In his first appearance in the majors our Mystery Met made people sit up and notice as he pitched a complete-game shutout in which he allowed just four singles. He earned the win over a pitcher who threw a no-hitter against the Mets the year before. Newspapers the next day proclaimed him to be “golden armed” but he came down with an elbow injury following his great debut. He started again four days later but gave up five runs in just one inning.
He would make just one more start and appear in just eight games total this season, his only one in the majors. He pitched 10 more seasons in the minors but was never able to recapture his previous glory. In addition to the Mets, he spent time in the organizations for Baltimore, Minnesota and Philadelphia before ending his career pitching for non-affiliated teams in the Northwest League.
After baseball, he moved to Alaska. According to his wife, they now live in Arizona, where he follows the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Grover Powell.
BTW one of the Mets best pitched DH’s. R. Craig had a 1-0 shutout going into the 9th. Mets lost 2-1 in 12.
It’s not right but it’s actually a very strong guess.
Powell was a lefty, who only played one year in the majors and in his first start he threw a four-hit shutout. However, he had already made nine relief appearances.
Powell hurled four shutout innings in his next start but had to be removed after getting hit in the cheek by a line drive off the bat of Donn Clendenon.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ufQuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TdsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=746,4479126&dq=grover-powell&hl=en
What might have been…
Oh wow. Thought I nailed it when I saw the lefty in the picture.
Grover was somewhat of a flake as I remember.
Dick Rusteck
Dick Rusteck is correct! He shut out the Reds featuring Pete Rose, Tony Perez, and Vada Pinson.