John Patrick Cullen (born October 6, 1939 in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.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 ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

. The 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 ...

appeared in 19 games 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 member of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

(1962, 1965–66). Born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...

. He signed with the Yankees in 1959 and won 11 or more games in each of his first four pro seasons. His first two appearances in a Yankee uniform came in September 1962, as he hurled three shutout innings of

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

against the second-division

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 ...

and Washington Senators and earned his only MLB save. Cullen then spent all of 1963 and 1964 and half of 1965 at the Triple-A level. The 1965 Yankees, now denizens themselves of the second division, recalled him in July and plugged him into their

starting rotation R rabbit ears :Indicates a participant in the game who hears things perhaps too well for their own good. A player who becomes nervous or chokes when opposing players or fans yell at or razz them is said to have rabbit ears. Also, an umpire ...

. In nine games, he won three games and lost four, but posted a solid 3.25

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 ...

, two complete games and one

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 ...

, a three-hit, 1–0 triumph against 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 ...

on August 20. His appeared in three games in relief late in the season. Cullen then worked in five games, all as a reliever, in early 1966 before the Yankees sent him back to Triple-A. In his penultimate MLB appearance on May 1, he went seven scoreless innings in relief 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 ...

and was credited with the Yankees' 10–4 victory.

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br>(1 May 1966, Game 2), "New York Yankees 10, Kansas City Athletics 4"
/ref> He then pitched through 1970 in the Yankees',

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' and

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...

' organizations. In 19 career MLB games, all with New York, he had a 4–4 won–lost record with a 3.07 ERA. In 73 career innings pitched, he allowed 72 hits and 28 bases on balls; 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 ...

34.

References

External links

1939 births Living people Amarillo Gold Sox players Baseball players from Newark, New Jersey Greensboro Yankees players Major League Baseball pitchers New York Yankees players Richmond Braves players Richmond Virginians (minor league) players St. Petersburg Saints players Spokane Indians players Toledo Mud Hens players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1930s-stub