Lost Ballparks

Juan Marichal (HOF 1983)

• Mike Koser • Season 9 • Episode 5

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(This episode was recorded in 2025). 

This episode is especially meaningful for me. Years ago, I painted a portrait of my father-in-law’s favorite player, Juan Marichal, in his iconic high-kick windup. Today, that same painting hangs in Marichal’s home—and I had the honor of sitting down with him for this conversation.

From 1960–1975, Juan Marichal was one of the greatest pitchers in baseball: 243 wins, 244 complete games, 52 shutouts, a lifetime 2.89 ERA, and 10 All-Star selections. He won more games in the 1960s than Bob Gibson or Sandy Koufax, and Hall of Famers like Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, and Pete Rose all called him one of the toughest pitchers they ever faced.

In this episode, Marichal reflects on his childhood in the Dominican Republic, the racism he faced early in his career, unforgettable moments at Candlestick Park, racing frogs with teammates, the 1962 World Series against the Yankees, and his pride in becoming the first Dominican-born player inducted into the Hall of Fame.

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Mike Koser:

Hi, I'm Mike Koser, and welcome to Lost Ball parks. So today I'm talking with someone who holds a very personal connection for me. My father-in-law's favorite player growing up was Juan Marichal, the Dominican dandy. And several years ago, as a Christmas gift, I painted a portrait of Marichal for him in his San Francisco uniform in the middle of his giant leg kick wind up. And uh he loved it. Sadly, a couple of years ago, after a long, difficult illness, my father-in-law passed away. And man, is he missed. I have great hope and assurance that one day I'll see him again, but yeah, he is uh so missed. My mother-in-law returned the painting to me, knowing just how much it meant to both of us. I never could have imagined back then that standing over that canvas with a brush in hand, uh that one day I would have the chance to talk with Juan Marichal himself. After all, we're talking about one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history: 243 wins, 244 complete games, more victories in the 1960s than Bob Gibson or Sandy Koufax. And here's the part that still amazes me. That painting that I gave my father-in-law, I last month had the honor of gifting to Juan Marichal. And today, it hangs in his home in Florida. So with all that in mind, it is well, it's truly surreal for me to say that joining me on this month's Lost Ball parks podcast is Hall of Famer Juan Marichal.

Announcer:

Podcast Open.

Mike Koser:

It's great talking to you.

Juan Marichal:

Nice talking to you too.

Mike Koser:

Growing up in the Dominican Republic, baseball wasn't just a game. It was everything to you and your friends. And I've heard that you loved it so much that you may have occasionally forgotten to go to school. Is there any truth to that?

Juan Marichal:

Yeah, that's that's right. I used to have uh little bit uh discussion with my mother about school. She always insists about getting a good education. Yeah, I used to tell her that I I was gonna be a baseball player.

Mike Koser:

She probably felt like, hey, that's great, but you uh you still gotta go to school.

Juan Marichal:

Well, she disagreed with me all the time, but I I keep saying, Mother, don't worry, I gonna be a baseball player, but I didn't know, I didn't know at that time that being a baseball player you can make a living, you can make money. So I just want to be a baseball player because at that time was a team in Dominican. That team, the national team in the Dominican Republic in 19 uh 48, uh was a plane crash, and the whole team except one player died on that crash.

Mike Koser:

Wow.

Juan Marichal:

That was the team that I want to be on, and that's why I want to be a baseball player. But thank God I think I have my dream come true. I became a baseball player. I was able to come to United States and then play in the minor leagues for two and a half years and come out to the major leagues.

Mike Koser:

When you were growing up in the 1940s, there was there was always plenty to eat. Uh baseball gloves and store-bought bats, not so readily available. So you and your friends became inventive, making the game and your equipment out of whatever you could find. What kind of equipment were you playing with back then? Do you remember?

Juan Marichal:

Well, that's the that's a funny story, you know, because we used to make glove from uh material that at that time there was uh was an institution of the United States that used to bring uh help to Dominican Republic, you know, by sending any kind of food to the country. Those uh uh materials we used to make what we call it trocha, not a glove, we call it trocha. It's like uh they're like a first bass mitt.

