinson told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday night. "He had a way of making good hitters look bad, making them take funny swings."
Cuellar joined the Orioles in 1969, and that year became the first Baltimore pitcher to win the AL Cy Young Award, sharing the honor with Detroit's Denny McLain.
Cuellar went 23-11 with five shutouts that season, including a game in which he held Minnesota hitless until Cesar Tovar's soft, leadoff single in the ninth inning.
Cuellar helped pitch Baltimore to three straight World Series appearances from 1969 to 1971. He finished off that run by teaming with Jim Palmer, Dave McNally and Pat Dobson to become the only staff other than the 1920 Chicago White Sox with a quartet of 20-game winners.
[ame="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5051729"]Former Baltimore Orioles ace Mike Cuellar dead at age 72 - ESPN[/ame]
R.I.P. viejo!
ESPN.com news services
Mike Cuellar, a crafty left-hander from Cuba whose darting screwball made him a World Series champion and Cy Young Award winner with the Baltimore Orioles, died Friday. He was 72.
The Orioles confirmed Cuellar's death, but did not release other details. According to The Baltimore Sun, Cuellar died of stomach cancer at Orlando Regional Medical Center in Florida.
Cuellar made his major league debut in 1959 and bounced around Cincinnati, St. Louis and Houston for almost a decade before a trade sent him to Baltimore. Wearing the black-and-orange bird logo, he blossomed as part of one of the most imposing pitching staffs in baseball history -- in 1971, he was among the Orioles' four 20-game winners.
A four-time All-Star, Cuellar was 185-130 overall with a 3.14 ERA. He was voted into the Orioles' Hall of Fame.
"He sure was an ace," Hall of Fame teammate Brooks Robinson told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday night. "He had a way of making good hitters look bad, making them take funny swings."
Cuellar joined the Orioles in 1969, and that year became the first Baltimore pitcher to win the AL Cy Young Award, sharing the honor with Detroit's Denny McLain.
Cuellar went 23-11 with five shutouts that season, including a game in which he held Minnesota hitless until Cesar Tovar's soft, leadoff single in the ninth inning.
Cuellar helped pitch Baltimore to three straight World Series appearances from 1969 to 1971. He finished off that run by teaming with Jim Palmer, Dave McNally and Pat Dobson to become the only staff other than the 1920 Chicago White Sox with a quartet of 20-game winners.
[ame="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5051729"]Former Baltimore Orioles ace Mike Cuellar dead at age 72 - ESPN[/ame]
