If there?s ever a Hall of Fame for pitching coaches, the Baltimore Orioles will be well represented.
George Bamberger, Ray Miller and Leo Mazzone would all be mortal locks for induction. (I?m sure there are readers who would want Harry Brecheen included in that group, although many of the Oriole pitchers from that era say that skipper Paul Richards, a former catcher, was the true mentor of the mound staff.)
Bamberger and Miller, during his first term as pitching coach, presided over the truly great arms in Orioles? history. Twenty-game winners, Cy Young honorees, effective bullpen specialists ? all benchmarks of Baltimore pitching during that two-decade stretch from the 1960s into the 1980s, when you could mark down 90 wins every year like clockwork.
Mazzone?s inclusion would be based upon his success in Atlanta, because as we?ve seen this year, turning a pitching staff around is a work in progress. Leo is a great teacher, but if you were expecting magician David Copperfield, you?re not paying attention.
Pitching is hard, and I do mean hard. If it was easy, we?d all be doing it. It?s remarkable that when you add up the total of big-league wins by the above-mentioned trio, it?s a big fat zero. That?s right. Between Bamberger, Miller and Mazzone, only George actually appeared in a major-league game ? 10, to be exact, with the Giants and Orioles. And his record was 0-0, with an ERA over 9.00. You?ve heard the old expression, those who can, do, those who can?t, teach? It?s never been more appropriate than in this case.
Obviously, some pitchers are better students than others. The results speak for themselves. In Mazzone?s case, it?s well documented that pitchers who came to Atlanta from somewhere else did better under his tutelage, then reverted to form when sent somewhere else. If the Braves traded a pitcher, you could be almost certain that he had little left in the tank.
Take Damien Moss and Russ Ortiz, two guys who were once traded for each other. Moss had one good season with Atlanta (12-6, 3.42) and was swapped tothe Giants for Ortiz. (He later was traded here for Sidney Ponson and was dreadful.) Ortiz had been pretty good for the Giants, winning as many as 18 games one year, but became a 20-game winner for Mazzone. He was only 30 when he signed a rich free-agent deal with Arizona, where he went 5-11 last year with an ERA of 6.89 ? just shy of matching his $7.3-million salary. A week ago the D-backs demoted him to the bullpen. For that kind of money, he?ll be in Arizona for a long time.
Mazzone will be successful here for the same reasons he was successful in Atlanta. He?s smart, he?s patient, and he sees beyond simple statistics. It?s quite apparent the Braves miss him already. I know that pitching coaches don?t sell tickets, but within the next couple of years, you?ll see that Mazzone was the Orioles? single most important free -agent signing of last winter.
Hear Phil Wood every Saturday at 11a.m. on ESPN Radio 1300.
