Juan Suby

Juan Suby Valdiviezo (Old Soupy)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 176 lb.

• Born September 16, 1940 in Puerto Cortés, Baja California Sur Mexico

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Juan Suby was a Mexican League pitcher who was a star in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1969, he acknowledged during a radio interview that he threw a spitball, long after this had been banned from Organized Baseball. Suby began his career with the Puebla Parrots and had four rocky seasons, to say the least. He was 1-4, 4.59 in 1961, then 6-6, 4.70, then 8-11, 5.31 and finally 5-7, 5.79 during his Puebla years. He also went 4-1, 3.23 for the Celaya Cajeteros in the 1961 Mexican Center League.

In 1965 Juan joined the Jalisco Charros. After a 9-13, 3.06 season, he improved to 7-5, 2.34 in 1966 as the club's ace reliever. He improved the next year to 10-8, 2.36 and led the Mexican League in ERA. He walked only 21 batters in 141 innings and allowed just two homers. Splitting the 1968 campaign between Jalisco and the Mexico City Tigres, he was 5-4 with a 2.93 ERA.

Suby became the Tigres' workhorse in 1969, working 243 innings and going 19-17. He started 22 games (completing 15 of them) and relieved in 44 others. He led the Liga Mexicana in games pitched, losses and was 8th in ERA and 5th in wins. More amazingly, he issued 36 intentional walks, clearly the LMB record. As of 2000, no one else had issued even 28.

In 1970 Juan opened the year with three straight shutouts, leading to questions abotu whether he was using the spitball again but was not caught. He went 20-14 with a 3.57 ERA that year, starting 26 games and relieving in 32. He only pitched one more shutout after the hot start. He finished one win behind league leader Alfredo Mariscal. 1971 was his last great season, as he went 22-12 with a 2.63 ERA and tied Ernesto Gonzalez for the LMB lead in wins.

Suby fell to 7-7, 3.50 in 1972 and 10-8, 3.54 in '73. He bounced back a bit, going 9-6 with six saves and a 2.53 ERA in 1974. He was 7-10 over his final three seasons (missing 1977-78), retiring at age 38.

Overall, in the LMB, Juan Suby was 145-132 with a 3.39 ERA in 697 appearances. As of 2000, he was third all-time in the Liga in games pitched (behind Ramon Arano and Luis Villanueva) and first in intentional walks issued (178, 15 more than #2 man Arano). He was elected to the Salón de la Fama in 2013, tying Mariscal with 181 votes to lead the veterans' ballot.

Sources

The Mexican League: Comprehensive Player Statistics by Pedro Treto Cisneros, 1968 and 1970-1971 Baseball Guides