Fred Norman

Fredie Hubert Norman (born August 20, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher from through , most notably as a member of the Cincinnati Reds dynasty that won four division titles, two National League pennants and two World Series championships between 1973 and 1977. He also played for the Kansas City Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres and the Montreal Expos.

Norman was one of the Reds' most durable and reliable pitchers during the mid-1970s when the team became known as the Big Red Machine for their dominance of the National League. He posted double-digit victory totals in each of his seasons with the Reds and was the team leader in strikeouts in 1975. Norman was a screwball pitcher.

He was called up to the majors at age 20 on September 4, 1962 and made his major league debut on September 21, 1962 for the Athletics in a 6–1 home loss to the Detroit Tigers. Entering the game in the top of the eighth inning in relief of Diego Seguí, he induced Norm Cash to fly out and pitched two complete innings, giving up one run.

However, he spent nearly all of the decade in the minors, pitching only 15 big-league games in parts of five seasons — in 1962 and 1963 for the Athletics and in 1964, 1966 and 1967 for the Chicago Cubs. In 1970, he pitched 30 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers and one for the St. Louis Cardinals, then split time in 1971 between the Cardinals and the San Diego Padres, to whom he was traded. At age 28 he finally saw significant playing time, pitching 20 games (starting 18) with a 3–12 record but a fine 3.32 earned run average, and he followed that in 1972 with a 9–11 record and 3.44 ERA in 42 games (28 starts).