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Camilo Pascual

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Pascual and the second or maternal family name is Lus.
Camilo Pascual
Pitcher
Born: (1934-01-20) January 20, 1934 (age 91)
Havana, Cuba
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 15, 1954, for the Washington Senators
Last MLB appearance
May 5, 1971, for the Cleveland Indians
MLB statistics
Win–loss record174–170
Earned run average3.63
Strikeouts2,167
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams
Career highlights and awards
Member of the Cuban
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction2014

Camilo Alberto Pascual Lus (born January 20, 1934) is a Cuban former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. During an 18-year baseball career (1954–71), he played for the original modern Washington Senators franchise (which became the Minnesota Twins in 1961), the second edition of the Washington Senators, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Cleveland Indians. He was also known by the nicknames "Camile" and "Little Potato."[1]

Pascual's best pitches were his fastball and devastating overhand curveball, described by Ted Williams as the "most feared curveball in the American League for 18 years".[2] His curveball has been rated in the top 10 of all-time.[3] Over his career, he compiled 174 wins, 2,167 strikeouts, and a 3.63 earned run average. He was elected to the American League All-Star team 5 times (from 1959 to 1962, and in 1964). In the second 1961 All-Star Game, he pitched three hitless innings and struck out four.[4] He holds the opening day strikeout record as he fanned 15 in a 10-1 win versus the Boston Red Sox in the 1960 season opener.[5]

Early life

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Pascual was born on January 20, 1934, in Havana, Cuba. His older brother Carlos was also a future pitcher in Cuba and in American major league baseball. Carlos had the Cuban-Spanish nickname Patato, meaning short or a runt. Pascual, as the younger brother, became known as Patato Pequeño. When they later came to the United States, patato, sounding like potato, was mistranslated; and the brothers became known in the U.S. as Potato and Little Potato.[6][1]

Playing career

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Minor leagues and Cuban League

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Pascual had begun playing amateur baseball in Cuba as a teenager, but his first professional play came in the United States.[6] As a 17-year-old, Pascual left Havana and spent the 1951 season as a minor league free agent pitching for the Class-D Chickasha Chiefs in the Oklahoma Sooner State League and two Class-C teams, the Big Spring Broncs in the Longhorn League and Geneva Robins in the New York Border League.[6][7] The latter team was made up largely of Cuban players signed by Washington Senator's scout Joe Cambria, including future Minnesota Twins teammate Julio Bécquer.[8][9][10] Pascal would finish the season with a combined record of 5–4 with a 4.64 ERA and 46 walks in 64 innings. Despite his less than overwhelming stats, the 18-year-old Pascual was signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent prior to the start of the 1952 season.[1][7]

Pascual would spend the 1952 season in Class-B pitching for the Havana Cubans and the Tampa Smokers in the Florida International League, improving to an 8–6 record with a 2.88 ERA and only 66 walks in 122 innings over 24 games. His first professional play in Cuba came in the 1952-53 Winter League, playing for Tigres de Marianao. Pascual learned his renowned curveball from Cuban pitching legend and Marianao manager Adolfo Luque. He would be back with the Florida League's Havana Cubans for the entire 1953 season, and would compile similar stats as the year before (10-6, 3.00 ERA, 68 walks, 141 Inn in 25 games).[7][6]

Following the 1953 season, he was traded from Marianao to his hometown Elefantes de Cienfuegos in the Cuban League, competing for the Caribbean World Series. The team won championships in 1956, 1960 and 1961. One of his teammates was Pedro Ramos, with whom he formed a top pitching duo. Ramos also would be a future teammate on the Washington Senators. Pascual would continue to play for Cienfuegos until Fidel Castro closed the country in 1961. Pascual was only able to leave Cuba for the United States in 1961 after high level negotations. Pascual was a Cuban League MVP in 1955-56, and was one of the decades old league's historically best pitchers.[6][11][12]

Major leagues

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Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins

