Dean Chance

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Wilmer Dean Chance (born June 1, 1941 in Wooster, Ohio) is a retired American Major League Baseball pitcher. He won the 1964 Cy Young Award when, as a member of the Los Angeles Angels, he led the American League in wins (20), innings pitched (278⅓) and earned run average (1.65 — to this day, a franchise record). At the time, only one Cy Young Award was given in all of MLB; since 1967, separate awards have been given in the AL and the National League. Chance's Cy Young Award was the third in a string of five consecutive Cy Young Awards won by a pitcher from a Los Angeles team. The others were won by Dodger pitchers: Don Drysdale in 1962 and Sandy Koufax in 1963, 1965 and 1966.

Chance, a righthander, signed with the Baltimore Orioles out of high school and spent two seasons (1959-60) in their lower minor league system before the Angels selected him in the December 1960 AL expansion draft. After spending most of 1961 at the AAA level, Chance became a major leaguer late that season. Chance had an outstanding rookie campaign in 1962, winning 14 games with an ERA of 2.96, but he lost 18 games in 1963, immediately prior to his Cy Young season. He won 15 games in 1965, but when he compiled only a 12-17 record in 1966, the Angels shipped him to the Minnesota Twins in a major off-season trade.

Chance responded by winning 20 games for the Twins in 1967, leading the AL in games started (39), complete games (18) and innings pitched (283⅔). On August 6 of that year, he pitched a rain-shortened, five-inning perfect game against the Red Sox at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota. He also pitched a 2-1 no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians on August 25, the Indians scoring the run in the first inning on two walks, an error and a wild pitch. The Twins nearly won the '67 pennant, but Chance was outdueled in the season's final game, at Fenway Park, by Boston's Jim Lonborg and the Red Sox emerged as surprise league champions — with Lonborg winning the '67 AL Cy Young trophy in the process.

After a 16-16 mark in 1968, Chance's career rapidly declined. He won a total of only 18 games from 1969-71, bouncing from the Twins to the Cleveland Indians (in a deal involving fellow pitcher Luis Tiant), New York Mets and Detroit Tigers. His career record over 11 seasons (1961-71) and 406 games pitched was 128 wins, 115 losses and an ERA of 2.92. He was a notoriously weak batsman in those days prior to the designated hitter, garnering only 44 hits in 662 at-bats, for a batting average of .066.

Chance founded the International Boxing Association during the 1990s.

[edit] See also

• List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
• List of Major League Baseball wins champions
• List of Major League Baseball no-hitters

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference