Mike Caldwell (baseball)

Ralph Michael "Mike" Caldwell (born January 22, 1949) is an American and former collegiate and professional baseball left-handed pitcher. Caldwell was drafted in the twelfth round of the 1971 amateur draft by the San Diego Padres after graduating from North Carolina State University, where he played college baseball for the Wolfpack.^[1] He made his major league debut on September 4, 1971 against the Atlanta Braves. In October 1973, the Padres traded Caldwell to the San Francisco Giants for Willie McCovey and Bernie Williams. Caldwell was traded again in 1976, this time to the St. Louis Cardinals with John D'Acquisto and Dave Rader for Willie Crawford, Vic Harris and John Curtis. Before the start of the 1977 season, Caldwell was traded for the third time, going to the Cincinnati Reds for Pat Darcy. After just fourteen games, the Reds traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers for minor leaguers Dick O'Keefe and Garry Pyka.

Caldwell had his best season in 1978 when he went 22–9 with a 2.36 ERA and led the AL in Complete Games with 23. Caldwell was named the AL Comeback Player of the Year by The Sporting News and finished second in the Cy Young Award balloting to Ron Guidry. Caldwell finished in double figures in victories for 6 consecutive seasons for the Brewers (1978–1983) and won 2 games in the 1982 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals in a losing effort. Caldwell was given his unconditional release by the Brewers organization in 1985.

In 1978, he was one of the three left-handed pitchers named "Mike" (the others being Mike Flanagan and Mike Willis) to hand the New York Yankees' Ron Guidry a loss in his 25–3 season. He and the Brewers shut out the Yankees and Guidry 6–0 on July 7, 1978.

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)