Franklin Leal Sullivan (January 23, 1930 – January 19, 2016), was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

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 ...

, who 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), ...

(MLB) for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

, Philadelphia Phillies, and Minnesota Twins over parts of eleven seasons, spanning –. Sullivan was named to the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

(AL) All-Star team, in and , and was elected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame, in 2008. Sullivan was one of the tallest pitchers of his time, standing tall. After the season, the Red Sox traded him to the Phillies for another towering right-hander, -tall

Gene Conley Donald Eugene Conley (November 10, 1930 – July 4, 2017) was an American professional baseball and basketball player. He played as a pitcher for four teams in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1952 to 1963. Conley also played as a forward in ...

. Coincidentally, Conley had been the winning pitcher and Sullivan the loser of the 1955 All-Star Game. A

walk-off home run In baseball, a walk-off home run is a home run that ends the game. For a home run to end the game, it must be hit in the bottom of the final inning of the game and generate enough runs to exceed the opponent's score. Because the opponent will no ...

by Stan Musial on the first pitch from Sullivan in the bottom of the 12th inning brought the midsummer classic to an abrupt end. Sullivan had entered the game with two men out in the eighth and had held the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

(NL) scoreless for 3 innings prior to Musial’s clout. In 1955, Sullivan topped the AL with 260 innings pitched and tied with

Whitey Ford Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford (October 21, 1928 – October 8, 2020), nicknamed "the Chairman of the Board", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played his entire 16-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees ...

for the most wins (18). For his career, he posted a 97–100 win–loss record, with a 3.60

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), in 351 pitching appearances. He dropped 18 of his 21 National League decisions as a member of the Phillies, but went 94–82 in the American League. Overall, Sullivan permitted 1,702 hits and 559 bases on balls in 1,732 MLB innings pitched. He

struck out In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denote ...

959. In September 2008, Sullivan published a memoir entitled, ''Life Is More Than 9 Innings''. He was one of the subjects of the 1957

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

painting '' The Rookie''. Sullivan died in

Lihue, Hawaii Lihue or Līhue is an unincorporated community, census-designated place (CDP) and the county seat of Kauai County, Hawaii, United States. Lihue (pronounced ) is the second largest town on the Hawaiian island of Kauai after Kapaa. As of the 201 ...

, from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

on January 19, 2016, at the age of 85.

References

External links

Frank Sullivan
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
Frank Sullivan
at Baseball Almanac
Frank Sullivan
at Baseball Gauge 1930 births 2016 deaths Albany Senators players American League All-Stars American League wins champions American military personnel of the Korean War Baseball players from California Birmingham Barons players Boston Red Sox players Major League Baseball pitchers Minnesota Twins players Deaths from pneumonia in Hawaii Oroville Red Sox players People from Hollywood, Los Angeles Philadelphia Phillies players San Jose Red Sox players Scranton Miners players University of Southern California alumni USC Trojans baseball players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1930s-stub

See also

References

External links