BASEBALL ROUNDTABLE TRIVIA TEASER
Can you name the major league pitcher who both won 20+ games in an MLB season and was (later) an All World Slow-Pitch Softball third baseman? Hint: His slow-pitch long-ball success should come as no surprise.
BBRT Trivia Teaser Answer
Right-hander Tony Cloninger, who won 24 games for the 1965 Milwaukee Braves and was selected to the All-World Team (third base) at the 1978 United States Slow-Pitch Softball Association World Series.
Cloninger’s MLB pitching career stretched from 1961-72 (Braves/Reds/Cardinals). Over that span, he went 113-87, 4.07 and earned a reputation as a power pitcher who sometimes lost the plate. His best season was 1965, when he went 24-11, 3.29 for the Milwaukee Braves (only Sandy Koufax won more games than Cloninger that season), striking out 211 batters in 279 innings (but also leading the NL in walks and wild pitches).
Some Cloninger trivia:
- Cloninger started the very first regular-season Atlanta Braves game (April 12, 1966). He went all 13-innings in a Braves 3-2 loss (he gave up just one run over the first 12 frames) – allowing ten hits and three walks, while fanning a dozen.
- Cloninger had six professional (minor league) wins before turning 18.
- On June 15, 1963, Cloninger pitched an “immaculate inning” (nine pitches, three strikeouts) as his Braves topped the Phillies 5-3. It came in the eighth inning and the hitters were Tony Gonzalez, Clay Dalrymple and Ruben Amaro. Cloninger, who fanned eight batters in 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, got the win.
- In 1966, Cloninger hit .234 (26-for-11) with five home runs, five doubles and 23 RBI in 47 games.
TEEING OFF FOR TWO
On July 3, 1966, Tony Cloninger became the first National Leaguer (any position) to hit two Grand Slams in a game – as his Braves topped the Giants 17-3 at Candlestick Park. He remains the only pitcher to hit two Grand Slams in a single contest and his nine RBI in that game remain the single-game record (tied) by a pitcher.
Cloninger’s final season as an MLB pitcher was 1972, when he was 0-2, 5.19 in 17 relief appearances for the Cardinals. The following year, he was playing the hot corner in slow-pitch softball tournaments for the vaunted Howard’s Furniture Team (Denver, North Carolina). That season, Cloninger hit .634, with 34 home runs in 143 at bats. Cloninger also played part-time for Howard’s in 1974 – hitting .615, with 13 home runs in 54 at bats. In 1975, his first full season with the squad, Cloninger hit .572, with 90 home runs in 346 at bats.
In 1978, playing for the United States Slow-pitch Softball Association Major Slow Pitch World Series Champion Howard & Carroll team, Tony Cloninger was selected as the third baseman on the Series’ All World Team.
Jumping ahead, in 1988, Cloninger was back in professional baseball as a pitching coach for the Eastern League Albany Yankees and, by 1992, he was back in the major leagues as a bullpen coach for the New York Yankees. He was with the Yankees from 1992 through 2001, then took over as pitching coach for the Red Sox in 2002-03. In 2003, he was sidelined with a bout with cancer. He later returned to the Red Sox as a player development consultant – a position he held from more than a dozen years. (Cloninger passed away on July 24, 2018).
Clearly the competitive spirit and the love of the game burned passionately in the heart of Tony Cloninger.
Primary Resources: Baseball-Reference.com; Society for Americana Baseball Research; Baseball-Almanac.com; SoftballCenter.com; Softball History USA.
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