Mike Koser:

First baseman's glove.

Juan Marichal:

Right. So we used to climb in a tree and and cut a branch and make bats. And sometimes we need a baseball, and in a place uh named Manzanillo, where the United Fruit Company used to have the headquarters, they have a nine-hole golf course in there where we look for a golf ball to make a baseball.

Mike Koser:

Would you take cloth or some kind of material to wrap around the golf ball to try to make it bigger like a like a baseball?

Juan Marichal:

Yeah. Sometimes we got a stocking from my mother or my sister to roll out that golf ball to make it to the size of baseball. And sometime we have to get like two pesos to go to a shoemaker and have the cover of that ball. If we don't have those two pesos, then we have to roll it from some kind of material that we can play with that ball. That's how we play in every field we was able to. That's how I grew up and thank God. If I look back today, I say to myself, how can you become a baseball player from that poor area? You know, it was a very, very poor area. Came to this country and go all the way to Major Leagues and end up in Cooperstown. Not too many people understand how I did it.

Mike Koser:

It's such a great story, and I'm sure that you remember vividly the day that you signed with the San Francisco Giants in 1958. How much was your signing bonus? Do you remember?

Juan Marichal:

$500.

Juan Marichal:

$500? Wow. Did it did it occur to you that I mean, as you're signing that contract, that you soon would be teammates with Willie Mays? Well, at that time, you know, when uh the day I signed, uh the day I became a baseball professional, at that time they have a team in Dominican that they call it the Willie Mays Negro League team. They came to Dominican for a three-game series. And the first time I saw Willie Mays on the field. But uh let me tell you, become a baseball player and play in the same field with the greatest player ever. I think that was uh that was a dream. I thank God every day. I say, man, I I have so many uh disagreements with my mother. Uh and look what I where I am right now on the same field with the greatest player, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, uh Bobby Bonds, uh Tom Haller, uh Tito Fuentes, Chris Spier. So many, so many, so many great players that I I feel so proud I was able to play in the same field with those guys.

Mike Koser:

I think the one thing that surprised you most as you arrived for spring training in Sanford, Florida, uh that first year was the level of racism that you would encounter.

Juan Marichal:

Well, I remembered living uh uh from Dominican, came to uh Miami, and then we took a bus to uh Sanford, Florida. And I remember that we got there during the night, and the next morning when we get up, I saw a different group on the yard, you know, uh outside of the building where we sleep and eat, and uh the five different fields where we play. And I remember I asked a guy from Puerto Rico, I say, why we see this group, you know, a different group of Latin, Negro, white. You know, I I didn't understand. So he said, Well, right here we cannot be together with the white players. So we have to eat in a different place, we have to sleep in a different place. So that really, that really shocked me up, you know, that when I saw the difference of our races, I was so depressed that I want to go back to Dominican. The only reason I didn't go back was because I promised my mother that I was gonna be a baseball player. I figured this is the opportunity for me to become a baseball player. So I gonna try I I gonna try. It was very hard for me. See, I don't understand that. We don't have that problem in my country. Uh I come to the biggest country in the world, and what's so much different between human beings - you know, different type of the uh communication between white and and black.

Mike Koser:

And I'm sure it was a shock to your system after that first spring training. You and your teammates left Sanford, Florida and uh headed north to begin your season with the Michigan City White Caps. But the Greyhound bus ride, that was something else. Long hours, multiple food stops, and then yet for you and the other black and Latin players, there were places where you weren't you weren't even allowed to get off the bus and eat. You had to sit on the bus watching through the windows while your other teammates, your white teammates, ate. What did that feel like to uh to be chasing this dream of playing Major League Baseball, but still treated as if you didn't belong?

Juan Marichal:

Well, let me tell you, those those days was very, very difficult, was very hard, and thanks to a manager named Budddy Kerr. Every time we we stop in a in a place where we can have something to eat, he brings us to the kitchen side or door instead of a front door to go to the restaurant. We cannot go in there all the time. He wanted to be sure that we have something to eat. And that man, let me tell you, that was some kind of human being, you know, because he took care of us every day of the of the week of the month of the year. So thanks to him, I think we'd make our development much, much easier.

