Dean Chance

At 74 years old, Dean Chance has this physical status:

Wilmer Dean Chance (June 1, 1941 – October 11, 2015) was an American professional baseball player.

He played for the Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians, New York Mets, and Detroit Tigers in 11 Major League Baseball seasons. He was a right-handed pitcher.

Chance in mid-wind up would turn his back completely to the hitter as a member of the Los Angeles Angels (1968), and was third in the A.L., with a touch of wildness and the habit of never looking at home plate once he had won the Cy Young Award. In strikeouts, there have been many strikes.

He pitched 11 shutouts (also a franchise record as of 2015) this season, winning five of them by a 1–0 score.

Only one Cy Young Award was given in any of MLB at the time; since 1967, distinct awards have been given in both the AL and the National League;

Chance's Cy Young Award was the third in a series of five consecutive Cy Young Awards won by a pitcher from a Los Angeles-based team.

Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax were won by Dodger pitchers 1962 and 1966, respectively.

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Baseball career

Chance attended Northwestern High School (Ohio) and starred on the baseball and basketball teams (leading the team to a 1958 state championship), but baseball is where Chance will shine. During his high school years, he set several state records, including a 52–1 record, 20 wins in a season, eight no-hitters in a season (in both his junior and senior years), and 17 no-hitters. He also coached the Huskies to the Class A state semifinals in 1958 and a championship in 1959 (and pitching every inning of every postseason tournament game).

Chance signed with the Baltimore Orioles (for a $30,000 reward and a $12 Greyhound bus ticket) prior to the 1959 season as an amateur free agent. He was signed by the Bluefield Orioles of the Class-D Appalachian League, where he went 10–3 with a 2.94 ERA. In 1960, he went 12-9 for Fox Cities Foxes in the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League. Chance was the 48th pick in the 1960 AL expansion draft, draft by Washington Senators on December 14, 1960. Chance was traded by the Senators to the Los Angeles Angels immediately following the draft for outfielder Joe Hicks. He pitched the majority of 1961 for the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers, going 9-12 before making his major league debut on September 11, 1961 at the age of 20. Chance finished the season 0–2 with a 6.87 ERA in five games, but stayed in the majors to remain.

Chance had an impressive debut in 1962, winning 14 games with an ERA of 2.96 and placing third in AL Rookie of the Year voting with Bernie Allen and Dick Radatz (behind fellow Angel Buck Rodgers and winner Tom Tresh). Chance and fellow phenom Bo Belinsky teamed on both the mound and in Hollywood social circles, much to the delight of the Angels' front office and manager Bill Rigney's. Despite the fact that he played 18 games in 1963, he ended with a 3.19 ERA in 248 innings. Both were inseparable and often grouped together, with some claiming that the Angels would only have to worry about one bad room when they were in their room after curfew (which was not often). Chance went 15-10 in 1965 and 12-17 in 1966, after a respectable ERA of 3.08. The Angels, a poor hitting team and trying to save one of their children's, traded Chance and infielder Jackie Hernández to the Minnesota Twins on December 2 in a trade that netted them outfielder Jimmie Hall, slugging first baseman Don Mincher, and relief pitcher Pete Cimino.

Chance responded by winning 20 games for the Twins in 1967, leading the AL in games (39), complete games (181) and innings pitched (28323). He pitched a perfect game against the Red Sox at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota, on August 6 of that year. On August 25, he pitched a 2–1 no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians, giving the Indians their sole run in the first inning on two walks, an error, and a wild pitch. Umpire Ed Runge's wide strike zone had a lot to do with him holding the Indians off the basepaths, as well as chance that he did not know the Indians. Chance was nearly defeated in the 1967 pennant series at Fenway Park by Boston's Jim Lonborg, who was chasing Chance in with 5 runs in the sixth game, despite having only one ball out of the infield, and the Red Sox were surprise league champions, with Lonborg winning the 1967 AL Cy Young trophy in the process. Chance helped the Angels reach fifth place with an 84–77 record in 1967, the Twins were in it until the season's final game, and Chance was named to his second all-star team and received the Sporting News AL Comeback Player of the Year award.

Chance had a disappointing 16-16 record (echoing the Twins' 79-83 finish), but he still managed to hit and walk per 9 innings (6.9 and 1.9 respectively), and strikeouts per 9 innings (7.9) during his tenure. Chance had a great chance of winning 20 games again in 1968, but the Twins offense let him down in 17 of his 22 starts (games in which Chance himself had a ERA of 2.55). Chance set a 13-4 record in games in which the Twins scored at least three runs. Despite his good season, owner Calvin Griffith, who is well-known for his being "thrifty," attempted to reduce Chance's pay by $9,000. Chance came out ahead of the 1969 season, and was able to have his salary cut by "only" $5,000. However, 1968 was his last big year before his career plummeted. He played for only 18 games from 1969 to 1979. Following his holdout and only pitched 8813 innings, he was plagued by a back injury caused by rushing to get back to fitness in 1969. Chance, third baseman (and future New York Yankees star) Ted Uhlaender, infielder Ted Uhlaender, and pitcher Bob Miller were sent by the Cleveland Indians on December 10, 1969, for relief pitcher Stan Williams and future Boston Red Sox star Luis Tiant. The trade was a disaster for the Twins as Nettles and Tiant, the trade's key players, were released after just one season of injury.

Chance split the 1970s between the Indians, for whom he set a 9-08 record with a 4.28, and the New York Mets (after being purchased from the Indians on September 18). Chance was traded again on March 30, 1971, this time to the Detroit Tigers, as well as reliever Bill Denehy for minor league pitcher Jerry Robertson. Chance played a large part out of the bullpen for his career, finishing with a 4–6 record in 31 games.

He had a career with 11 seasons (1961–711) and 406 games played, totaling 128 victories, 115 losses, and a ERA of 2.92. In the days leading up to the designated hitter, he was a notoriously weak batsman with only 44 hits in 662 at bats for a batting average of.066. Chance's batting average is the lowest one ever recorded by a Major League player with at least 300 plate appearances; he also struck out 420 times in his 662 at-bats. Chance was rated by baseball author Bill James and Ron Herbel as the worst hitting pitchers of the 1960s, along with Ron Herbel.

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