Donald George Carrithers (born September 15, 1949) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

as a right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

from to for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

and the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

Career

Carrithers was drafted out of

Lynwood High School Lynwood High School is one of three high schools in Lynwood, California, USA. It is a part of the Lynwood Unified School District. History Lynwood High School was built on Bullis Road from 1940-1998 (currently used as a middle school, Lynwood ...

Lynwood, California Lynwood is a city in Los Angeles County, California. At the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 69,772, down from 69,845 at the 2000 census. Lynwood is located near South Gate and Compton in the central portion of the Los Angeles ...

in the 3rd round of the

1967 Major League Baseball Draft The 1967 Major League Baseball draft (or "first-year player draft") recruits amateur baseball players into the American Major League Baseball league. The players selected in 1967 included many talented prospects who later had careers in the profe ...

by the

. After working his way up through their

farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

, he made his major league debut at the age of 20 in 1970, pitching 11 games with an

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) of 7.36. Carrithers started the 1971 season back in the minors, but was called up in June and was in the majors for good. Over the next three seasons, Carrithers bounced back and forth between the starting rotation and the bullpen for the Giants, but various injuries limited him to no more than 25 appearances in each season. On May 14, 1972 he gave up

Willie Mays Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid" and "Buck", is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-tim ...

's 647th career

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

. His performance was below average in each season as well, and just before the 1974 season, the Giants traded him to the

in return for catcher

John Boccabella John Dominic Boccabella (born June 29, 1941) is an American former professional baseball player. He played as a catcher and first baseman in Major League Baseball from 1963 to 1974 with the Chicago Cubs, Montreal Expos and San Francisco Giants. E ...

. Carrithers met with more success in Montreal, but injuries still hampered him. After two seasons of performing well in limited action, in 1976 Carrithers stayed healthy enough to throw 140 innings, his career high. However, his performance suffered a setback, as he went only 6–12 with an ERA of 4.43. The Expos became the second team to be frustrated by Carrithers, and they sold his contract to the

the following spring. After yet another injury-filled campaign in which Carrithers made it into only 7 games, his major league career was over at the age of 28. He returned to the Giants in 1978, pitching for their top farm team, the

Phoenix Giants Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

, for whom he'd pitched from 1969-71, to end his professional baseball career.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrithers, Don 1949 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from California Decatur Commodores players Fresno Giants players Major League Baseball pitchers Memphis Blues players Minnesota Twins players Montreal Expos players People from Lynwood, California Phoenix Giants players Salt Lake City Giants players San Francisco Giants players