Frank Louis Bertaina (April 14, 1944 – March 3, 2010) was an American

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 ...

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), ...

who played from through for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

(1964–67, 1969), Washington Senators (1967–69), and

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

(1970). Listed at tall and , Bertaina batted and threw left-handed. Bertaina made his major league debut on August 1, 1964, against the

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 sea ...

at Municipal Stadium. He started and gave up two

earned runs In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

in seven innings pitched, but did not receive a decision in the 5–2 Orioles victory. With Baltimore and Washington in 1967 he went 7–6 with a 2.99

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

and a career-high 86 strikeouts, while tying for ninth in the American League with four

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s. That season, he was part of a trade on May 29, when the Orioles shipped him and rookie slugger

Mike Epstein Michael Peter Epstein (born April 4, 1943), nicknamed "Superjew", is an American former professional baseball player for the Baltimore Orioles, Washington Senators / Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, and California Angels of Major League Bas ...

to Washington for veteran left-hander

Pete Richert Peter Gerard Richert (born October 29, 1939) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1962–64, 1972–73), Washington Senators (1965–67), Ba ...

. In a seven-year career, Bertaina posted a 19–29 record with 3.84 ERA in 100 pitching appearances, including 66 starts, five shutouts, six complete games and 10

games finished In baseball statistics, a relief pitcher is credited with a game finished (denoted by GF) if he is the last pitcher to pitch for his team in a game. A starting pitcher is not credited with a GF for pitching a complete game. Mariano Rivera is th ...

, giving up 208 runs (176 earned) on 399 hits, while striking out 280 and

walking Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an ' inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults ...

214 in 413 innings of work. During his minor league career, Bertaina led the Eastern League in

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

(.733) in 1964 while pitching for the Elmira Pioneers, topped the International League in strikeouts (188) with the Rochester Red Wings in 1965, and won the International League

title (.800) with the 1970 Red Wings. Bertaina died in

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa ( Spanish for " Saint Rose") is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its estimated 2019 population was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Country and ...

at the age of 65, following complications from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

.Frank Bertaina, former Red Wings pitcher, dies
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References

External links

Baseball Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertaina, Frank 1944 births 2010 deaths Aberdeen Pheasants players Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from San Francisco Elmira Pioneers players Major League Baseball pitchers Rochester Red Wings players St. Louis Cardinals players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players Washington Senators (1961–1971) players