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10/21/2001 - Starting Pitchers of the Blue Jays
First of a Four Part Series: The Seventies

This series of articles is not intended to list and chronicle every starting pitcher that has ever pitched for the Blue Jays, but rather is a look at a select few who have stood out over the years. Certainly there may be arguments for inclusion of others and the exception of some that I have included. This four part series will examine four main eras: the 1970s (Singer, Clancy, etc), the 1980s (Steib, Alexander, Leal), the early 1990s (Key, Stottlemyre, Morris, etc.) and the late 1990s to the present (Clemens, Hentgen, Carpenter, etc).

BILL SINGER
One who will always be a part of Blue Jay lore, Bill Singer was the pitcher who threw the first pitch, a strike to Chicago’s Ralph Garr, in Blue Jays history, on April 7, 1977.

Born on April 22, 1944, Singer was signed to the Blue Jays primarily to give the fledging team a bit of star power. Twice he had won 20 games in a season, in 1969 and 1973, the same year he was named to the All-Star Game. Later he would team with Nolan Ryan to record the most strikeouts by any duo in Major League history.

He had a no-hitter to his credit, having struck out 10 and walked none on July 20th, 1970, against the Philadelphia Phillies, shortly after he had spent three weeks in the hospital with hepatitis.

Exactly eight years before pitching the Blue Jays opener (April 7, 1969), Singer had been credited with the first official save in Major League history, as the Dodgers beat the Reds 3-2.

After stints with Los Angeles (1964-1972) and California (1973-1975), he had spent 1976 with Texas and Minnesota before being selected by the Blue Jays in the expansion draft. Even after he was selected, he was almost traded to the Yankees in exchange for Ron Guidry.

Singer didn’t get the win on Opening Day. In fact, it was not until May 4th that Singer picked up his first win for Toronto, vs. the Milwaukee Brewers. He went 2-8 with a 6.79 ERA for the Blue Jays, appearing in just thirteen games (all but one as a starter) and going on the disabled list twice with back and arm problems, making but two appearances after June 18th. 1977 was Singer’s last year in the majors. More recently he was a scout for the Florida Marlins.

DAVE LEMANCZYK
Even before playing for the Blue Jays, Lemanczyk had played pro bal in Canada, having played for the Guelph Cjoys in 1971.

Lemanczyk was taken in the second round of the expansion draft from the Tigers, where he had played since 1973, going 8-14 with Detroit.

Lamanczyk debuted for Toronto on April 10th, 1977 and got his first win on April 13th , ironically against Detroit. After not missing a start that first year, Lemanczyk would get thirteen wins for the Blue Jays (against 16 losses and an ERA of 4.25), tying Gene Brabender of the 1969 Seattle Pilots for the most wins on an expansion club. He would also be the first man named Blue Jay pitcher of the year.

On three different occasions in 1977, Lemanczyk would be called upon to pitch eleven innings, getting the win twice.

Coming off a rough second year in 1978, in which he would get just four wins while losing 14. Lemanczyk tossed the first one-hitter in Blue Jays history, against Texas on April 24, 1979. That, more than the 8-10 record he would eventually compile, helped earn him an All-Star selection, although he didn’t appear in the Mid-Summer Classic.

Lamanczyk would be Toronto’s Opening Day starter for the second time in 1980 (first time was 1978). After starting the year 2-5 for the Jays, Lemanczyk was sold to the California Angels on June 3rd where he would go 2-4 in the final months of his major league career.

Lamanczyk currently lives in Rockville Center, New York, where he runs an indoor baseball academy.

JERRY GARVIN
Left-hander Garvin spent just six years in the majors, from 1977-1982 and was a Blue Jay for all of them, after being taken from Minnesota in the 1976 expansion draft, the second player selected by Toronto overall.

After making his major league debut on April 10th, Garvin went 10-18 in that first year and made his way into the record books with several different feats. He was just the second rookie to win 10 games for a first-year expansion club, with Dick Drago of the 1969 Royals being the first. He would lead the league in home runs given up with 33 and he would pick off 22 base runners, thus sharing an unofficial major league record with Steve Carleton.

In 1977, he led the team in ERA (with 4.19), strikeouts (127), complete games (12) and losses (18). In 1978, he would go 4-12.

In 1979, Garvin suffered an arm injury, appearing in just 8 games and was moved to the bullpen. He would appear in 136 more games, but would start just 9 of them. In 196 games, Garvin went 20-41 with 8 saves (all of them in 1980).

TOM UNDERWOOD
Underwood came to the Blue Jays from the Cardinals in a December 6th, 1977 trade that brought Victor Cruz to the Blue Jays for Pete Vuckovich. Prior to being traded to St. Louis in the middle of the 1977 season, Underwood had spent three and a half seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies where he had gone 28-20 in 89 games (60 starts) since making his major league debut on August 19, 1974. In 19 games for the Cardinals, all but two of them being starts, Underwood had compiled a 6-9 record.

