Patrick Edward Dobson, Jr. (February 12, 1942 – November 22, 2006) was an American right-handed

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 ...

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 ...

who played for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

(1967–69),

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

(1970),

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

(1971–72),

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

(1973),

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

(1973–75) and

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

(1976–77). He was best known for being one of four Orioles pitchers to win 20 games in their season.

Baseball career

Dobson was born in

Depew, New York Depew () is a village (New York), village in Erie County, New York. The population was 15,303 at the time of the 2010 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The village is named for Chauncey Depew, a politician and ...

. He signed with Detroit in . After spending seven years in the

minor leagues 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 ...

and winter ball, pitching both in

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

and starting, he made his debut with the big team in the season after starting the season 4–1 with a 1.47 ERA in six starts for the AAA

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A baseball team nicknamed the ...

. Dobson would spend the next years as a reliever and spot starter for the Tigers including pitching innings of relief in the team's 1968 World Series victory over 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 ...

. Unable to claim a spot in the Tigers' rotation of Mickey Lolich,

Denny McLain Dennis Dale McLain (born March 29, 1944) is an American former professional baseball player. He played for ten seasons in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher, most prominently as a member of the Detroit Tigers. In 1968, McLain becam ...

, Earl Wilson, and Joe Sparma, Dobson was traded to San Diego in along with Dave Campbell for a young

Joe Niekro Joseph Franklin Niekro ( ; November 7, 1944 – October 27, 2006) was an American professional baseball pitcher. During a 22-year baseball career, he pitched from 1967 to 1988 for seven different teams, primarily for the Houston Astros. He was ...

. After going 14–15 with 185

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 and a 3.76

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 ...

as the staff ace for the last-place Padres, he was traded along with Tom Dukes to Baltimore for Enzo Hernández, Tom Phoebus,

Fred Beene Freddy Ray Beene (born November 24, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player. Beene was a right-handed pitcher who played in the Major League Baseball, Major Leagues between and . He was listed at tall and . Beene attended Braz ...

and Al Severinsen on December 1, 1970. In 1971 Dobson had a winning streak of 12 games (including nine consecutive complete games) and a scoreless inning streak of 23. On September 24, he recorded his 20th win, a 7–0

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, 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 basketba ...

against the Indians. Dobson posted a 20–8, 187, 2.90 season record, and was part of the Orioles' "Big Four" pitching staff along with Dave McNally (21–5),

Mike Cuellar Miguel Ángel Cuellar Santana (; May 8, 1937 – April 2, 2010) was a Cuban professional baseball player. He played for 15 seasons in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher in 1959 and from 1964 through 1977, most prominently as a memb ...

(20–9), and

Jim Palmer James Alvin Palmer (born October 15, 1945) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 years in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles (1965–1967, 1969–1984). Palmer was the winningest MLB pitcher in the ...

(20–9). Baltimore went on to win 101 games, with the distinction of having four 20-game winners in a season; only one other team in MLB history, the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

, have had four 20-game winners. On November 2, 1971, Dobson threw a 2–0

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit (baseball), hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in ...

against the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They h ...

in Tokyo. It was the first no-hit game in the Japanese-American baseball exhibition history. Dobson was an

All-Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

in . His 2.65 ERA was a major improvement from his 20-win season, but he went 16–18, tying for the AL lead in losses with Yankee

Mel Stottlemyre Melvin Leon Stottlemyre Sr. (November 13, 1941 – January 13, 2019) was an American professional baseball pitcher and Coach (baseball)#Pitching coach, pitching coach. He played for 11 seasons in Major League Baseball, all for the New York Yanke ...

. In a transaction primarily driven by the Orioles' need for a power-hitting catcher, he was dealt along with

Davey Johnson David Allen Johnson (born January 30, 1943) is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He played as a second baseman from through , most notably in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the Baltimore Orioles dynasty t ...

, Johnny Oates and Roric Harrison to the

for Earl Williams and Taylor Duncan on the last day of the

Winter Meetings Representatives of all 30 Major League Baseball teams and their 120 Minor League Baseball affiliates convene for four days each December in the Winter Meetings to discuss league business and conduct off-season trades and transactions. Attendees in ...

on December 1, 1972.Durso, Joseph. "A's Send Epstein to Rangers; Scheinblum, Nelson to Reds," ''The New York Times'', Saturday, December 2, 1972.
Retrieved April 12, 2020 After starting the 1973 season 3–7, Dobson was sent to the Yankees on June 7 for four minor league players (none of whom panned out). Escaping Atlanta, he again blossomed and finished the season with a 9–8 record for the Yankees. Dobson started the 1974 campaign weakly, achieving only a 6–11 record by mid–season. However, Dobson anchored the Yankees' pitching staff in the second half of the season, finishing with a 19–15 record and a 3.07 ERA, the best numbers that year for a Yankee pitcher. After a slumping 11–14, 4.07 in , Dobson was traded to the Indians, and recovered in with a 16–12, 3.48 record. The season proved to be his last, as Dobson compiled a 3–12, 6.16 record. He was released by the Indians during spring training of 1978. In his 11-season career Dobson had a record of 122–129, with 1,301 strikeouts, a 3.54 earned run average, 74

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, 14 shutouts, 19 saves, and

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 ...

in 414 games.

Later life

After his playing days, Dobson became a pitching coach for the Brewers, Padres, Royals and Orioles. From 1989 to 1990, he was the manager of the Fort Myers Sun Sox of the

Senior Professional Baseball Association The Senior Professional Baseball Association, referred to commonly as the ''Senior League'', was a winter baseball league based in Florida for players age 35 and over, with a minimum age of 32 for catchers. The league began play in 1989 and had ei ...

, leading the team to a 37–35 record and a playoff berth in his first season and an 11–14 record at the time of the league's demise on December 26, 1990. In 1997, Dobson joined the

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

organization and worked as an advance major league scout and assistant to general manager Brian Sabean. In 2006 Dobson died from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

at the age of 64, one day after being diagnosed with the disease.

References

External links

"Former Orioles 20-game winner Dobson dies at 64"
ESPN.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, Pat 1942 births 2006 deaths Atlanta Braves players American League All-Stars Baltimore Orioles coaches Baltimore Orioles players Cleveland Indians players Colorado Rockies scouts Deaths from leukemia in California Detroit Tigers players Duluth-Superior Dukes players Durham Bulls players Kansas City Royals coaches Knoxville Smokies players Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Buffalo, New York Major League Baseball pitching coaches Milwaukee Brewers coaches Minor league baseball managers Montgomery Rebels players New York Yankees players Petroleros de Zulia players Portland Beavers players San Diego Padres players San Francisco Giants scouts Syracuse Chiefs players Toledo Mud Hens players 20th-century American sportsmen

Baseball career

Later life

See also

References

External links