Cuellar's Baseball Career From 1972 Onwards
Cuellar won 18 games apiece in both the 1972 and 1973 baseball seasons. In 1972, the Orioles did not make it to the playoffs, finishing behind the Detroit Tigers, but they were back again in 1973, winning the AL Eastern Division title. In Game Three of the American League Championship Series against the defensing World Series Champion Oakland Athletics, Cuellar pitched every inning of an 11-inning game; unfortunately, he lost by a score of 2–1 to the A's.
Cuellar had a great pitching season in 1974, finishing with a win-loss record of 22–10 and a 3.11 ERA, but with just 106 strikeouts. Cuellar pitched 20 complete games, including five shutouts, but earned only a sixth-place finish in the quite-odd Cy Young Award voting that year. The Orioles won the Eastern Division once again, and they faced off again in the 1974 American League Championship Series against the Athletics, who were in the midst of establishing a dynasty of their own, winning the fourth of five Western Division crowns in a row, and winning the World Series three years in a row.
Cuellar split a pair of decisions against the Athletics, winning in Game One but losing the decisive Game Four; hence the Orioles lost the Championship Series to Oakland three games to one – with the final game again resulting in a very tight 2–1 score.
After two sub-par seasons in 1975 and 1976, Cuellar was released by Baltimore. He signed up as a free agent with the California Angels in 1977. Cuellar was released that May after appearing in only two games. Attempting a comeback at age 42 in 1979, he had a combined 7–6 record with three clubs in the Puerto Rican League and Mexican Leagues.
During his 15-season career Cuellar had a win-loss record of 185–130 with a 3.14 ERA, 1,632 strikeouts, 172 complete games, 36 shutouts, and 11 saves in 453 games and 2,808 innings pitched. In five American League Championship Series and three World Series appearances, Cuellar pitched in 12 games, winning four games and losing four with a 2.85 ERA while recording 56 strikeouts.
Also, on August 10, 1971, Cuellar threw the pitch that Harmon Killebrew hit for his 500th career home run.
In a 1976 Esquire magazine article, sportswriter Harry Stein published an "All Time All-Star Argument Starter," consisting of five ethnic baseball teams. Cuellar, a Cuban, was the left-handed pitcher on Stein's Latino team.
After his baseball career ended, Cuellar resided in Orlando, Florida, and he was an active participant in the Hispanic Heritage Month event.
Read more about this topic: Mike Cuellar
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