John Purdin says Hi
by Phil Gurnee on May 29, 2010 11:34 PM PDT
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Eric mentioned ole John yesterday and not in a good way
Ramon Troncoso had a nice comeback effort tonight, after giving up a home run in three straight appearances. Troncoso allowed just one hit in his 1 1/3 innings, avoiding joining John Purdin (in 1969) as the only Los Angeles Dodger reliever to allow a home run in four straight outings.
which made me bring out my old Dodger baseball cards because John Purdin may have been my first one. I only bring this up because John Purdin may have been the first Dodger prospect I followed who broke my heart. First year at age 22 for Salisbury he went 14 - 3, pitched 137 innings, struck out 183 and walked only 27. Included in that season was a perfect game. For 46 years prospects have been breaking my heart, I don't expect that to change anytime soon and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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Sad news about John
John Purdin passed away this year on March 28th. He was 67. I remember him coming up in late 64 and tossing a low hit shut out. Against the Cubs if I remember correctly. I believe he was also a veteran of the US Army. Serving in Germany.
Your memory is excellent
I’m a smidgen too young to remember 1964, but I did find this article from the Salisbury Post on the anniversary of the perfect game that makes note of those facts:
Purdin’s first start in the majors was a two-hit shutout of the Chicago Cubs, and he also won against Houston on the final day of the 1964 season.
He was a schoolboy star in Ohio, pitching one no-hitter, but he was serving in the military in Germany when a friend of Dodgers manager Walter Alston saw him throw and recommended the Dodgers sign him.The article also notes that Purdin yielded a grand slam to Bobby Bonds in 1968 for Bonds first career homer, but neglects to mention that this was in Bonds’ debut game in the majors, and that Bonds was the second of four players in major league history to hit a GS in his debut game; the others are Bill Duggleby, 1898, Jeremy Hermida, 2005, and Kevin Kouzmanoff, 2006.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
When I saw this title
I thought Purdin had emailed because he didn’t like the reference to him or something. Nice recollection though. This was cool.
Sad to hear Purdin died this year. He died on my birthday.
by Eric Stephen on May 30, 2010 7:08 AM PDT via mobile reply actions
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