Mike Koser:

Early in your career, there was uh a moment, I believe it was at Colt Stadium in Houston, when you were playing against the Colt 45s when there were some drunk fans shouting ugly, nasty, racist insults at both you and Felipe Alou. And that day, two of your teammates, Jack Sanford and Jim Davenport, decided that they were not gonna stand for it. Can you take me back to that moment? What what do you remember hearing and feeling? And what did it mean to see your teammates step in and defend you guys like that?

Juan Marichal:

Well, let me tell you, that was something that I never forget. Because uh that group of guys right behind our dog out, I think they was drinking beer or whatever, about I think they was drunk. They used to call us every time we come from the field to the dugout, hey hey, you a Kennedy boy, and they kept saying that to us. I didn't even know what they was talking about, you know. But Jack Sanford and Jim Davenport, they went to the uh seat. They even have a little fight defending the Latin and the black player on the team.

Mike Koser:

That was such a pivotal moment for you to feel like these other guys on your team had your back.

Juan Marichal:

Oh yes, that was very difficult. Uh, we thanks uh Jack and Jim for what they did, and I think that was uh very, very kind of them.

Mike Koser:

Okay, let's rewind the clock back to where it all began. When you get called up to the Giants in July of 1960, you are 22 years old, and I'm sure the road to Candlestick Park, to the big leagues, it winds past a thousand thoughts. What do you remember most about that first ride to Candlestick Park?

Juan Marichal:

My ride to the ballpark was uh from Sacramento. We played uh a game in Sacramento where I win the game two to one, and I remember taking a shower. My uh trainer came back to the shower and say, Juan, we got the call. I say, I don't expect any call. So he said, No, the call from the Giants, they want you in San Francisco. I say, What? You know, two days later, we're supposed to play the all-star game in AAA. And I was uh choosing to be the starting pitcher, and we're supposed to get a nice watch as a gift. And when he told me that I have to leave that night, I said, Oh my, I'm not gonna get my watch. So the next day we took a bus to San Francisco, and when we got to the gate, the candlestick park, there was Orlando and Felipe waiting for me at the gate. They took me to the clubhouse and introduced me to every player on the team. And the last player was Willie Mays. When I shake Willie Mays hand, I say, I couldn't believe it. This this is a dream. And uh I was so happy to be part of that team. That happened on July 10, 1960. The manager was Tom Sheehan. He came up to me and said, Juan, I want you to do your routine of uh exercise and throwing a little bit on the side, and you're gonna be facing the Philadelphia Phillies on July 19. And I say, Okay, Mr. Sheehan, the day came the 19th, and that was uh my first game at the Major League.

Russ Hodges:

How are you doing, everybody? This is Russ Hodges, along with Lon Simmons bidding you Welcome to another Giants ballgame. Tonight's game between the Giants and the Philadelphia Phils is brought to you by Bergie, the comfortable bear.

Mike Koser:

So you're on the field, you're warming up, when they announce your name to the crowd. And in that moment, something stirred inside of you, something that you had never quite felt before. What was that?

Juan Marichal:

I never forget that feeling. I was so, I don't know how to explain what happened to me, but was still kind of feeling very, very, very difficult for me to take. So I remember when the bat boy came with uh with a towel and he handled me the my my jacket. We both walked to the mound, and I had that feeling in my body, and I said to myself, I say, man, you can't you cannot be pitching this way. And I remember going to the mound and throwing the seven pitches before they called play ball, and when the umpire called play ball, and I saw the first batter of the Philadelphia Phillies, and that feeling disappeared, and I feel fine.

Mike Koser:

And what a game! What a first game. You gave up one hit and struck out 12.

Juan Marichal:

Yes.

Russ Hodges:

So, fans, that concludes another Giants baseball broadcast.

Mike Koser:

And in that moment after the game, a one-hitter, and your first start, no less, you probably took a second and thought back to what you had told your mom years before. Mom, you're gonna be so proud when you hear my name on the radio.

Announcer:

And it's taken over the outside corner, called a strike.

