Al Worthington, The First Great Twins Reliever

[Al from SoDak]

The Minnesota Twins have a long list of great relievers. Al Worthington was their first.

In my judgment, the Minnesota Twins have a tradition of good relief pitchers/closers. The Twins have had notable All-Stars closers such as Jeff Reardon, Rick Aguilera, Eddie Guardado, Joe Nathan, and Glen Perkins, plus perhaps less memorable All-Star relievers such as Doug Corbett, Brandon Kintzler, and Taylor Rogers. Maybe Al Worthington started the tradition of good relief pitchers for Minnesota.

Allan Fulton Worthington was born on February 5, 1929, in Birmingham, Alabama. He stayed home and played college baseball first at Samford University in Homewood, Alabama, then at the University of Alabama, where he played football for the Crimson Tide.

The lanky right-hander – 6 foot 2 inches and 195 pounds – was initially signed by the Chicago Cubs in 1951 but was soon sent to the New York Giants. After three seasons in the minor leagues (including with the Giants’ Double-A affiliate, the Minneapolis Millers), Worthington debuted in July of 1953 with the Giants, and wow, what a start it was. His first two games were excellent, each starting a complete-game shutout. Worthington’s consecutive shutouts in his first two appearances equaled a major league record that only three other pitchers had achieved. The first start was a two-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies. Big Al allowed only four hits against the Brooklyn Dodgers during his second start. He was used almost exclusively as a starting pitcher during his first three seasons (but was also up and down frequently to Minneapolis, where his 19 wins led the league in 1955). He continued with the Giants when they moved to San Francisco in 1958 and was primarily a reliever by then. He never started another game after 1959.

Before the 1960 season, Worthington was traded to the Red Sox, then later to the White Sox in August. His 1960 season was less than stellar, posting a 6.35 ERA in only 17.0 innings between the two teams. He was walking too many batters – 7.9 per nine innings during that single season. In 1961 and 1962, he was back in the minor leagues working on this control. Languishing for the White Sox Triple-A affiliate, the Cincinnati Reds saw an opportunity and acquired Worthington after the 1962 season via the Rule 5 Draft. He made the major league team and pitched all of 1963 with the Reds. He pitched well enough in 1963 and 1964 that the Twins saw something and moved to acquire the big right-hander. 

The Twins purchased the rights to Worthington on June 26, 1964, and thus began the best stretch of his career despite his advanced age of 35. By this point, Worthington was a pitcher with a good curveball (slider?) and sinker who threw from a somewhat sidearm angle. Worthington pitched 72.1 innings after coming to Minnesota in 1964. His ERA was a fantastic 1.37 (264 ERA+), and his walks were under control—only 3.5 per nine innings. His WHIP was 1.037.

During the World Series season of 1965, Worthington was the top reliever on the team. He threw 80.1 innings with a 2.13 ERA, ten wins, and a career-high 21 saves. Worthington did not allow an earned run in four innings in the World Series. However, he was on the mound in Game 4 when the Dodgers broke open the game. Mudcat Grant gave up a walk and a hit to start the sixth inning. Runners were on second and third. Manager Sam Mele made the call to Worthington, but things deteriorated quickly from there. The first batter hit a ground ball single through the SS/3B hole, with both runners scoring and the batter advancing to second base on a throw home. The next batter bunted, but catcher Earl Battey threw wildly to first, allowing the runner from second to score. Worthington allowed no further damage, but a 3-2 deficit quickly escalated to 6-2. The Dodgers would ultimately win the game 7-2 and even the Series at two games apiece. 

Worthington’s second World Series appearance came in the Game Seven loss. He appeared early. The Dodgers scored two runs off Jim Kaat to begin the fourth inning. Mele immediately brought in Worthington, who got out of the inning with no further harm. Unfortunately for Twins fans, the damage already done was all the Dodgers needed as Sandy Koufax was masterful, shutting out the Twins. Koufax allowed only three hits and three walks in nine innings and struck out ten. The Dodgers won the game 2-0 and the Series 4-3.

