Galen Cisco

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Galen Bernard Cisco (born March 7, 1936 in St. Marys, Ohio) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for three different teams between 1961 and 1969. Listed at 6' 0", 200 lb., Cisco batted and threw right-handed. He was signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1958 out of Ohio State University.

A two-sport star, Cisco earned All-America and All-Big Ten honors and was a captain on the 1957 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, which won the national championship with a 9-1 record, playing both fullback and linebacker. As a pitcher for the Buckeyes, he compiled a career record of 12-2.

A curveball specialist, Cisco entered the Majors in 1961 with the Boston Red Sox, playing one-and-a-half years for them before joining the New York Mets (1962-1965), again with Boston (1967), and the Kansas City Royals (1969). In a seven-season career, he posted a 25-56 record with a 4.56 ERA in 192 appearances, including 78 starts, nine complete games, three shutouts, two saves, and a 1.16 strikeout-to-walk ratio (325-to-281).

Following his playing retirement, Cisco became a respected pitching coach during 31 years. He spent six seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays (1990-1995), helping his team to won three consecutive American League titles (1991-93) and two World Series (1992-93). Under his tweaking and guidance, Paul Byrd, Robert Person and Randy Wolf developed as starters with the Philadelphia Phillies (1997-2000).

Currently, Cisco resides in Celina, Ohio.

[edit] Awards and recognitions

In 1995, Cisco was elected to the Ohio State Athletic Hall of Fame as a football and baseball player.
The St. Marys Rotary Club annually sponsors the presentation of the Galen Cisco Award. To be eligible for the award, a baseball player must be twelve years old (the last year of Little League eligibility), and voted by his teammates to be Team Most Valuable Player.