I love a happy ending!!
@Polly Ticks If only Maloney could have had one to his pitching career. He was one of the National League's
hardest throwers---Sandy Koufax himself thought Maloney had the deadliest fastball in the league
that didn't belong to a fellow named Koufax---and should have been a big winner, but for a few
problems:
* He pitched in near constant shoulder pain.
* The 1963-69 Reds weren't very good teams, despite the 1964 edition making an eleventh-hour
play for the pennant as the Phillies collapsed down the final stretch.
* He was dogged by unfair speculation that he declined a key start against the Phillies on the
final weekend, the one that could have ended in a three way tie, when Dick Sisler went with
John Tsitouris instead of Maloney inexplicably despite Maloney going 12-3 down the stretch---
Sisler claimed Maloney was "still exhausted" from an eleven-inning no-decision start against
the Pirates. (Tsitouris and the Reds got bombed 10-0 by the Phillies but it was too late to
stop the Cardinals from snatching the pennant on the final day, beating the Mets after the
Mets beat them twice to open the weekend.)
* He had a terrible 1965 spring training and missed enough of it in 1966 during a contract
holdout that inspired the Reds to plant a bunch of negative stories implying questions about
his fortitude.
* The Reds' training staff was uncertain how to handle and moderate a pitcher as muscular
as Maloney was, and he may never have really loosened himself properly enough to avoid
injury.
* After 1966, his last truly good season (2.68 ERA; 200+ strikeouts), the chronic shoulder
and arm miseries plus numerous cortisone shots began taking their toll, but to that would
be added mental strain as he battled constantly against accusations that he was dogging
it, with several teammates questioning how sore his shoulder and arm really were.
* He was virtually finished after he never really recovered from a severed Achilles tendon
on, of all things, a baserunning play.
* The Reds traded him to the Angels after leaving him off their 1970 postseason roster.
After his retirement in 1972, following stops in the Giants and Cardinals organisations,
Maloney---who'd been a hard drinker later in his playing days---lapsed into full-blown
alcoholism, costing him his marriage and three children. He later remarried happily,
sobered up, and made a second career as his native Fresno, CA's Alcoholism and Drug
Abuse Council, retiring in 2012.
