BALTIMORE — The photo tells all.
Arms raised in triumph, body flushed with joy, Baltimore Orioles pitcher Mike Cuellar leaps off the mound at Memorial Stadium, having stuffed the Cincinnati Reds, 9-3, in the deciding game of the 1970 World Series.
“I can still see the look on Mike’s face,” third baseman Brooks Robinson recalled Friday. “His mouth was wide open, and he had a big, big smile.”
Miguel Angel Cuellar died Friday of stomach cancer at Orlando Regional Medical Center in Florida. He was 72.
Of his 185 big-league victories, none meant more than that World Series win to Cuellar, the Cuban-born left-hander who revived his flagging career in Baltimore — as well as the Orioles’ fortunes.
He was a 32-year-old junkball pitcher thought to be past his prime when obtained in a trade from the Houston Astros for outfielder Curt Blefary in 1968. Instead, Cuellar blossomed into a workhorse who helped anchor a storied rotation that carried the Orioles to one World Series title, three AL pennants and five playoff appearances.
Four times he won 20 or more games. Seven times, he pitched at least 248 innings. His first year in Baltimore, Cuellar went 23-11, pitched five shutouts and became the first Oriole (and Latin American) to win the AL Cy Young Award, sharing it with Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers.
In Cuellar’s first three seasons in Baltimore, the club won 318 games, reaching the Series each year. In 1969, the Orioles lost to the New York Mets in five games, with Cuellar recording the only victory.
“Mike was a monstrous part of the great teams we had from 1969 to 1971,” Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver said. “He was an artist on the mound.”
Cuellar’s best year was 1970, when he went 24-8 and led the league in victories and complete games (21).
“He should have won the Cy that year, but not doing so never affected his performance,” former pitcher Jim Palmer said. “Mike was, arguably, the best left-hander in the game from 1969 to 1974, but he never got his due.”
Cuellar’s death means that of the four Orioles pitchers to win 20 or more games in 1971, only Palmer survives. Dave McNally died in 2002 and Pat Dobson in 2006.