Juan Marichal:

Yeah, I think she was. She was very proud. And uh I was so happy. All my teammates, you know, uh congratulating me for pitching in one hitter. I remember going to the eighth inning, and the Philadelphia Phillies called uh Clay Dalrymple as a pinch hitter. And Tom Sheehan came out to the mound, and Orlando was my interpreter. And Tom Sheehan said, this guy's a good fastball hitter, so let's throw him some break ing ball. So the first pitch I threw him was a break-ing ball. He hit a blooper over second base for the first and only hit of the game.

Mike Koser:

Okay, let's talk about Candlestick Park for a moment. Not the stats or the box scores, but the but the feeling of that place.

Announcer:

Gorgeous, gregarious, scenic San Francisco, a fun-loving big league town where Giants come to play.

Mike Koser:

What stays with you the most when you think back uh and reflect on Candlestick Park?

Juan Marichal:

Well, let me tell you, I heard so many players complain about candlestick, and I said to myself, if the hitters complain about this place, it must be good for the pitchers. So I don't know because uh maybe it was because my control was so good. Uh I don't think I have any problem with the wind and the dust and everything and and the weather. I remember one time we had to stop the game because of fog that came over the mound on the field, and we had twice I think we we had to stop the game for about 15 minutes until the fog got through. So many funny stories about candlestick.

Mike Koser:

At candlestick, you certainly did have the cold and the wind on your side as a pitcher, and you used it. When a hitter stepped in for for the first time against you, you had a way of making sure they felt it. What was your approach early in the game to make them think twice about digging into the box and feeling comfortable?

Juan Marichal:

Well, the first thing I checked the wind where the wind was blowing, you know, and tried to stay away from the hitter, not to hit the ball that way. And Willie Mays, he was, you know, tell the the pitcher, the starting pitcher, how to pitch to each individual on the other team. So I think that that really helped the communication with Willie that know every hitter... we pitch a lot of good games in candlestick.

Mike Koser:

Okay, so I I want to ask you this. I've heard that uh before some games at Candlestick Park, that you and a few of the guys would actually race frogs. Okay, please tell me that's true. And how how exactly did that tradition get started?

Juan Marichal:

Well, uh, one of the players used to bring those frogs to the clubhouse. We used to have that in the clubhouse to make a race, you know, and we bet on a different frog. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.

Mike Koser:

Did you name your frog?

Juan Marichal:

Oh, yes. I remember Don Larsen was uh was a guy that bringed a lot of frogs to the clubhouse, and that was a lot of fun, you know. Every time he bring a bag with uh full of frog, you know, to the clubhouse.

Mike Koser:

So in 1962, you won 18 games and earned your first All-Star selection. And not just one game, there were actually two All-Star games played that summer. The first was at DC Stadium.

Joe Garagiola:

Good afternoon, baseball fans. This is Joe Garagiola, welcoming you to the District of Columbia Stadium in the first All-Star Baseball game of 1962. A beautiful day here in Washington.

Mike Koser:

Do you remember walking into that National League Clubhouse for the first time? What was that moment like for you?

Juan Marichal:

I feel great, you know. I say to myself, All-Star game, when they have the best player on the field, you know, and become uh one of those selections, you know. I I feel so proud to be on that team. And uh I win that game. After that, when we played the second game in Chicago.

Announcer:

The second all star game of 1962 is being played in Wrigley Field, Chicago.

Juan Marichal:

I also participated in that game, and uh I remember in 1965 in Minnesota, I was the MVP of that game.

Announcer:

Juan Marichal, who has the highest kicking delivery in the business, completes three scoreless innings, allowing the American League only one hit.

Juan Marichal:

And those days, you know, make you feel so so good, so happy. And to participate in All-Star, I think that was awesome.

Mike Koser:

62 is a great year for you and the team. You helped the Giants capture the National League pennant and earned a trip to the World Series against the New York Yankees. That meant that you would step into Yankee Stadium for the very first time. So take me back to that October day in 1962.

Joe Garagiola:

A beautiful day here at Yankee Stadium in New York. A bright sun shining. The temperature, if you're looking for the weather man's temperature, is 65 degrees.