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Pascual would go north with the Senators in 1954 and would make his major league debut on April 15, mopping up the last 3 innings of a 6–1 loss to the Boston Red Sox for losing pitcher Bob Porterfield.[13] The 20-year-old Pascual would put in an encouraging rookie season for the 66–88 Senators, finishing 4–7 with a 4.22 ERA, 3 saves and one complete game in 48 appearances (3 starts).[1] However, walks would continue to plague the young pitcher, as he would finish the season with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of less than one (60 strikeouts and 61 walks).[1]

Pascual would continue to be used primarily as a reliever in 1955 and would improve his strikeout ratio, but this would be about the only statistic he would improve on over his rookie season as he would finish with a 2–12 record and 6.14 ERA – mirroring the club as a whole which won only 53 games.[14] However, Pascual would steadily improve, lowering his ERA and increasing his win total every year from 1955 to 1959.[1] In 1959, he would be named to his first of four consecutive All-Star teams, making the August 3, 1959 All-Star roster[15] (though not the July 1959 team[16]). Pascual finished 1959 with 17–10 record, a 2.64 ERA, and 185 strikeouts in 238+2⁄3 innings.[1] He also led the league in both complete games (17) and shutouts (6), as well as WAR,[1] while also receiving some support in the MVP balloting.[17]

The period from 1959 to 1964 would see Pascual's peak years. He would win at least 12 games every season while leading the league in complete games, shutouts, and strikeouts three times each.[1] He was selected to American League All-Star teams in five of those years (both 1960 All-Star teams,[18][19] the second 1961 All-Star team,[4] both 1962 All-Star teams,[20][21] and the 1964 team,[22] in addition to his 1959 selection); actually playing in three of those games (1961-62, 1964). During that time, the Senators moved to Minnesota, beginning the 1961 season as the Minnesota Twins, and Pascal moved with the team.[23][1]

In 1962, Pascual went 20-11 and led the league in complete games, shutouts and strikeouts to help notch his first 20-win season.[24] In a reversal from his earlier career, his 3.5–1 strikeout to walk ratio also led the American League.[25] In 1963, he had arguably his best season with a 21-9 win lost record, a 2.46 ERA, leading the league in complete games and 202 strikeouts.[1] In 1964, his record fell to 15–12, but the team overall was not as good as the previous two years, falling to sixth place with a record below .500.[1][6][26]

1965 would see the Twins/Washington franchise return to the World Series for the first time since Washington lost the 1933 series to the New York Giants.[26] However, after starting the season 8–2, injuries limited Pascual to nine relatively ineffective second-half starts, and shoulder surgery in August.[6] He recovered in time for the team's stretch run and American League pennant win, but lost his World Series matchup with Claude Osteen in Game 3 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.[27][6] The Dodgers defeated the Twins 4–3 to win the World Series.[28] Pascual would continue to have arm problems in 1966 and would pitch only 103 innings in 21 games, both career lows.[6][1]

New Washington Senators, Reds, Dodgers, Cleveland

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In 1961, an American League expansion team began play in Washington, D.C., once again called the Washington Senators.[23]

Seeing the writing on the wall, the Twins traded Pascual and once-promising second baseman Bernie Allen on December 3, 1966 to the new Washington Senators for 35-year-old relief pitcher Ron Kline.[29] Although no longer over-powering or the durable innings-eater he had once been, Pascual would have a minor renaissance during the 1967 and 1968 seasons while in Washington. He won a total of 25 games while leading the Senator' staff in wins and finishing second in both innings and strikeouts both seasons.[6][30][31]

However, Pascual would get off to a brutal start in 1969 (2-5, 6.83 ERA, 38 walks in 55+1⁄3 innings) and Washington would sell his rights to the Cincinnati Reds on July 7,[32] where he gave up seven runs in seven innings over the rest of the year.[1] Unable to make the club in spring training 1970, the Reds released Pascual on April 4, 1970[33] or April 13, 1970,[34] with the Los Angeles Dodgers signing him on April 13, 1970.[34] He pitched for the Dodgers until August[35] and for the Cleveland Indians for the first half of the 1971 season, but would only see action in a total of 19 games and he retired at the end of the season.[1]

