Frank Bertaina
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Frank Louis Bertaina (born April 14, 1944 in San Francisco, California) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. The left-hander was signed by the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent before the 1961 season and played for the Orioles (1964-1967, 1969), Washington Senators (1968-1969), and St. Louis Cardinals (1970).
Bertaina made his major league debut on August 1, 1964 against the Kansas City Athletics at Municipal Stadium. He started and gave up just two earned runs in seven innings, but did not receive a decision in the 5-2 Orioles victory. At the age of 20, he was the eighth-youngest player to appear in an American League game that season.
His first major league win came in a very special game at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium on September 12, 1964. He and Kansas City A's left-hander Bob Meyer each pitched a complete game one-hitter, and the Orioles won 1-0 as Jackie Brandt hit an 8th inning sacrifice fly to score pinch-runner Bob Saverine from third base. Bertaina had two sacrifice hits in the game, including a key one in the 8th that moved Saverine from second base to third.
Bertaina's best year in the majors was 1967 when he won 7, lost 6, had an earned run average of 2.99, and tied for ninth in the league with 4 shutouts. He also had a career-high 86 strikeouts.
He did have a tendency to be wild, as he gave up 214 walks in just 413 innings pitched, for a BB/9IP of 4.66, much higher than the American League average at that time. However, with 280 strikeouts, his K/9IP was 6.10, which was slightly higher than the American League average.
Career totals for 100 games played (99 as a pitcher) include a 19-29 record, 66 games started, 6 complete games, 5 shutouts, and 10 games finished. He allowed 176 earned runs in his 413 innings, giving him a lifetime ERA of 3.84. Bertaina was a poor hitter (lifetime .127 batting average) except for the brief period of time when he played for Washington manager Ted Williams. Under Williams' tutelage he went 4-for-11 (.364) and hit his only major league home run, a 3-run shot off of flame-thrower Stan Williams of the Cleveland Indians. (April 27, 1969)
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[edit] Quote
- "...all I got out of the evening was a marvelous nickname given to Frank Bertaina, a pitcher, by Moe Drabowsky, also a pitcher, when they were with Baltimore. Bertaina, Drabowsky decided, was not too smart, and was flaky besides. So Drabowsky called him "Toys in the Attic." -- Jim Bouton in Ball Four (May 11, 1969)
[edit] Minor League Trivia
- led the Eastern League in winning percentage (.733) while playing for the Elmira Pioneers in 1964
- led the International League with 188 strikeouts while playing for the Rochester Red Wings in 1965
- led the International League in winning percentage (.800) while playing for the Rochester Red Wings in 1970
[edit] Major League Trivia
- gave up Winston Llenas's first major league hit (a double) {Anaheim Stadium -- August 15, 1968}
- Even though he pitched just 127.1 innings in 1968, Bertaina tied for first among American League hurlers with 17 wild pitches. By contrast, it took co-leader John "Blue Moon" Odom 231.1 innings to throw the same number of wild pitches.
- held All-Stars Sal Bando, Ken Berry, Norm Cash, Rocky Colavito, Willie Horton, Elston Howard, Tony Oliva, and George Scott to a .127 collective batting average (14-for-110)
- held Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle, Brooks Robinson, and Carl Yastrzemski to a .167 collective batting average (7-for-42)
[edit] Reference
- 1971 Baseball Register published by The Sporting News