Juan Marichal:

Well, let me tell you, I remember it. I think that was the first game of the uh World Series. I was select to be uh the starting pitcher that day.

Joe Garagiola:

Juan Marichal pumping slow curve balls to his catcher Ed Bailey 18 and 11 on the season. This is his first World Series start.

Juan Marichal:

I think that day was gonna be maybe the best game I ever pitched at the Major League level. Um I pitched four innings. I got Mickey Mantle strike out twice. Um was the situation where I went to the plate with men on first and third. Alvin Dark don't want me to hit into a double play.

Mike Koser:

Alvin Dark was your manager at that time. Yeah.

Juan Marichal:

Yeah. So they gave me their bunt sign.

Announcer:

Game audio. so the first pitch from Whitey Ford was a ball, and the second pitch was a ball. Now they got me taking, and the third pitch was a ball. So they got me taking on strike one. They got me taking, strike two, and what you think was the next sign?

Mike Koser:

What was it?

Juan Marichal:

The squeeze play.

Mike Koser:

That's honestly so crazy. It's game four of the World Series, no less, and you're a pitcher and you're asked to not just bunt, but it's a squeeze play, so you gotta get it down.

Juan Marichal:

Yeah. That was a ball four, but because the sign was a squeeze, I had to try to bunt that ball.

Mike Koser:

Yeah, right.

Juan Marichal:

And that ball was around my my ankle. And I was trying to bunt that ball, and the ball hit my index finger, and my nail came out. And I had to leave that game, and I was so disappointed. I was so... I never forget that moment. Even uh today, when I think about that, that could have been maybe one of my greatest games ever. And I I didn't get the chance to win the game, but we ended up winning the game 7-4. I think Chuck Hiller hit a home run in that game. We win that game, but I didn't get a chance to win the game, and I don't have a chance to come back and pitch another game because I was out of the series because of injuries.

Mike Koser:

That World Series stretched on for nearly two weeks because of the weather. There were rain delays and more rain, and in game seven of the World Series, there you are at Candlestick Park.

Joe Garagiola:

This is Joe Garagiola along with George Kell, welcoming you to the seventh game of the 1962 World Series. This is it. Forget the rest of the season, forget the playoffs, the averages, what you did in this ballpark, that ballpark. It's all wrapped up today.

Mike Koser:

But instead of getting ready to play, you're watching the grounds crew pour gasoline over the infield and light it on fire just to dry the field. Now, did that really happen?

Juan Marichal:

Do you know that when I tell that story, people don't believe me?

Mike Koser:

I know, because it's so hard to believe, right?

Juan Marichal:

I remember those helicopters right on top of the field and the grass, trying to get all that water off the field, you know, and let me tell you, that was funny. I remember the team, both teams, one got to Modesto and practice, and the other one got to Stockton and practice because in San Francisco was raining and raining and raining. We can go to candlestick and complete the series. But uh, after they do that, we played that seventh game, and let me say, I remember when Willie McCovey hit that ball to Bobby Richardson.

George Kell:

George Campbell and Joe Gargiola at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, and this place is a madhouse right now. The Yankees lead one to nothing, the bottom of the ninth. The Giants have runners at second and third with two and outs, and Willie McCovey is the man. Here's the pitch to Willie. There's a line straight to Richardson, the ballgame is over and the world series is over. Willie McCovey hit it like a bullet. A line running straight to Bobby Richardson in second base, and that ball got out of his reach. The Giants would have been the winner.

Mike Koser:

By the way, Bobby Richardson, the great Yankee second baseman who caught that bullet line drive that Willie McCovey hit to end the game in the 1962 World Series, uh, to end Game 7, was on the podcast a couple of years ago, and he knows just how close they came to losing that series.

Bobby Richardson:

And I got down, and it's really funny, but Ralph Terry took one step or out towards me, and I sort of wondered why he was looking out and he he went back. He told me later he felt like I was playing out of position. He was gonna ask me to move over, and as it turned out, I was right in the right place.

Juan Marichal:

And they win the series uh by winning the last game two to one, and I, you know, was a wonderful series, but we we came second. We lost the series from the Yankees.

