Camilo Pascual

142
Camilo Pascual bigraphy, stories - Cuban baseball player

Camilo Pascual : biography

January 20, 1934 –

Camilo Alberto (Lus) Pascual (born January 20, 1934 in Havana, Cuba) is a former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. During an 18-year baseball career (1954–1971), he played for the Washington Senators (which became the Minnesota Twins in 1961), the second Washington Senators franchise, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Cleveland Indians. He was also known by the nicknames "Camile" and "Little Potato."http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pascuca02.shtml

Pascual’s best pitches were his fastball and devastating overhand curveball, described by Ted Williams as the "most feared curveball in the American League for 18 years"., p. 336. Over his career, he compiled 174 wins, 2,167 strikeouts, and a 3.63 earned run average. He was elected to the American League All-Star team 5 times (-, ). In the 1961 All-Star Game, he pitched three hitless innings and struck out four.

Retirement

After his playing career ended, Pascual retired to Miami where he had lived since 1960. From 1978 to 1980, Pascual was the Minnesota Twins pitching coach for manager Gene Mauch. Since 1989, he has worked as international scout for the Oakland Athletics, New York Mets, and the Los Angeles Dodgers, for whom he currently scouts Venezuela.http://www.thebaseballcube.com/managers/16368.shtmlhttp://www.kabc.com/article.asp?id=1819254&spid=31063 Among the major leaguers Pascual has signed are Jose Canseco, Alex Cora, Omar Daal, Miguel Cairo, and Franklin Gutierrez.

Notes

Honors

In 1983, Pascual was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame. Then, in 1996 he gained induction into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame as part of their first class. His six victories in the Caribbean Series ties him with José Bracho and Rubén Gómez for the most all-time wins in the tournament.

On May 29, 2010, he was elected in the inaugural class of the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame at the Roman Amphitheater in Altos de Chavón, in the Dominican Republic.http://www.salondelafamadelbeisbollatino.com/ He later became the 24th former Twins player inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame, during a ceremony held on July 15, 2012.http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/162487076.html

Playing career

As a 17-year-old, Pascaul left Havana and spent the 1951 season as a minor league free agent pitching for the Class-D Chickasha Chiefs in the Oklahoma Sooner State League and two Class-C teams, the Big Spring Broncs in the Longhorn League and Geneva Robins in the New York Border League.http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=pascua001cam The latter team was made up largely of Cuban players signed by Washington Senator’s scout Joe Cambria including future Minnesota Twins teammate Julio Becquer.http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/team.cgi?id=59caa2b5http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/138091883.html Pascual would finish the season with a combined record of 5–4 with a 4.64 ERA and 46 walks in 64 innings. Despite his less than overwhelming stats, the 18 year old Pascual was signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent prior to the start of the 1952 season. Pascual would spend the 1952 season in Class-B pitching for the Havana Cubans and the Tampa Smokers in the Florida International League, improving to an 8–6 record with a 2.88 ERA and only 66 walks in 122 innings over 24 games. He would be back at Havana for the entire 1953 season and would compile similar stats as the year before (10-6, 3.00 ERA, 68 walks, 141 Inn in 25 games). Following the season, he would play for his hometown Elefantes de Cienfuegos competing for the Caribbean World Series. He would continue to play for Cienfuegos or Tigres de Marianao until Fidel Castro closed the country in 1961.http://www.miaminewtimes.com/bestof/2000/award/best-cuban-league-baseball-player-living-in-miami-14958/

Pascual would go north with the Senators in 1954 and would make his major league debut on 15 April, mopping up the last 3 innings of a 6–1 loss to the Boston Red Sox for losing pitcher Bob Porterfield.http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS195404150.shtml the 20 year old Pascual would put in an encouraging rookie season for the 66–88 Senators, finishing 4–7 with a 4.22 ERA, 3 saves and one complete game in 48 appearances (3 starts). However walks would continue to plague the young pitcher, as he would finish the season with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of less than one (60 strikeouts and 61 walks). Pascaul would continue to be used primarily as a reliever in 1955 and would improve his strikeout ratio, but this would be about the only statistic where he would improve on over his rookie season as he would finish with a 2–12 record and 6.14 ERA – mirroring the club as a whole which won only 53 games. However, Pascual would steadily improve, lowering his ERA and increasing his Win total every year from 1955 to 1959, and he would be named to his first of four consecutive All-Star teams in 1959. Pascual finished 1959 with 17–10 record, a 2.64 ERA, and 185 strikeouts in 238 2/3 innings. He also lead the league in both complete games (33) and shutouts (6), while also receiving some support in the MVP balloting.http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1959.shtml#ALmvp