Win–loss record 117–116 Role Baseball player Earned run average 3.83 Height 2 m | Strikeouts 1,373 Weight 87 kg Name Mike Witt | |
 | ||
Angels hof class of 2015 mike witt pitcher 1981 1990
Michael Atwater Witt (born July 20, 1960) is a former professional baseball pitcher. He played all or part of twelve seasons in Major League Baseball between 1981 and 1993, and threw the eleventh perfect game in MLB baseball history in 1984.
Contents
- Angels hof class of 2015 mike witt pitcher 1981 1990
- Mlb 1986 season red sox vs angels roger clemens vs mike witt innings 1 4
- Amateur career
- Professional career
- References
Mlb 1986 season red sox vs angels roger clemens vs mike witt innings 1 4
Amateur career
Prior to his major league career, Witt played baseball at Servite High School, and was an All-County basketball player as well. He was drafted out of high school in the fourth round of the 1978 Major League Baseball draft.
Professional career
At just twenty years of age, Witt made his major league debut with the California Angels in 1981. Standing 6 feet, 7 inches tall and possessing a great curveball as well as a good fastball, Witt's breakout season came in 1984, when he went 15-11 for the Angels. On July 23 of that year, he struck out sixteen Seattle Mariners during a complete game five-hitter; but the highlight of the year came on the final day of the season, September 30, when he pitched the eleventh perfect game in baseball history against the Texas Rangers at Arlington Stadium. He struck out ten and needed just 94 pitches to complete the gem.
Witt's perfect game is, to date, one of five no-hitters ever pitched on the final day of a Major League Baseball regular season, the others being Bumpus Jones's no-hitter on October 15, 1892 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the combined no-hitter pitched by Vida Blue, Glenn Abbott, Paul Lindblad, and Rollie Fingers for the Oakland Athletics on September 28, 1975 against the California Angels, Henderson Álvarez's no-hitter on September 29, 2013 against the Detroit Tigers, and Jordan Zimmermann's no-hitter on September 28, 2014 against the Miami Marlins. He was also the first pitcher to hurl a perfect game by a 1-0 score since Sandy Koufax (September 9, 1965, see Sandy Koufax's perfect game).
From 1984 to 1987, Witt led the Angels every year in wins, strikeouts, innings pitched, and complete games. His best season was 1986, when he was named team Most Valuable Player after compiling 18 wins and a 2.84 earned run average, finishing third behind Roger Clemens and Teddy Higuera for the American League Cy Young Award, and guiding the Angels to within one strike of the World Series.
In the middle of the 1987 season, however, Witt suddenly lost his overpowering stuff and saw his strikeout numbers decline significantly. He did manage to combine with starter Mark Langston to pitch a no-hitter on April 11, 1990 against Seattle, pitching the last two innings; but he was traded to the New York Yankees on May 11, 1990 for Dave Winfield, never winning more than five games during his three years there before retiring in 1993. He is the only pitcher ever to pitch a complete game no-hitter, or in his case a perfect game, and appear in relief for a combined no-hitter as well (four others have pitched complete game no-hitters and also started a combined no-hitter).