James Edward Golden (born March 20, 1936) is an American former

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

, a right-hander who appeared in 69

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

over all or parts of four seasons (1960–1963) for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

and

Houston Colt .45s The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. They are one of two major league clubs based in Tex ...

. Golden batted left-handed, stood tall and weighed in his playing days. He graduated from high school in

Silver Lake, Kansas Silver Lake is a city in Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,345. History 19th century Silver Lake was founded in 1868. It was named ...

, near

Topeka Topeka ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeaste ...

, and signed with the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

at age 18 in 1954. He worked his way through the Phillies'

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

system for five seasons, but was never called to the majors. Finally, in December 1958, the Phils packaged him and two other players to Los Angeles in exchange for 24-year-old

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

Sparky Anderson George Lee "Sparky" Anderson (February 22, 1934 – November 4, 2010) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player, coach, and manager. He managed the National League's Cincinnati Reds from 1970 to 1978 and the American League's Detroit Ti ...

, then a prospect in the Dodger

farm system In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...

but a future

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. The Dodgers kept Golden at Triple-A

St. Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

for two full campaigns before recalling him in the closing weeks of the campaign. He won 20 games for St. Paul in 1960, and led the American Association in both wins and

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(2.32). Golden then spent the full seasons of and in the major leagues. He was a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

for the pennant-contending 1961 Dodgers, working in 28 games and posting a 1–1 record with no saves. Then he was selected by the brand-new Colt .45s as the 37th pick in the 1961 Major League Baseball expansion draft. As a member of 1962 Colts, Golden appeared in 37 games, including 18 as a

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

, and won seven of 18 decisions with an earned run average of 4.07. He was credited with five

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

s and two

shutouts In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

, including a five-hitter against his old Dodger teammates on June 15, defeating that year's winner of the

Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (baseball), National League (NL). The award was introduced in 1956 by Commissioner of Baseball ( ...

, Hall of Famer

Don Drysdale Donald Scott Drysdale (July 23, 1936 – July 3, 1993), nicknamed "Big D", was an American professional baseball pitcher and broadcaster who played in Major League Baseball. He spent his entire 14-year career with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Do ...

, 2–0. Five of Golden's wins came at the expense of Houston's fellow

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

expansion entry, the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

, who lost 120 games that season. His five complete games and two shutouts would be the only ones of his MLB career. Golden worked in three early-season games for Houston, but he was roughed up in his final appearance, a start against the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

April 23; he allowed two

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

s in 2

innings pitched In baseball, the statistic innings pitched (IP) is the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of Batter (baseball), batters and baserunners that have been put out while the pitcher is on the Baseball field#Pitcher's mou ...

before being taken out of the contest. But the Colt .45 bullpen let the game get out of hand, surrendering 13 more runs as St. Louis triumphed, 15–0.Retrosheet box score: 1963-04-23
/ref> Golden then spent the rest of 1963 and all of 1964 at Triple-A before retiring from baseball. During his MLB career, Golden posted a 9–13 record and 4.54 career earned run average in 69

games pitched In baseball statistics, games pitched (denoted by Games G in tables of only pitching statistics) is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher. The statistic is also referred to as appearances, especially to refer to the number of ...

; he allowed 233 hits and 76

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), better known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches during a plate appearance that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The bas ...

, with 115

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s, in 208 innings pitched. He appeared in another six MLB games as a

pinch runner In baseball or softball, a pinch runner is a player substituted into a game for the purpose of base running. Description A pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been s ...

during the 1962 season. At the plate, he batted .217 with 13 hits, including three doubles and two

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

, with eight

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

References

External links

1936 births Living people Baseball players from Missouri Houston Colt .45s players Indianapolis Indians players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball pitchers Mattoon Indians players Mattoon Phillies players Oklahoma City 89ers players People from Eldon, Missouri People from Shawnee County, Kansas St. Paul Saints (AA) players Salt Lake City Bees players Schenectady Blue Jays players Baseball players from Topeka, Kansas Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-pitcher-1930s-stub