Looking Back: O'Toole A Nashville Vol
Former Tennessean sports writer, F.M. Williams, once wrote in 1958 that there would never be another Nashville Vols' pitcher like Jim O'Toole. That year, O'Toole was in his first and only minor league season in Nashville. He was born in Chicago and played college baseball at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"That's where they discovered me in college," O'Toole said recently from his Cincinnati home. "In December 1957 the bonus rule went out. That meant you could sign, and they would send you to the minors. Prior to that if you received a bonus over $5,000, you had to go the big league club. That's why (Sandy) Koufax was up there with the Dodgers in 1956-58. They had to keep him all those years without going to the minors.
"I played summer ball in South Dakota where the best college players went. When I went down there in my first year in college. They told me I was wild. In 1957, I won about eight games. I was the best pitcher in what they called the Basin League. Bob Gibson was in that league. Frank Howard was down there with Dick Radatz and (Ron) Perranoski. They had some top talent playing in this league.
"After the season was over Don Schwall, who played for Boston, and I toured the Reds professional team. We worked out with Kansas City, Boston, the Phillies and everybody told me, 'kid, you've got it. You've got the kind of stuff to pitch in the big leagues.' So I signed with the Reds in December of 1957."
In that era of minor league baseball, the money and travel was substandard compared to the life of a ball player today. Riding an old bus was the primary transportation for
O'Toole and his future Vols teammates as they journeyed to the Southern cities. On trips to New Orleans, the railways were the method of transport.
"The Reds gave me a bonus of $50,000 bucks," said O'Toole. "Back then it was not common to bring in attorneys. They said the $50,000 they were going to give me would be spread over four years. In 1958, I went to spring training and $12,000 to play in Nashville.
"But that was the total of it. I didn't get the base salary in Nashville. It wasn't a bonus as all. It was salary -- everything. So I'm in the big leagues the next year and got $12,000. In 1960 (with the Reds), I won 12 games and I'm also being paid $12,000. I didn't get the minimum salary plus the $12,000. I would have thought bonus meant over and above. Without attorneys you get ripped."
The Reds sent O'Toole straight to the Double-A Nashville Vols of the Southern Association in 1958. O'Toole lived part of the season in the Maxwell House Hotel. He developed a close relationship with his batboy Jimmy Cosman. Cosman convinced O'Toole to move in with his family. O'Toole gave Cosman some pitching lessons and the batboy would later be signed by the Cardinals and played a bit with the Cubs.
O'Toole would win a league-leading 20 games against eight defeats. He also led the SA in innings pitched (280), strikeouts (189), complete games (21) and shutouts (4). The left-hander appeared in 35 games (33 starts) and recorded a 2.44 ERA. O'Toole was determined to be a success in professional baseball.
"I had my blinkers on," said O'Toole. "When you get to professional ball there are a lot of things that can lure you off the straight path. Drinking being one; girls another, but I pretty much stayed steadfast. I wanted to pitch in the big leagues and make it. Living in a hotel is not the best place to keep your head on straight. The best move I made was moving in with my batboy. I was fortunate to have a guy like Dick Sisler (Vols manager) who played in the big leagues.
"Everything goes to confidence. My first game I pitched we lost 15-7. A lot of people in the stands were yelling, 'send him back to Wisconsin, he's a rookie.' I walked about seven or eight players. I did strike out Harmon Killebrew about three times. He wasn't too bad a player. After I won my first game, I never walked more than three batters in a game the rest of that season."
The Vols played their homes games in the Sulphur Dell ballpark with its quirky dimensions. The right field was only 262 feet from home plate with a 22-foot high wall to help keep the long ball in the park. The right field embankment meant a steep climb for a ball hit over the right fielder's head.
So how did O'Toole like pitching in the one-time "Baseball's Most Historic Park?"
"I loved it," said O'Toole. "It was hot with a short fence, but I was low-ball pitcher. I wasn't considered a strikeout pitcher. I kept the ball down and made them hit the ball. Though I did strike out a few while I was down there. Basically it was almost an identical park to Crosley Field (Cincinnati). Crosley Field was only 290 feet straight away center and in the alleys it was 260 feet. Sulphur Dell groomed me to where I'd be pitching the rest of my life. Being a lefthander was an advantage for me because of that short right field porch."
O'Toole was the starting pitcher in the 1958 Southern Association's All-Star game played against the league-leading Atlanta Crackers. He got the win as the All-Stars defeated the Crackers 4-0. O'Toole pitched two shutout innings allowing two hits, one walk and two strikeouts.
O'Toole was asked about his most memorable game in 1958.
"Just after the All-Star game, we had a couple of days off," O'Toole said. "I pitched a 12-inning game. In this particular game I hit a home run, a double and a single. I almost had a no-hitter. The home run was over the right field wall at Sulphur Dell and I didn't pull the ball.
