Lindy McDaniel

Lyndall Dale McDaniel (December 13, 1935 – November 14, 2020), known as Lindy McDaniel, was an American professional baseball pitcher who had a 21-year career in Major League Baseball from 1955 to 1975. During his career, he witnessed approximately 3,500 major league games (not including spring training), had more than 300 teammates, and played under eight different managers. He attended the University of Oklahoma and Abilene Christian College, He was named after Charles Lindbergh, and had two brothers and one sister. His brother Von McDaniel would go on to pitch for the St. Louis Cardinals, College football Hall of Fame coach Darrell Royal was his cousin. He received a $50,000 signing bonus, and under the rules for "bonus babies" at the time had to be included on the signing team's major league roster, rather than being sent to the minor leagues.

After pitching in four games at the end of the 1955 season, McDaniel pitched in 39 games for the Cardinals in 1956, with seven starts, a 7–6 record and 3.40 earned run average (ERA). In 1957, he started 26 games, with a 15–9 record and 3.49 ERA. He and his brother Von were teammates with the Cardinals in 1957-58. His major league 5.80 ERA that season would be the worst of his career. He had 16 saves, leading all major league pitchers. McDaniel had been moved to the bullpen after a number of unsuccessful starts early in the season. He began to excel as a relief pitcher with the addition of a forkball to his pitching arsenal.

McDaniel considered his top overall year as 1960 with the Cardinals. He pitched in 65 games (63 as a relief pitcher) and logged a 12–2 mark in relief (12–4 overall), with 27 saves and an overall ERA of 2.09 in 116.1 innings pitched. As a starter, he lost two games while giving up 12 runs in 12 innings, giving him a 1.29 ERA as a relief pitcher (15 earned runs over 104.1 innings). With nine saves and a 0.74 ERA, McDaniel was named the Player of the Month for June 1960.

McDaniel was named (for the only time in his career) to the National League All-Star Team, and was selected for both All-Star Games in 1960, pitching one inning in the July 13 game. He earned The Sporting News ' inaugural NL Fireman of the Year honors, while finishing third for the Cy Young Award and fifth in Most Valuable Player (MVP) voting, both his highest placings. He was once again named The Sporting News ' NL Fireman of the Year. In 1965, he appeared in 71 games and had a 2.59 ERA, but with only two saves, as teammate Ted Abernathy had become the team’s closer (with 31 saves in 84 games).

San Francisco Giants After the end of the 1965 season, the Cubs traded McDaniel along with Don Landrum to the San Francisco Giants for Randy Hundley and Bill Hands. His performance declined in 1967 due to a sore shoulder, In 1969, he pitched 51 games in relief with a 5–6 record, 3.55 ERA and only five saves for the Yankees.

After his 1960 season, McDaniel ranked his next-best year as 1970 with the Yankees, when he was 9–5 with a career high 29 saves (second in the AL) and a 2.01 ERA, followed by the 1963 season when he was 13–7 with 21 saves and a 2.86 ERA.

He pitched three more years for the Yankees. In 1973, nearing 38-years old, he pitched 47 games (including three starts and one complete game), with a 12–6 record, 10 saves and a 2.86 ERA. As the only New York Yankee pitcher to homer in the 1972 season, McDaniel became the last Yankee hurler to hit a home run before the advent of the designated hitter in 1973.

Kansas City Royals After the end of the 1973 season, the Yankees traded McDaniel to the Kansas City Royals for Lou Piniella and Ken Wright.

Legacy For his 21-year major league career, McDaniel had a 141–119 record, 3.45 ERA, 174 saves and 1,361 strikeouts in 2,139 1/3 innings. off second base, and then struck out Ed Bailey to end the inning without allowing a run to score. McDaniel, the first batter in the bottom of the 10th inning, hit a home run to win the game (which also put the Cubs into a tie with the Giants for first place at that point in the season). On August 4, 1973, he entered the game in the second inning against the Tigers in Detroit, because starter Fritz Peterson had pulled a muscle in his right thigh in the first inning. McDaniel pitched 13 innings, giving up one run and six hits, winning the game 2–1 on Horace Clarke's first home run of the year in the top of the 14th inning. McDaniel pitched in 225 consecutive games in the National League without committing an error, a record.

McDaniel held the MLB record for most batters faced in the eighth inning over his career. He allowed four walk-off grand slams during his career, more than any other major league pitcher on record.

As of 2025, McDaniel holds the distinction of having pitched in the most regular season games (987) without a postseason appearance of any pitcher in MLB history, 187 games clear of next-highest Francisco Cordero.

Personal life McDaniel was deeply religious. He attended Abilene Christian College and Florida Christian College during off-seasons, ultimately becoming a minister for the Church of Christ. At the time he retired, McDaniel planned to take up farming with his father; and he stated that while all he had known professionally in life was baseball it was not the center of his life. Rather, "God, family and friends come first".

Death McDaniel died from COVID-19 on November 14, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas. He was 84.