John O'Donoghue

John Eugene O'Donoghue (born October 7, 1939) is an American former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He was signed by the Kansas City Athletics as an amateur free agent before the 1959 season and pitched for the Athletics (1963–1965), Cleveland Indians (1966–1967), Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Pilots / Milwaukee Brewers (1969–1970), and Montreal Expos (1970–1971). During his nine-year major league career, O'Donoghue compiled 39 wins, 377 strikeouts, and a 4.07 earned run average. At the plate, he was 35-for-206 (.170) with three home runs, the first two against Buster Narum and the third off Denny McLain.

Early life O'Donoghue was born on October 7, 1939, in Kansas City, Missouri.

The 18-year old O'Donoghue had pitched eight innings in the first loss to USC, and then came back the next night to pitch five innings, giving up only one run in a 12-inning loss to the Trojans. He was the first Missouri Tiger player ever to play in a Major League All-Star game.

Major leagues

Kansas City O'Donoghue made his major league debut on September 29, 1963, the last day of the regular season. He was the starting pitcher in a home game against the Cleveland Indians at Municipal Stadium. He gave up just two runs (one earned) in six innings, but was the losing pitcher as Jim "Mudcat" Grant and Cleveland prevailed, 2–1. O'Donoghue's first major league career win came on May 12, 1964, at Dodger Stadium. He started and pitched the first seven innings against the Los Angeles Angels, giving up two unearned runs, and the A's won by a score of 6–2. John Wyatt saved the game for him with two scoreless innings.

He played two full seasons with the A's (1964–65) after the one start in 1963. His record was 19–33 with a 4.38 ERA. O'Donoghue made the American League All-Star Team in 1965, though he did not play in the game.

Cleveland and Baltimore In April 1966, the A's traded O'Donoghue and cash to Cleveland for pitcher Ralph Terry.

In two years with the Indians, he had a 14–17 record with a 3.51 ERA.

O'Donoghue was traded along with Gordon Lund by the Indians to the Baltimore Orioles for Eddie Fisher and minor leaguers Johnny Scruggs and Bob Scott on November 28, 1967. In 1968, he split the season between the Orioles and their Triple-A International League affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings. He started seven games in Triple-A ball that year, with a 2–4 record, 2.38 ERA and one shutout. He then split time between the Expos Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons/Winnipeg Whips and the Expos for the remainder of the 1970 season. In Triple-A ball, he started 12 games, had a 6–5 record and a 2.83 ERA. He pitched in nine games for the Expos, starting three, with a 2–3 record and 5.24 ERA. In 1967 for the Indians, he compiled an 8–9 record with two saves and a 3.24 ERA in 33 games (17 starts) and had his lowest career WHIP (1.171).

O'Donoghue held All-Stars Paul Blair, Tony Kubek, Roger Maris, Rick Monday, Boog Powell, Zoilo Versalles, and Roy White to a .140 collective batting average (19-for-136); and held Hall of Famers Luis Aparicio, Lou Brock, Frank Robinson, and Carl Yastrzemski to a .204 collective batting average (11-for-54). However, in the same game Haney hit his first home run, Aparicio led off the game for the Orioles with a home run against O’Donoghue, one of only 83 home runs he hit in an 18-year career.

Personal life O'Donoghue is the father of former major league pitcher John Preston O'Donoghue, who O'Donoghue coached in the Orioles farm system, and who pitched for the Orioles in 1993. Preston attended Louisiana State University, where his daughter was on the track team. Preston's son Tyler played college football at Northwestern State University.

O'Donoghue worked 20 years with the Hammermill Paper Company in Wilmington, Delaware.