Tom Candiotti

Pitcher

Born: August 31, 1957 (age 59)
Walnut Creek, California

Batted: Right

Threw: Right

MLB debut

August 8, 1983, for the Milwaukee Brewers

Last MLB appearance

July 24, 1999, for the Cleveland Indians

MLB statistics

Win–loss record

151–164

Earned run average

3.73

Strikeouts

1,735

Teams

Thomas Caesar Candiotti (born August 31, 1957) is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who was known for his knuckleball. He played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Dodgers. As of the 2015 season, Candiotti is a television and radio analyst for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Candiotti is a graduate of Queen of All Saints Catholic School in Concord, California, Concord High School, and an alumnus of Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, California. Candiotti pitched for the Saint Mary's baseball team for four years. He later said that he might not have been able to play college baseball at a larger school.

Candiotti, nicknamed "The Candy Man" or simply "Candy", was not drafted by any major-league team despite his success at Saint Mary's College. He got a shot when he traveled to Victoria, British Columbia, for a tryout with the independent Victoria Mussels of the Northwest League in 1979. Candiotti won five games that year for a Victoria team that lost out on the pennant by percentage points to the Walla Walla Padres. "I had no place to stay", Candiotti recalled years later. "For a week, I stayed in the locker room. After that, I stayed with a buddy. I slept on the floor at his place. I didn't have any money. I didn't have a car or anything. There were even a couple of times when I slept on the field in my sleeping bag. It was that bad."

Following his only season in Victoria, the Mussels sold Candiotti to the Kansas City Royals in 1980. However, he never pitched for the Royals and was claimed in the Rule 5 draft by Milwaukee that year. Candiotti won his first four major-league starts with Milwaukee in 1983, including a complete-game shutout on August 25 against California. In his first three career starts, Candiotti pitched at least seven innings and gave up one earned run or none. After two seasons with the Brewers, Candiotti signed with Cleveland in 1985, where he enjoyed his most successful seasons.

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