Mike Koser:

Uh in 1963, you led the league with 25 wins, uh, threw a no-hitter at candlestick against the Colt 45s in June. Uh and then just over two weeks later, you and Warren Spahn, two of baseball's all-time greats, go toe-to-toe in one of the most amazing pitching duels in baseball history. What do you remember about that night at Candlestick Park when it was just you and Spawn? I think you're 25, he's 42, and inning after inning, both of you refused to give in.

Juan Marichal:

Well, I remember after the ninth inning, Arvin Dark wanted to take me out. And Ed Bailey was my catcher. And he came up to me and say, Don't let him take you out. Win and lose. That's a great game. But don't let him take you out. So I went to Alvin Dark and said, Mr. Dark, I feel good, the weather's nice. Please let me stay a few more innings. So he agreed with me and he let me stay, you know?

Mike Koser:

Yeah.

Juan Marichal:

Now we're in the 14th inning. And he came up to me again and say, That's it. That's it. And I say, Mr. Dark, do you see that man on the mound? I I was uh uh talking about Warren Spahn. He said, Yes, what happened to him? I said, Well, that man is. 42 years old. I'm only 25 and only that man stayed on the mound, nobody gonna take me out of this game. Oh man, that was that was bad, you know. He got so mad. He got mad and walked away from me and I said, Well, if he walk away from me, I got a chance to stay one more inning. I went to the mound to pitch on the fifteenth inning. So thanks God, I got one, two, three, and come back to the dugout, I say to Alvin Dark, you can get some uh reliever. Yeah, get somebody warm up. I don't gonna pitch anymore, so please uh get somebody. So Warren Spahn went in because we were, you know, the uh uh home team. So he went in and uh he pitched that inning and so when I saw that relief pitcher getting ready, coming to the mound, I looked at my was a little locker in the dugout where you put your glove on your hat. So I grabbed my hat, I put my hat on, I grab my glove, and I run to the field. Oh man. Thanks God I also I got one, two, three. So before I get to the dug out, I stop by first baseline, waiting for Willie Mays to arrive in there, and I put my arm over his shoulder and I say, Willie, Alvin Dark is mad at me. I'm not going to pitch any longer. So he tapped my back and said, Don't worry, I'm gonna win this game for you. That's a true story. And he was a second batter on that on that inning, and I can see today I can see that ball when he hit it over the left field wall.

Russ Hodges:

Long high drive to deep left field, tell it bye bye baby.

Juan Marichal:

That was one of the greatest moments of my pitching career.

Mike Koser:

How many pitches did you throw that day? 227. Unbelievable. That's unbelievable. I mean, that would never happen today. In the 1960s, it was still rare to see so many Latin players in the big leagues, but the Giants and the Pirates were different. When you came to Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, it wasn't just another road trip. Uh it was something special, a kind of unspoken brotherhood among the Latin players. You would talk before the game, share dinners after, dinners with Roberto Clemente and uh uh Manny Sanguillen. And at a time when so much of the world uh you know in the sixties felt divided, what did that sense of connection and community mean to you?

Juan Marichal:

Well, I remember that at that time we had seven Latin players on that team, on that giant team, and the pirates have seven. So every day, you know, when we play night game over there, we used to go to the stadium like one o'clock, two o'clock, just to talk. And 14 of us in the dug out. And so many stories, you know, about different hitters, different pictures, different cities. That was a a get together that was so wonderful that we was able to to get together and talk about, you know, different subjects and get invited from uh Roberto to his home. Manny ALou was uh with the partners at that time, Manny Mota was there. So many players, you know, from two teams, four team players, you know, to get together for three days in Pittsburgh. I think that was wonderful, you know. That I never forget.

Mike Koser:

Clemente used to joke that if he wasn't playing baseball, that he'd be a chiropractor. And I've heard that when your back started acting up, that he actually tried to fix you, he would give you adjustments. Is that true?

Juan Marichal:

Yes, he did. And that's that's another true story. And I remember one time Roberto told me, he said, if the owner of the team see me rubbing your back, he's gonna fire me. I say, oh no way, they're gonna fire you. Those massages that he used to give me before I pitched, it really helped me.

