Clyde Wright

Clyde Wright (born February 20, 1941), nicknamed "Skeeter", is an American former professional baseball player. A left-handed pitcher, he played all or part of ten seasons in Major League Baseball for the California Angels (1966–73), Milwaukee Brewers and Texas Rangers (1975). He also pitched three seasons in Japan for the Yomiuri Giants (1976–78). He is the father of Jaret Wright. He is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Hall of Fame.

Early life Wright was born on February 20, 1941, in Jefferson City, Tennessee, where he was raised on a tobacco farm. Wright attended Jefferson High School, where he had above a B-average as a student and was a pitching star on the school's baseball team. He also played for a team in the local Connie Mack League.

After graduating high school, Wright wanted to obtain a college degree before becoming a professional baseball player, and attended Carson-Newman College, receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in physical education in 1965.

College career Wright was a star pitcher at Carson-Newman, whom he helped pitch to the 1965 NAIA Baseball World Series title. Wright was the Most Valuable Player in that tournament, which the Eagles won in a best of five-game series, 3–2, over Nebraska-Omaha. During that World Series, Wright struck out 22 batters in one game—to date an NAIA World Series record. He also holds the records for strikeouts in the NAIA championship tournament (37, tied with Ray Washburn

Wright was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame on July 3, 1970. In 1965, he was assigned to the Single-A Quad Cities Angels. He had a 7–2 won–loss record and 1.99 earned run average (ERA), with 88 strikeouts in 77 innings pitched and only 20 bases on balls. In 1966, he was promoted to the Double-A El Paso Sun Kings of the Texas League. He played in 17 games, starting eight, and had a 9–0 record, with a 3.41 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 87 innings.

After being promoted to the Angels in 1966, he split time between the Angels and Triple-A Seattle Angels of the Pacific Coast League in 1967. At Seattle, he was 8–4 with a 3.07 ERA, in 13 starts. This would be his last year in the minor leagues. He was a spot starter for the Angels in his first two seasons, going 5–5 in 1967, with a 3.26 ERA. In 1968, Wright won 10 games while losing six, with three saves, pitching mostly in relief.

In 1969, Wright won only one game with eight losses and a 4.10 earned run average; after the season, the Angels waived him. No other team wanted him, and his career seemed to be over. Teammate Jim Fregosi convinced Wright to accompany him to winter ball in Puerto Rico, where Fregosi managed the Ponce team. Fregosi recommended Wright experiment with a screwball (because Wright needed another pitch). ) and established a career-low 2.83 ERA, Wright also no-hit the Oakland Athletics 4-0 at Anaheim Stadium on July 3 of that year, the first no-hitter pitched in that stadium. He threw only 98 pitches in a game that took less than two hours to complete. and Alou is the father of Moises. Wright's son Jaret Wright had an 11-year MLB pitching career. Jaret Wright, Sandy Alomar Jr. and Moisés Alou all participated in the 1997 World Series: Alomar Jr. was Jaret Wright's catcher with the Cleveland Indians (the winning battery in Game 4 ), and Moises Alou was a starting outfielder for the victorious Florida Marlins.

The 22-win season made Clyde Wright, to date, the only Angel left-hander to win 20 games in a season. 22 wins also remains tied as a franchise record, Nolan Ryan having equaled it in 1974.

Wright was selected to the All-Star team in 1970, the only All-Star selection of his career. He was the losing pitcher of the game (which was played at the newly opened Riverfront Stadium eleven days after his no-hitter), giving up the game-winning single to fellow Tennessee native Jim Hickman (his eventual 1970 National League Comeback Player of the Year counterpart

Wright went 16-17 in 1971 with a 2.99 ERA and a career-high 135 strikeouts, and 18-11 in 1972 with a 2.98 ERA, before falling to 11-19 with a 3.68 ERA in 1973. He was involved in a nine-player transaction when he was sent along with Steve Barber, Ken Berry, Art Kusnyer and cash from the Angels to the Milwaukee Brewers for Ellie Rodríguez, Ollie Brown, Joe Lahoud, Skip Lockwood and Gary Ryerson on October 23, 1973.

Final years In 1974, he became the first 20-game loser in the Milwaukee franchise's history (9–20), and remains its only 20-game loser (through 2024). He was traded from the Brewers to the Texas Rangers for Pete Broberg at the Winter Meetings on December 5, 1974. He pitched one season in Texas, and was then released just prior to the start of the 1976 season. In three years for the Giants, he was 22–18 with a 3.97 ERA.

Wright feared he was an alcoholic after his Major League Baseball days. He began drinking heavily while in Japan, and over the next few years the problem worsened as he reached the depths of his drinking. That was the day he first sought help.

He opened Clyde Wright's Tennessee Bar-B-Que at Angel Stadium, where he supervises the cooking and signs autographs.