Career

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Over his career, Pascual led the league in strikeouts in 1961 (221), 1962 (206), and 1963 (202)[1] and as of the start of the 2025 season, he is 71st on the all-time strikeout list (2,167).[36] However, he was also in the top 10 in the league in walks and home runs allowed five times in his career[citation needed] and is 87th[37] and 120th[38] all-time in those categories as of the start of the 2025 season. Pascual led the league in complete games three times (1959, 62, 63),[1] and came in second two more times (1961, 64).[39][40] Pascual was a 20-game winner twice, in 1962–63, and also finished with a career-high in complete games (18) in both of those seasons.[1]

Pascual posted a .205 batting average (198-for-967) with 71 runs, 32 doubles, 5 triples, 5 home runs, 81 RBI and 46 bases on balls. Defensively, he recorded a .973 fielding percentage.[1] He is one of only 7 pitchers in MLB history to hit 2 grand slams, the first on August 14, 1960, in a game against the New York Yankees,[41] and the second on April 27, 1965 in the 1st inning of a game against the Cleveland Indians.[42][43]

Yankee shortstop Tony Kubek said of Pascual's curveball, “'He’d come straight over the top with it and it would just dive off the table. The spin was so tight, you couldn’t identify the pitch until it was too late. It didn’t flutter, it didn’t hang, it just kept biting. When Pascual was right, nobody had a chance. That curve was unhittable.'”[25]

Retirement

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After his playing career ended, Pascual retired to Miami where he had lived since 1960.[11] From 1978 to 1980, Pascual was the Minnesota Twins pitching coach for manager Gene Mauch.[6] He scouted for the Oakland Athletics from 1982-1988, and then for the Dodgers beginning in 1989.[6] After 1989, he worked as an international scout for the New York Mets [citation needed]and the Dodgers. He was originally hired by the Dodgers to scout in Venezuela, but scouted players from other nations as well.[44][45][46][47] Among the major leaguers Pascual has signed are Jose Canseco, Alex Cora, Omar Daal, Miguel Cairo, and Franklin Gutiérrez.[6][48] He served as an international scout until he had almost turned 80.[6] His brother Carlos Pascual scouted for the Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and Mets, most notably signing Dwight "Doc" Gooden for the Mets.[6][49][50]

Honors

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In 1983, Pascual was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame.[51] Then, in 1996 he gained induction into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame as part of their first class.[6] His six victories in the Caribbean Series ties him with José Bracho and Rubén Gómez for the most all-time wins in the tournament.[citation needed]

On May 29, 2010, he was elected in the inaugural class of the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame at the Roman Amphitheater in Altos de Chavón, in the Dominican Republic.[52] He later became the 24th former Twins player inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame, during a ceremony held on July 15, 2012.[53]

He was honored on February 18, 2017, when his name was added to the "Pitching Wall of Great Achievement" at the Ted Williams Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.[54]

He was named Cuba's outstanding athlete of 1959.[55]