Worthington continued to provide steady excellence from the Twins bullpen through the end of the 1960s. From 1966-68, his ERA was under 2.84 all three years. His ERA+ was better than the league average – exceeding 116 in all three years. He pitched more than 90 innings twice. Big Al led the league in saves in 1968. 1969 was not quite as good for Worthington, but he was still an important piece in the bullpen for the first winners of the inaugural American League West division. The Orioles swept the three-game American League Championship Series. The first two games were close, decided by only one run. Worthington appeared only in Game Three, which ended with an Orioles rout. He entered the game in the fifth inning with the Twins trailing 5-1. He pitched a perfect inning but then got roughed up in the sixth. He allowed a double and two singles, resulting in one run, before being replaced by Joe Grzenda. The Orioles continued their scoring, winning 11-2 and the series 3-0. This appearance in the deciding game of the inaugural ALCS proved to be the final pitches Al Worthington threw in Major League Baseball. At 40 years of age, Worthington was finally done.

Worthington’s final statistics showed a record of 78-82. His career WAR was 16.2, and his career ERA was 3.39 (110 ERA+). In 1,246.2 innings, he struck out 834 and walked 527. He finished with 111 saves. He was the Twins' career leader in saves (88) until he was passed by the great Ron Davis in 1985. Worthington had a lowly .137 average as a batter but did have a single home run, coming in the penultimate game of the 1956 season off future Hall of Famer Robin Roberts.

Post-playing career, Worthington sold insurance for a couple of years before becoming the Twins’ pitching coach for 1972 and 1973. In 1974, being a devout Christian, Worthington reached out to Jerry Falwell and started a baseball program at Liberty University, the Christian school in Lynchburg, Virginia. Worthington coached the program until 1986 and had only one losing season – the first. Worthington also served as Liberty’s Athletic Director leading them in transition to the NCAA Division 1 level in 1988. He is in the Liberty University Athletics Hall of Fame and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Worthington is now 95 years old and living in Alabama.

Relief pitching was doubtless different in the 1960s than it is now. Relievers were frequently used for multiple innings in a single game, but maybe in fewer games than today. Certainly, they recorded fewer saves because starters often finished games when they were pitching well (i.e., winning). Any way you look at it – 1960s or today – Al Worthington is one of the best relief pitchers in Twins’ history.

What do you think? Was Al Worthington a top relief pitcher? Was he prominent enough to merit a place in the Twins Hall of Fame? Please let us know your thoughts and start the discussion below.

[Sources include www.baseball-reference.com, www.wikipedia.org, and www.sabr.org]

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[Rosterman]

A gem of a person. Visited every father/son banquet at local churches that he could. A workhorse out of the pen. Before him, the Twins had Ray Moore and Bill Dailey. Johnny Klippstein was his cohort in the pen for a couple of seasons.

 

You for get to mention why he had trouble with the Giants. Religion and "cehating" in the game got in his way.

https://davidjmarkowitz.wordpress.com/2020/08/27/august-27-1964-al-worthington-wouldnt-cheat/

 

 

[PDX Twin]

Quote

Allan Fulton Worthington was born on February 5, 1969,

Typo I presume? That would make him -3 when he pitched in the World Series... 

[Al from SoDak]

29 minutes ago, PDX Twin said:

Typo I presume? That would make him -3 when he pitched in the World Series... 

Whoops. Yes, typo. Born February 5, 1929

[Dave Mona]

Nice work, Al. Pretty sure that today Al is the oldest living ex Twin player. In 1969 the combination of Worthington and Ron Perranoski was as good as any pair of relievers in the game. 

[TopGunn#22]

Very nice article Al.  I would also echo that Ron Perranoski should always be mentioned when talking about good Twins RP's.  Perranoski came to the Twins in a 1968 trade with the Dodgers along with John Roseboro and Bob Miller (another effective Twins RP) in exchange for Zoilo Versalles and Mudcat Grant in what was then kind of a blockbuster trade.

Zoilo and Mudcat had fallen off their previous greatness, but the Dodgers had foolishly traded Maury Wills to the Pirates and were badly in need of a SS.  The Twins won that trade...BIG TIME.  

[Linus]

Great article. Thanks for doing these.