Jim Maloney

ADKbrown · **Posted:** Mon Aug 29, 2005 11:39 am

In researching pitchers with multiple no-hitters, I was intrigued by Jim Maloney, who threw three (including two 10-inning stints) in the 1960s. I suppose any decent major-leaguer can get lucky and throw one no-hitter. To throw two, you have to be at least one cut above average. But to throw three? The only pitchers besides Maloney to have done this are four of the all-time greats: Koufax, Ryan, Cy Young, Bob Feller. Maloney is not in their class, but in his prime he was one of the top pitchers of his day. From 1964 to 1969, he had only one bad year (1968), and even then he was 16-10.

He was a power pitcher who usually struck out about twice as many batters as he walked. I thought it would be interesting to compare him in his prime to another power pitcher, Don Drysdale, a Hall of Famer. Following are the adjusted ERAs for both. (Adjusted ERA is raw ERA adjusted for park. It's measured as a percentage below or above average, where 100 is average. An adjusted ERA of 120, for example, is 20% better than average.)

Year Maloney Drysdale

1963 121 115
1964 133 148
1965 148 118
1966 139 96
1967 115 113
1968 88 129
1969 136 75

Judging by this stat, Maloney is at least the equal of Drysdale during this period. However, his performance dropped off suddenly. In 1969, he was 12-5 with a 2.77 ERA. The next year he was 0-1 with an 11.34 ERA. In 1971, he was 0-3 with a 5.04 ERA. That was his last season.

I assume Maloney was worn out by injuries. Doe anybody know what happened?

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:00 pm

ADKbrown wrote:

In researching pitchers with multiple no-hitters, ....

Things a little slow up there?

ADKbrown · **Posted:** Mon Aug 29, 2005 4:41 pm

Phillip Blanchard wrote:

ADKbrown wrote:

In researching pitchers with multiple no-hitters, ....

Things a little slow up there?

There is an occasional lull.

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Jim Maloney

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