Al McBean, the first major league pitcher to hail from the Virgin Islands, died at age 85 on January 31. McBean pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1961-68 and returned to Pittsburgh in 1970 after brief stops with the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers. Unfortunately, he just missed being part of the Pirates teams that won the World Series in 1960 and 1971. He was a favorite of Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince, who referred to him by his full name, Alvin O’Neal McBean.
Al McBean Passes at Age 85
A Forgotten Pitcher Has Died
For his career, McBean was 67-50 in 409 games (76 starts) with a 3.13 ERA and 63 saves. He began to thrive in 1963 when Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh started using him strictly in relief. That was fine with McBean. Relievers were used differently in the 1960s compared to today. McBean was brought in to pitch out of jams, and many rallies died when he came in. He preferred coming out of the bullpen because he could rely strictly on his hard fastball. Besides, he felt that starting made him nervous.
McBean’s Best Season
Flamboyant on the field, McBean’s best season was 1964, when he was 8-3 with a 1.91 ERA and 21 saves. That’s when he was named The Sporting News National League Fireman of the Year. McBean made 60 appearances from July 28, 1963, to August 15, 1964, without a loss. Over that period, he was 7-0 with 14 saves. From 1963-67, he was 38-19 with a 2.50 ERA and 58 saves. He was good enough to have taken the bullpen “ace” duties for 1964 and 1965 away from Roy Face. Of course, Face was an all-time great reliever in his own right.
However, by 1965 Harry Walker had taken over for Murtaugh as Pirates manager. Walker was disliked by most of the players, who felt he caused too much turmoil and lacked knowledge about pitching. Inexplicably, although McBean was still effective, in 1966 and 1967 Walker used him mostly in long relief and mop-up roles. McBean garnered only seven saves over those two seasons. When the Pirates’ 1967 pennant hopes died, Walker was fired and replaced by a former pitcher.
McBean’s Finest Moment
Larry Shepard took over as Pirates manager in 1968 and returned McBean to the starting rotation. McBean was only 9-12 with a 3.58 ERA that season. But that year included probably his finest game in the majors. On July 28 at Forbes Field, he pitched a complete game against the St. Louis Cardinals, winning 7-1 as he scattered 13 hits and a walk. In the bottom of the fifth with his team ahead, 3-1, McBean stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs against Cardinals left-hander Larry Jaster. McBean, who claimed he was only trying to meet the ball and hit a single, hit a grand slam over the left-center field wall, which measured 406 feet in the cavernous old ballpark. It was McBean’s third career homer. For his career, he hit only .197/.218/.261.
McBean was exposed to the 1969 expansion draft and taken by the San Diego Padres. The Padres kept him for one game and traded him to the Dodgers. By 1970, he was back with the Pirates. But after posting a 7.36 ERA, he had one more year in baseball in the Philadelphia Phillies’ minor league system before calling it quits. He continued to give amusing interviews from the Virgin Islands after his retirement, mostly disparaging modern ballplayers. Now that McBean has died, baseball has lost not only a great former pitcher but a great character.
Photo Credit: © Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
