Cal McLish 1925-2010
Posted by Andy on August 29, 2010
Cal McLish has passed away at age 84.
He had a lengthy career and is often noted for a few things:
- McLish first appeared in the majors at age 18 in 1944, but due to ineffectiveness did not appear in the majors again until 1946. He then missed 1950 in the majors as well as all of 1952-1955. By 1956 at age 30, he was in the majors for good, appearing in 8 more seasons.
- Over a stretch in 1958-1959, McLish went 21 straight road starts without receiving a loss:
Rk Strk Start End Games W L GS CG IP H ER BB SO HR Tm 1 Chris Young 2005-06-25 2007-04-04 25 9 0 25 0 143.1 102 50 53 116 17 3.14 TEX-SDP 2 Allie Reynolds 1948-05-23 1949-08-11 25 15 0 25 7 170.2 167 72 87 71 11 3.80 NYY 3 Russ Meyer 1953-05-12 1954-07-18 24 14 0 24 10 153.0 139 52 48 59 14 3.06 BRO 4 Greg Maddux 1997-04-12 1998-07-02 22 16 0 22 5 156.2 116 32 13 120 7 1.84 ATL 5 Scott McGregor 1982-09-06 1983-09-03 21 14 0 21 8 152.1 148 42 24 47 12 2.48 BAL 6 Cal McLish 1958-06-14 1959-07-16 21 16 0 21 9 162.0 153 46 54 82 13 2.56 CLE 7 Monte Pearson 1936-05-13 1937-08-12 21 14 0 21 10 157.1 148 61 79 83 8 3.49 NYY 8 Jamie Moyer 1994-07-17 1996-08-22 20 13 0 20 0 125.1 126 53 27 64 18 3.81 BAL-BOS-SEA 9 Greg Maddux 1994-07-02 1995-09-27 20 18 0 20 11 154.2 93 17 15 129 4 0.99 ATL 10 Dave LaPoint 1980-09-26 1983-05-29 20 8 0 20 1 114.2 127 42 48 58 9 3.30 MIL-STL 11 Richard Dotson 1983-06-07 1984-06-18 19 16 0 19 7 138.0 111 39 48 82 9 2.54 CHW 12 Tommy John 1967-09-03 1969-05-15 19 10 0 19 5 137.0 110 27 37 90 7 1.77 CHW 13 Bobo Newsom 1939-09-14 1940-08-29 19 11 0 19 9 129.1 118 40 61 79 6 2.78 DET At the time, his 16 straight wins without a loss was a record that has since been reached by a few other players
- His full given name was Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish, which I think is the longest name of any major league baseball player.
August 29th, 2010 at 6:46 am
cal pitched, and won, the first game i ever attended. He defeated the Washington Senators at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium in August of 1959 with me, my dad and my older sister in attendance...
August 29th, 2010 at 7:08 am
He has to have the best full name in MLB history too! Awesome name!
August 29th, 2010 at 7:38 am
RIP Mr McLish.....
The longest name in baseball history belongs to Alan Gallagher : http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gallaal01.shtml
August 29th, 2010 at 7:43 am
Alan Mitchell Edward George Patrick Henry Gallagher is longer, http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gallaal01.shtml
August 29th, 2010 at 9:53 am
1959 was a great year for the tribe.....Cal will always be one of my favorite Topps baseball cards.
R I P
August 29th, 2010 at 11:52 am
No love for Christian Frederick Albert John Henry David Betzel? Same number of names as Gallagher.
RIP, Mr. McLish.
August 29th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
I was just thinking of him the other day when I made a post about players named Calvin in response to the Calvin Schiraldi baseball card.
August 29th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
McLish is the name that comes up for the following in the Search box:
the coolidge
the julius
the tuskahoma
the mclish
Not surprisingly, Cal Ripken, Jr., comes up for "the calvin".
Thomas Caesar "Tom" Candiotti comes up for "the caesar".
Nicknames shown on McLish's page for him are "Bus" and "Buster".
Homer Bush comes up for "the bus".
Buster Posey, who debuted in the major leagues less than a year ago, comes up for "the buster".
August 29th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
#6, I think you'll find Gallagher comes in at 45 letters, Betzel at a mere 44.
August 29th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
I had an old Who's Who in Baseball. It was pretty old... from the late fifties, I think, but I always liked his name. So, he was always memorable to me, even as a .500 pitcher. I believe I had this in 77 or 78. It was torn and raggedy, but awesome anyway. BTW, I was ten years old 1976 to give perspective on when I really started paying attention to baseball (1975 World Series, as a matter of fact and because of that, a lifelong Peter Edward Rose fan). Anyway, it is sad that the man has passed. I leave my condolences for his family.
August 30th, 2010 at 8:47 am
Since I statred watching baseball in the mid-70's, I obviously never saw Cal pitch. And like all non-stars from the 50's and 60's, I really only know of him from his baseball cards, which include perhaps the most unfortunate photograph ever sold with a stick of bubble gum (1961 Topps). R.I.P. Cal
http://www.checkoutmycards.com/Cards/Baseball/1961/Topps/157/Cal_McLish
August 30th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
my mom will be going to the funeral tomorrow for cal....she had been in touch with him lately,,,,,they are -- or were, the same age, and 2nd cousins. i lost my only baseball card of him long ago
September 4th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Too weird, I was looking up old White Sox players this morning and Cal was one of them then I saw this note on his passing. He was only with the Sox a short time but pitched some good ones. A better pitcher then the record indicates. So long Cal.