Farrell was the best the Indians' farm system had when he was called up to Cleveland on August 18, 1987, despite his 24-41 minor league mark. Eight days later he stopped Paul Molitor's hitting streak at 39 games.
Farrell turned out to be one of Cleveland's most pleasant surprises, finishing the year at 5-1 and following with a 14-10 record in 1988. But elbow problems cropped up toward the end of 1988, and by the end of the 1990 season they seemed serious enough to end his career.
Two years and two elbow operations later, Farrell re-surfaced in 1993 with the Angels. His comeback attempt fizzled with a 3-12, 7.35 campaign and he pitched only sparingly for California, Cleveland and Detroit over the next three seasons. (JCA/JGR)
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FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
»August 26, 1987: Paul Molitor goes 0-for-4 in Milwaukee's 1–0, 10-inning win over the Indians, ending his hitting streak at 39 consecutive games. His streak was the 7th longest in ML history and the longest in the American League since Joe DiMaggio's 56-game streak in 1941. Molitor faces rookie John Farrell all four times, and is on deck when Rick Manning ends the game with a run-scoring pinch single in the bottom of the 10th.
»September 20, 1988:
Darrell Evans hits his 400th career home run off John Farrell in the 5th inning, and Chet Lemon hits his 200th career home run off Scott Bailes in the bottom of the 9th to lead Detroit to a 3–1 win over Cleveland.
»October 1, 1988: Boston's Jeff Sellers no-hits the Indians for 71/3 innings before Luis Medina homers and Cleveland goes on to win 1–0. John Farrell wins his 14th for Cleveland.
»May 4, 1989:
Cleveland's John Farrell no-hits the Royals for eight innings before Kevin Seitzer singles. Doug Jones nails down the 3–1 one-hitter.
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