Seeing Tim Wakefield become a world champion reminded me of another fellow knuckleballer - Tom Candiotti. Wakefield has always been at the right place at the right time, while Candiotti was exactly the opposite.
Candiotti, as you may remember, was a knuckleball pitcher mostly with the Cleveland Indians in the 1980s and the LA Dodgers in the '90s. The Candy Man may have only 151 career victories to his credit, but he was often a victim of poor defense and run support, which deprived him of many more wins. He was never an All-Star, but many times it wasn't his own fault.
Candiotti was traded away from the last-place Indians in June of 1991, and was one of the league leaders in ERA but only had a 7-6 record. He would have been a perfect choice for the All-Star team to represent Cleveland, but was traded to Toronto, and didn't make it to the All-Star squad. Ironically, with a first-place Blue Jays team, he continued to pitch well but ended with a losing record (6-7) and a 3.00 ERA for Toronto. That season, he was runner-up (2.65) to The Rocket for the ERA title (2.62), allowing just ONE more run which made his ERA 3 points higher than Roger Clemens'. However, he was only 13-13 and didn't get a single vote for the Cy Young Award.
In the next few seasons with Los Angeles, Candiotti missed out on a couple of World Series rings because Toronto went on to win in 92 and 93. Most of the time, Candi pitched with little run support. In the summer of 1993, Candiotti pitched a couple of scoreless games (against San Francisco and Montreal) but came away with no-decisions because the Dodgers scored zero runs to support him. By August that year, he was 8-5 with a league-leading ERA, and went through a 15-start streak without a loss (with only 5 wins and 10 no-decisions because of the lack of run support).
By 1995, the Dodgers were a better team, but they also had younger pitchers, and by then, Candiotti was the 4th or 5th starter. Still, he pitched well, finishing with 3.50 ERA...but only a 7-14 record. Along the way, Candiotti pitched shutout ball for 8 innings against Atlanta in July, but got a no-decision. Pitched shutout ball for 8 innings against the Cubs, but got nothing. The Dodgers were shut out for another 4 times in games Candi started, finishing a frustrating year for him.
In 1999, Candi returned to the Indians, who by now were a formidable team. Unfortuately, by now also, Candiotti's control of the knuckleball was abandoning him, and he was released before the end of the season.
Candiotti has a career losing record, but he was more than just a knuckleballer. He threw curveballs and fastballs, and throughout his big league career, he had good control of his pitches, never being in the league leaders in walks. Too bad he never played on a World Championship team, unlike his counterpart Wakefield.
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Posted March 30, 2005.
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