Al Downing (baseball)
| Al Downing | |||
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| Pitcher | |||
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Born: June 28, 1941 Trenton, New Jersey |
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| MLB debut | |||
| July 19, 1961, for the New York Yankees | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| July 13, 1977, for the Los Angeles Dodgers | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Win–loss record | 123–107 | ||
| Earned run average | 3.22 | ||
| Strikeouts | 1,639 | ||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Alphonso Erwin "Al" Downing (born June 28, 1941) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He was an All Star in 1967 and the NL Comeback Player of the Year in 1971. Downing is also famous for surrendering Hank Aaron's record breaking 715th home run on April 8, 1974.
Downing was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He attended Trenton Central High School, Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Rider College (now known as Rider University) in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.
Downing signed with the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1961, and was already on the major league roster by July of that season. In his first full major league season, 1963, Downing went 13-5 with a 2.56 earned run average for a Yankee team that went 104-57, but were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1963 World Series. In 1964, he went 13-8 with a 3.47 earned run average, and led the league with 217 strikeouts.
Downing was 9-5 with a 2.66 ERA when he made his only All-Star team in 1967. He pitched two innings, giving up no earned runs while striking out two. On August 11, he struck out three batters (Tony Horton, Don Demeter and Duke Sims) on nine pitches in the second inning of a 5-3 win over the Cleveland Indians. Downing became the sixth American League pitcher and the 13th pitcher in Major League history to accomplish this feat.
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