Big Sexy Ties the Dominican Dandy

45. 243. 285.

It’s hard to decide which number is most impressive when it comes to Bartolo Colón of the Texas Rangers.

The right-hander tied Juan Marichal on Wednesday night for most wins by a Dominican-born pitcher in MLB history at 243. Colón tied the Dominican Dandy going five innings and giving up two runs in the Rangers’ 8-2 victory over the Oakland A’s.

Impressively, Colón is still winning games in his 21st major league season even though he is with his fourth team in the last three seasons. Colón went to spring training with the Rangers as a non-roster invitee. He had no guarantees. He was even cut before the Rangers broke camp.

Bartolo Colón is having the time of his baseball life. He’s making plays against guys nearly half his age and, seemingly, half his size. Whether flipping balls behind his back to nab Marlins Justin Bour at first base; hitting his first career home run off then-Padres pitcher James Shields or taking a 102-mph line drive off the belly and recovering the ball to throw out Mariners shortstop Jean Segura, the smile that flashes across his face is all the evidence we need that he still loves being in the game.

The combination of his age, size and passion has won over teammates even as his effectiveness has not always been there on the mound. Moreover, the way he is playing is enough to garner the begrudging admiration of some who held his 2012 suspension for testing positive for steroids against him.

45

Colón, who celebrated his 45th birthday on May 24, has held the distinction as the oldest player in the majors since reliever LaTroy Hawkins retired at the end of the 2015 season. The Dominican right-hander is pitching against players who weren’t even walking when he made his debut.

He is an oddity when it comes to right-handed pitchers. Unless you are a knuckleballer like Phil Niekro and his brother Joe, Tim Wakefield, or R.A. Dickey, a right-hander doesn’t usually remain a starting pitcher into the mid-40s.

Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan was an exception to that rule. He was a marvel, a hard-throwing pitcher whose fitness enabled him to remain a starter until he was 46 years old in a career that ended with a plaque in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Satchel Paige was another ageless wonder who came before Ryan. Whereas Ryan was thick and strong, Paige was lean and lanky but could throw just as hard with legendary pinpoint accuracy—if even half the tales about Paige in the Negro Leagues were true.

Paige finally got a chance to play in the majors as a 48-year-old rookie after a lengthy career in the Negro Leagues and across Latin America. Given the manner Paige was known for spinning tales, he was possibly even older.

Bartolo Colón is neither lean nor lanky nor the flamethrower anymore, but he possesses the savvy of a veteran who has learned how to change speeds and use batter’s weaknesses against them.

243

As a 24-year old rookie with Cleveland in 1997, Colón did not appear like he would catch Hall of Famer Juan Marichal at 243 wins. He won just four and loss seven games with a 5.65 ERA in 19 appearances. His rookie campaign did not make the kind of splash that Marichal did in 1960, where he won six of eight decisions, posted a 2.66 ERA and took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in his major league debut.

Colón matured into a front-line starter with Cleveland, making the 1998 All-Star team and accumulating double digits in victories each of his next four seasons in Cleveland. In 2002 he was traded to Montreal with Tim Crews for four prospects (Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips, Grady Sizemore, and Lee Stevens).

Ironically, he won 10 games as a pitcher for both Cleveland and Montreal, composing his first 20-win season. His second came three years later with the Los Angeles Angels when he had a career-high 21 wins and earned his second All-Star selection.
While Colón’s career has taken on a journeyman character, pitching for 11 teams in his 21 seasons, he has continued to compile victories. He won 15 games and earned another All-Star selection in 2016 with the New York Mets. His 2017 stints with Atlanta and Minnesota proved far less effective, going a combined 7-14 with a 6.48 ERA.

This season he has seemingly found once more the right combination to being an effective starter with Texas, splitting four decisions in his first eight starts with a 3.51 ERA. Those two wins brought him within one of Marichal for most among Dominican pitchers in MLB history.

Marichal is closely identified as a Giant. He pitched 14 seasons in San Francisco before brief stints with the Red Sox and Dodgers. His stylish dress off the field along with his demeanor and acrobatic high leg kick when pitching earned Marichal the Dominican Dandy nickname. That style was highly effective as he won 243 games with just 142 losses over 16 seasons, composing six 20-win seasons and earning nine All Star selections.

Surprisingly, although his 191 wins were the most of any pitcher in the 1960s, Marichal never received a Cy Young Award for his dominance during the same era as fellow Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson. Bartolo Colón’s 2005 Cy Young Award thus puts him in a list where Marichal’s name does not appear.

285

Colón’s first attempt to tie Marichal on May 22 was spoiled by the two home runs he allowed to Yankees rookie second baseman Gleyber Torres, who was not even five months old when Colón first stepped onto a major-league mound on April 4, 1997.

Colon’s accomplishments are even more impressive, considering his weight is officially listed at 285. He has evolved into a folk hero for his ability to make athletic plays that others who are neither his age nor his size can’t. His wry smile at the end of plays like beating Mariners speedster Dee Gordon to the bag on a grounder to the first baseman reveals the joy of baseball.

Winning 243 major league games is no small feat, whether it takes 21 seasons or 16. That is what makes Colón tying Marichal a noteworthy accomplishment. Big Sexy continues to do things on the baseball diamond we haven’t seen before.

Featured Image: Bob Levey / Getty Images Sport

Inset Image: Donald Miralle / Getty Images Sport