"I've got the photo on the wall in my family room of me hitting the home run and running to first base. Everything happened in that one game and it gave me a lot of confidence. That particular game was probably the most outstanding for me in Nashville. When you look at that record today, pitching 280 innings and 21 complete games and see what they do today. What would that be worth as far as money today?"
F. M. Williams would write this tribute just before O'Toole's 20th victory:
"Part of Nashville's heritage is that in the years when team performance has been below the standards of a pennant contender, one individual usually does such a remarkable job that few, if any, seasons here can be looked back on and called complete failures. So it is with Jim O'Toole.
"Certainly O'Toole, the brash, 21-year-old lefthander who makes his swan song before home folks tomorrow afternoon at Sulphur Dell, will go down alongside such ex-Vol greats as Bob Lennon, the Southern league's home run king; with Bob Kelly, Jack Harshman and Bob Schultz, recent pitching greats, and in earlier eras, with Les Fleming and Hugh Hill, the only .400 hitters in Southern history. And just possibly the kid from Chicago may someday be placed in a class all by himself. The likes of him has not passed this way before, nor is there reason to expect that his likes will ever pass this way again."
O'Toole's brashness could have been just plain old confidence. He tells this story where the result confused confidence for a player who was a "hot dog."
"There was the one incident down in New Orleans during a doubleheader," said O'Toole. "It was so hot. I had a shutout going into the last inning of the game. Charlie Silvera (New Orleans' player-manager) was one time a backup to Yogi Berra. In this particular game he was New Orleans' third base coach. I'm pitching and he's on my back. 'O'Toole, we're going to get to you with that crap you've got.'
"The lead-off batter in the last inning hit a triple. The next player was a left-handed batter he hit a ball that hit the foul line. Then I hear, 'there goes your shutout O'Toole. I told you you wouldn't get it.' I put a sign on with the third baseman and I picked the guy off third base. Now there are two outs and nobody on. Then I said, 'hey Charlie, big mouth! Why don't you get a bat?'
"He said, 'I'll show that big mouth kid I'm a big leaguer!' He got a bat and came to the plate. When he swung the bat, all he had left in his hand was the handle. The bat broke in half and the ball rolled to me. I said, 'Charlie are you going to run or do you want me to tag you out at home plate?'"
The Vols finished in fifth place in 1958 in an eight-team league with a 76-78 record. They finished 15 and one-half games behind first-place Birmingham. O'Toole was also selected as the Minor League Player-of-the-Year. The National Association of Baseball Writers gave the award to him.
At the close of the Vols season, the Reds called O'Toole to "The Show." He made his major year debut on September 28, 1958 in Milwaukee's Seals Stadium before 21, 376 fans. The Reds lost the game, 2-1 while O'Toole pitched a four-hitter in seven innings. He struck out four batters, gave up one earned run while walking five.
"I drove straight up after my 20th win (in Nashville) to Milwaukee and pitched against the Braves who won the National League pennant," said O'Toole about his first major league game. "I figured I had a good chance of winning. I only gave up two runs. I ended up losing to Lew Burdette who won his 20th game for the first time ever.
"In that game we had our rookies in there and the Braves had (Eddie) Mathews, (Bill) Bruton, (Hank) Aaron, (Del) Crandall and (Johnny) Logan. They had every starter in the lineup because they wanted Burdette to win his 20th game. He had the best lineup. After the game some Reds personnel said, 'O'Toole, you outdid yourself. You won 20 games and you pitched today like you've been a big leaguer forever. Would you come with us to New York?'
"They said they wanted to put me on the Ed Sullivan program. So I was on the Ed Sullivan program two days later. I'm there telling Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford how to pitch to Hank Aaron. How do you go from being 21 years old to a veteran telling how to pitch to Hank Aaron?
O'Toole would pitch in the major league nine seasons (1958-66) with the Reds and one final season in 1967 with the White Sox. In his ten seasons, O'Toole would compile a 98-84 career record, appearing in 270 games (238 starts) with 58 complete games. O'Toole threw 18 career shutouts with a 3.57 lifetime ERA.
In 1961, O'Toole was 19-9 (3.18 ERA) second best record on the Reds pitching staff. The first-place Reds would meet the New York Yankees in the World Series. O'Toole lost Game One, 2-0 and Game Four, 7-0. The Yanks won the Series in five games. His next best season was in 1964 where O'Toole registered a 17-7 mark with a 2.66 ERA.
In 1960, Cincinnati came to Nashville for an exhibition game at Sulphur Dell with the Milwaukee Braves.
"That was great," O'Toole said about his return to the Dell. "I had my picture taken with Warren Spahn at home plate. It was great to see some of the people and friends I had made in Nashville. It was like a homecoming to see the old Sulphur Dell."
O'Toole was selected to the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1970.
If you have any comments or question contact Bill Traughber via email WLTraughber@aol.com.