Underwood made his Blue Jay debut on April 9, 1978 in a loss against Detroit. Underwood played for Toronto during the 1978 and 1979 seasons, and led the team in strikeouts both years (149 in 1978 and 127 in 1979). Both years he would win Labatt’s Blue Jay Pitcher of the Year honours (sharing the award with Jim Clancy in 1978).

Underwood went 6-14 with a 4.10 ERA in 1978 and led the team with 9 wins (against 16 losses) during a 1979 campaign that saw Toronto got 53-109 on the season. However he started the season with 9 consecutive losses between April 5th and June 10th, which comprised a streak of 13 consecutive losses dating back to August 28th, 1978.

During that streak would come two notable games. First was Opening Day 1979, in which Clancy would be the starter, but it would be Jim Clancy who got the decision in a 4-1 win over Kansas City. Then on May 31st, Underwood would take the loss ina 1-0 game against Detroit, in which the opposing starter was younger brother Pat.

On November 1st, 1979 he was traded along with Rick Cerone and Ted Wilborn to the New York Yankees for Chris Chambliss, Damaso Garcia and Paul Mirabella. After going 13-9 in 1980, he would play four more years in the majors, with the Yankees, Oakland and Baltimore over which he would compile a 24-19 record.

JIM CLANCY
Clancy was the only Blue Jay to play for the team in each of its first eleven seasons, serving as a member of Toronto’s starting rotation from 1977 (after being selected from Texas in the 1976 draft) until leaving for the Houston Astros prior to the 1989 season.

He made his major league debut on July 26, 1977 in a 14-0 loss against Texas. He lasted just 2 innings and gave up 5 hits and 5 earned runs. His first win would come August 1st against Milwaukee.

In 1980, he gave up 128 walks, still a record for a single season for Blue Jays pitchers. However, he had 15 complete games and was named Toronto Blue Jays Pitcher of the Year.

The Opening Day pitcher in 1981, Clancy struggled to a 6-12 record. En route to being named Blue Jays Comeback Player of the Year in 1982, he led the American League with 40 starts (still a Blue Jays season record) and earned a career high 16 wins against 14 losses and a 3.71 ERA. On September 28th of that season, he pitched 8 perfect innings in the first game of a double-header against Minnesota before giving up a broken bat single to Randy Bush en route to a 1-hit shut out. In 1982, he would complete 11 of the games he started (a figure he would match in 1983). His efforts were enough for Clancy to be named to the American League All-Star team, in which he pitched one inning in relief.

1983 saw Clancy go 15-11 with a 3.91 ERA and was the second best pitcher on the staff behind Dave Steib. After leading all Blue Jays (and tied for the AL lead) with 36 starts (in which he went 13-15 with a 5.12 ERA) in 1984, he won five consecutive starts between and July 5 and 28th, 1985.

Clancy appeared in relief Game 3 of the 1985 ALCS against Kansas City. He came on in the 8th inning and gave up the winning run in the 6-5 loss as George Brett singled and scored.

During his last three seasons with Toronto, Clancy was merely mortal, going 14-14 in 1986, 15-11 in 1987 (although he had 10 wins at the All-Star break) and 11-13 in 1988. In 1986, however, he would record his 100th win, the first Blue Jay to do so. In 1988, he had hit first career save for Toronto, although he started 31 of the 36 games he appeared in. After leaving Toronto as a free agent for Houston in 1988, Clancy went 9-25 before being traded to the Atlanta Braves in 1991 where he went 3-2.

Clancy still leads the Toronto Blue Jays in career losses but comes in second (usually to Dave Steib) on Toronto’s career wins (128), games started (345), complete games (73), shut outs(11), innings pitched (2205.2), hits allowed (2185), batters faced (9397), runs allowed (1104), earned runs (1005), home runs allowed (219), walks (814), strikeouts, (1237) and wild pitches (82).

COMING SOON: The 80s featuring Dave Steib

John M. Milner firmly believes that Joe Carter's home run in the 1993 World Series was one of the turning points of his life. Discuss this, his columns, baseball or life in general with him at docmilner@yahoo.ca.

Article Archive
3/1 - "Painter" Portfolio
3/12 - Closing in on Koch
3/27 - At First with Bobby Knoop
4/3 - Joe Carter, Blue Jays Hero
4/9 - Another Opening Day
7/12 - Behind the Plate and Behind the Mask (Part 1)
7/31 - Behind the Plate and Behind the Mask (Part 2)
3/17/01 - Dunedin - A spring time alternative to the SkyDome
6/22/01 - Commanding from the Dugout: Blue Jays Managers (Part 1)
6/29/01 - Commanding from the Dugout: Blue Jays Managers (Part 2)
7/21/01 - Tony Fernandez: A Jay Four Times Over
9/15/01 - Mark Connor: Blue Jays Pitching Coach
10/21/01 - Starting Pitchers of the Blue Jays (Part 1: 70s)

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