Mike Koser:

1966, the All-Star Game was held at brand new Busch Stadium in St. Louis, and it felt like it was being played that day on the surface of the sun.

Announcer:

Well, this is a brand new stadium here in St. Louis, and this is the site of the 1966 All-Star baseball game, and no matter who wins or loses, it will be certain that it was said that it was a hot hot day. Yesterday the temperature reached 105 degrees. The temperature today already well above 100, we've tried to reach the weather bureau, and the line is busy, but they expect temperatures in St. Louis today between 105 and 108 degrees.

Mike Koser:

I've heard that at one point they stuck a thermometer on the field and it read 152. How on earth did you survive that heat?

Juan Marichal:

Well, let me tell you. I remember that I think that that game was in St. Louis, right?

Mike Koser:

Yeah, Busch Stadium.

Juan Marichal:

Yes. I remember that we used so much water on the dugout.

Announcer:

And they're running a little short of water. So no matter what happens on the All-Star field today between the American and National League, everybody will remember this one as the hot one in St. Louis in 1966.

Juan Marichal:

One thing I remember as Sandy Koufax pitched in that game, and he put uh on that heat, he put some ointment on his elbow that they call it capsuline. And that was so hot. I don't know how he can try to put that on his elbow to be able to pitch. Because uh, you know, uh already he was having some problem with his elbow using that and that kind of weather. I think that was very, very, very tough.

Mike Koser:

In 1983, you became the first native of the Dominican Republic to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, a moment of enormous pride, not just for you, but for your country.

Juan Marichal:

It is indeed an honor and a pleasure to join the baseball greats who are enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Mike Koser:

Can you take me back to that day? Now, what 42 years ago? What did it feel like to stand in Cooperstown knowing how far you'd come?

Juan Marichal:

Well, I feel so good. I feel so proud because I don't know how many buses came from Dominican by plane to New York and uh fly to Albany or or drive to Cooperstown, and I knew there were so many people on that field that came from the from my country to watch that ceremony. And my family, my kids, and they were there with me, and uh I think that was uh one uh the moment that I never forget. That was great, that was uh something that I think that every player that played in the Major League would like to be able to make that trip to Cooperstown.

Mike Koser:

You love Cooperstown so much, didn't you tell your wife that it might be fun to move there? How did that conversation go?

Juan Marichal:

Yes, I told her one time. I said, I I think I'd uh I would like to live here. And uh if you agree that you wanna you wanna come, uh we we can move to Coopers town and she say, Well, you go you're gonna be here by yourself. So cold in the winter. I I I don't think I can stand that.

Mike Koser:

Juan, what an incredible career. Such a such a gift to be able to spend a little time with you today. Thank you so much.

Juan Marichal:

Oh, thank you. Thank you for this uh conversation. And uh it reminds me, you know, you know, all the good, beautiful moments that I spent in San Francisco, and I spent with all my teammates. Some of them already pass away, where I'm so sad to see what's happening to uh Mays, Orlando, McCovey, Bobby Bonds, uh, Tom Haller, and and so many, so many others that already pass away. I I remember all the good time with all my teammates, and I something that I never forget.

Mike Koser:

244 complete games, 52 of those being shutouts. The numbers you put up, they they will never be duplicated. Um, thank you so much for the time today. Next time you're in San Francisco at Oracle Park, look down the left field line just below the upper deck. Among the retired Giants numbers, you'll see Juan Marichal's number 27. And then outside the Lefty O'Doul Gate at the ballpark, you'll find his famous high-kicking statue. Marichal's greatness? Well, just ask the great hitters of his day, Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaronn, both said he was one of the toughest pitchers they faced. Pete Rose called him the best pitcher he ever faced. Joe Morgan once joked that if you got a hit off of Marichal, the umpires should stop the game and give you the ball. And one night, at Dodgers Stadium, he shut out the Dodgers on just 78 pitches in a game that lasted only an hour and 35 minutes. Truly one of the all-time greats. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Lost Ballparks. If you enjoyed it, make sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. And if you can, please leave a review. It helps tremendously in uh helping us get the word out.

Head Shot

Mike Koser

Host