In 2020, The Athletic ranked Pascal's 1963 season as the third best by a right-handed pitcher in Twins history, and his 1962 season as eighth best.[25]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Camilo Pascual Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com". Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  2. ^ James, Bill; Neyer, Rob (2004), The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers, New York: Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-7432-6158-5, p. 336.
  3. ^ "MLB Power Rankings: The Top 10 Curveballs in Baseball History". Bleacher Report. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  4. ^ a b "1961 All-Star Game Box Score, July 31". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  5. ^ "Most strikeouts on Opening Day". MLB.com. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Bjarkman, Peter C. "Camilo Pascual, Society for American Baseball Research". SABR.org.
  7. ^ a b c "Camilo Pascual Register Statistics & History - Baseball-Reference.com". Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  8. ^ "1951 Geneva Robins Statistics -- Register - Baseball-Reference.com". Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  9. ^ "Reusse: Camilo and his curveball deserve spot in Twins' Hall". Star Tribune. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  10. ^ Stuart, Jeffrey (May 26, 2020). "Pitching Partners – Ramos and Pascual". D.C. Baseball History. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  11. ^ a b "Camilo Pascual - Best of Miami® 2000: Your Key to the City". Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  12. ^ "Baseball History in 1961 National League | Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  13. ^ "April 15, 1954 Washington Senators at Boston Red Sox Play by Play and Box Score - Baseball-Reference.com". Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  14. ^ "1955 Washington Nationals Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  15. ^ "1959 All-Star Game Box Score, August 3". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  16. ^ "1959 All-Star Game Box Score, July 7". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  17. ^ "1959 Awards Voting - Baseball-Reference.com". Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  18. ^ "1960 All-Star Game Box Score, July 11". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  19. ^ "1960 All-Star Game Box Score, July 13". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  20. ^ "1962 All-Star Game Box Score, July 10". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  21. ^ "1962 All-Star Game Box Score, July 30". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  22. ^ "1964 All-Star Game Box Score, July 7". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  23. ^ a b "A history of MLB's Washington Senators". MLB.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  24. ^ "Twins HOF honoree Pascual reminisces". Star Tribune. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  25. ^ a b c Gleeman, Aaron (June 3, 2020). "Ranking the Twins' top 10 seasons ever by a righty SP: Our toughest list to pick". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  26. ^ a b "Minnesota Twins Team History & Encyclopedia". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  27. ^ "1965 World Series Game 3, Minnesota Twins vs Los Angeles Dodgers: October 9, 1965". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  28. ^ "1965 World Series - Los Angeles Dodgers over Minnesota Twins (4-3)". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  29. ^ "Senators Acquire Pascual in Trade; Twins Trade Pascual and Allen To Senators for Kline, Reliever". New York Times. December 4, 1966.
  30. ^ "1967 Washington Senators Batting, Pitching, & Fielding Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com". Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  31. ^ "1968 Washington Senators Batting, Pitching, & Fielding Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com". Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  32. ^ "Camilo Pascual Trades and Transactions by Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  33. ^ "Reds Release Pascal". New York Times. April 5, 1970.
  34. ^ a b "Camilo Pascual Trades and Transactions by Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  35. ^ "Dodgers Release Pascual". New York Times. August 20, 1970.
  36. ^ "Career Leaders & Records for Strikeouts". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  37. ^ "Career Leaders & Records for Bases on Balls". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  38. ^ "Career Leaders & Records for Home Runs". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  39. ^ "1961 American League Pitching Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  40. ^ "1964 American League Pitching Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  41. ^ "Washington Senators vs New York Yankees Box Score: August 14, 1960". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  42. ^ "Minnesota Twins vs Cleveland Indians Box Score: April 27, 1965". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  43. ^ Sutton, Keith. "Pitchers Hitting Grand Slams, 1975 Baseball Research Journal, Society for American Baseball Research". SABR.org.
  44. ^ "Players Portal - The Baseball Cube". Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  45. ^ "TalkRadio 790 KABC-AM - Los Angeles". Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2011.
  46. ^ "Dodgers scout Pascual uncovers diamond". MLB.com. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  47. ^ Newhan, Ross (June 25, 2000). "Claire Has Faith in the Scout Team". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  48. ^ "Crasnick: Starting 9 of overlooked draft picks". ESPN.com. June 6, 2007. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  49. ^ Nobles, Charlie (January 31, 1997). "3 Cuban Defectors Go All Out for Scouts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  50. ^ Nobles, Charlie (January 29, 1997). "Scouts Taking a Look At Latest Cuban Imports". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  51. ^ "Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame | Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  52. ^ "Salon de la Fama del Beisbol Latino". Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  53. ^ "Twins right fielder Revere showing athleticism". Star Tribune. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  54. ^ Marc Topkin (February 19, 2017). "Ted Williams Hall welcomes a grateful Rose". Tampa Bay Times. p. 6C.
  55. ^ "Cuba Honors Camilo Pascual". New York Times. December 22, 1959.
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