Former MLB pitcher Sam McDowell is dead at 84.
The six-time All-Star spent the 1974 Major League baseball season in Yankees pinstripes near the end of a turbulent career that included a struggle with alcoholism. His story is believed to have inspired the Sam “Mayday” Malone character made famous by Ted Danson on the hit sitcom “Cheers.”
The handsome left-hander spent the first decade of his baseball career in Cleveland where “Sudden Sam” made the All-Star team more often than not. The team announced his death without listing a cause.
McDowell was traded to the San Francisco Giants in 1972, where his career took a nosedive. He was then moved to the Yankees in a cash deal.
The fastball hurler said he ordered soda when he went out with teammates early in his career, then something changed. He told the Growing Bolder website in an interview posted in June that it wasn’t until Major League Baseball gave up on him that he realized he had developed a problem.
“I knew it was my fault – I didn’t know why – but I knew it was my fault,” he confessed. “Everybody gave me every chance in the book.”
Sam McDowell attends the 22nd Annual Going to Bat for B.A.T. event at The New York Marriott Marquis on Jan. 25, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Dario Cantatore/Getty Images)
McDowell said that after hitting rock bottom he sought help and last consumed alcohol in 1980. The Pittsburgh native then turned his focus to studying addiction. He spent his post-pitching years counseling other athletes and found work with the Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays. McDowell died Monday in his Florida home.
The “Cheers” character he’s said to have inspired is a former Boston Red Sox pitcher who becomes a bar owner after drinking himself out of baseball and getting sober. He carried a bottle cap in his pocket as a reminder.
With News Wire Services