Local Legends

I found out that today, Thursday April 26^th is the birthday of one of the greatest professional baseball players to ever come out of the city of Niagara Falls, NY.  Sal “The Barber” Maglie would have been 95 years old today.  When I heard about this, I was reminded of three things.  One; Sal Maglie is from Niagara Falls, NY, two; he was the losing pitcher in Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series, and three; Sal Maglie Stadium is named in his honor.  Other than that, I didn’t really know too much about his professional baseball career.  I never researched his career before, but I finally decided to look up his career accomplishments and I was surprised by how good of a career he had.  In doing this research, I decided that this is going to be a new segment that I am going to bring to this blog.  Every once in a while I will commit a blog post to a career of a local sports legend.  In honor of his birthday, I’ve decided that my inaugural local legend blog post will be committed to Sal Maglie.

Sal “the Barber” Maglie was born and raised in Niagara Falls, NY in 1917 and is a proud graduate of Niagara University.  His professional baseball career began in 1945 with the New York Giants, however he went to play in the Mexican league prior to the 1946 season and was subsequently banned by Commissioner Happy Chandler until 1949 for doing so.  He finally returned at the age of 33 to the Giants for the start of the 1950 season.  He would go on to win 11 consecutive starts for the Giants that year, finishing the season with an 18-4 mark and a 2.71 ERA.  He followed that up with a 23-6 campaign for the N.L Pennant winning Giants in 1951.  The 1951 season was the year that Bobby Thompson’s “Shot Heard Round the World” won the pennant for the Giants.   Sal Maglie was the ace of the pitching staff in that 1951 season.  He threw 22 complete games, had 298 total innings pitched, and even earned the win in the All-Star game.  The Giants would lose to the Yankees in the World Series that season.  He was able to play on several teams during his 10 year career which ended in 1958. He holds the distinction of being the last player to have played on all three New York City teams (New York Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers, and New York Yankees).  He also played with the Cleveland Indians and retired as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1958.

He was known as being a pitcher that would attack the hitter.  He became known as “The Barber” for always throwing high and tight on opposing hitters.  He once said, “When I’m pitching, I own the plate.”  Other career accomplishments include being a member of the 1954 World Series champion New York Giants, a series they swept from the Cleveland Indians 4-0.  This series is best known for Willy Mays and “The Catch”.  This was also the last World Series won by the Giants organization until 2010.  He pitched Game 1 of that series, going 7 innings, giving up 7 hits, 2 runs (both earned), 2 walks, and had 2 strike outs.  The Giants won the game in 10 innings 5-2.  He was a 2 time National League (N.L) All-Star, was the 1950 N.L ERA champion, and tied with Larry Jansen for the most wins in the N.L for starting pitchers in 1951 with 23.  During his career, Sal compiled a 119-62 record, had 862 strike outs, and a career ERA of 3.15.  In 1956, after an injury plagued 1955 season with the Cleveland Indians due to back problems, he went 13-5 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.  He had a 2.89 ERA that year, threw a no-hitter on September 25^th, and finished 2^nd to Don Newcombe in both the National League CY Young and MVP vote.  This was also the year that he opposed Don Larsen in Larsen’s perfect game in the World Series.  He retired as a player after the 1958 season and would go on to become pitching coach for both the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Pilots until he officially retired from the sport in 1969.

Sal would return to Niagara Falls, NY once his career ended.  In 1983, Hyde Park Stadium in Niagara Falls, NY was officially changed to Sal Maglie Stadium in honor of the local sports legend.  However In 1987, he suffered a stroke which caused him to live at the Niagara Falls Memorial Nursing Home for the final five years of his life.  On December 28, 1992, at the age of 75, Sal Maglie passed away of complications from pneumonia.