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Karstens Start Sparks Memories of DeLeon

Two starts does not a trend make. It has made for some excitement, however. Jeff Karstens efforts in his first two starts brought me back to the summer of 1983 when I was a wide eyed, baseball obsessed 12 year old. (As an aside, I was watching the Bob Costas program on HBO during Hall of Fame Weekend. He was interviewing Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. Costas asked them, “When you dream, are you still a ballplayer playing for the Braves or the Giants.” Neither player answered the question well. But, I can say that in my dreams, sometimes I’m a twelve year old playing Knothole around the eastern suburbs of Cincinnati. So, back to 1983 I went today.)

On July 23, 1983, Jose DeLeon was a 22 year old rookie making his Major League debut. The Pirates entered the day 0.5 games of eventual NL East champ Philadelphia. The Pirates had a pretty solid front of the rotation with Rick Rhoden, Larry McWilliams and John Candelaria pitching well enough. Don Robinson, who had won 15 times in 1982, suffered some arm trouble. He would make just one more appearance after July. Swingman Jim Bibby’s career was on a rapid downward path. He made 12 starts in the first half of the season and went 2-8 with a 9.50 ERA in those 12 games. Rookie Lee Tunnell made nine starts in the first half (and also nine relief appearances). His ERA at the break was almost 5.00.

So, two weeks after the All-Star break, DeLeon arrived. He had been 11-6 with a 3.04 ERA and better than a strike out per inning at Hawaii thus far. And he got off to a fast start in the Show.

On July 23, he gave up a hit to the first San Francisco Giant batter he faced (Johnnie LeMaster of all people) and then gave up just three more hits and two runs in eight innings while striking out eight hitters.

In his next start four days later against the Padres, DeLeon carried a perfect game until one out in the 7th when Alan Wiggins singled. He finished with a complete game two hitter.

His next start was in Shea on July 31. In a game broadcast on WOR (back when that was a national superstation like WTBS and WGN), DeLeon and Mike Torrez dueled. Torrez threw eleven shutout innings. Don’t see that too much anymore. DeLeon threw nine shutout innings and carried a no-hitter until two were out in the 9th. DeLeon left after nine innings with a no decision and 11 whiffs. The Pirates and Manny Sarmiento lost in the 11th when Mookie Wilson showing incredible speed scored from first inning on an infield groundout from George Foster.

DeLeon would finish the season 7-3 with a 2.83 ERA. The Pirates and Phillies were tied for the lead as late as September 17. But the Phillies went 12-2 over the final two weeks to pull away from the Pirates who went just 6-8.

Three years to the day of his ML debut, DeLeon was traded from Pittsburgh to the White Sox even up for Bobby Bonilla. DeLeon would have something just short of a checkered career. He lost 19 games twice, once with the Bucs in 1985. But he struck out 200 hitters in a season twice. In 1989 he lead the league in whiffs, H/9 and was second in WHIP.

I’ve written before in this space that if there was one player from the 1980s Pirates that I could give a “do over” to, it’d be DeLeon. Here’s hoping that Karstens success continues.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 8:45 pm and is filed under Larry McWilliams, Jose DeLeon, Lee Tunnell, Manny Sarmiento, 2008 Pittsburgh Pirates, Johnnie LeMaster, Jim Bibby, Jeff Karstens, Rick Rhoden, Don Robinson, Bobby Bonilla, John Candelaria. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.