The prototype for Bartolo Colon

A right-handed pitcher has a long and successful career in MLB. Toward the end of his career he is acquired by an underdog New York club and eventually helps to propel his team to the World Series. He becomes very popular with the fans, despite the fact he packs a fair amount of weight on his frame. Sounds like Bartolo Colon, right? The description fits him, but it also fits a hurler from the past, one Freddie Fitzsimmons, often called “Fat Freddie”.

Fitzsimmons was listed as 5′ 11” and 185 pounds when he broke in 1925 with the New York Giants, but he clearly gained weight as the years wore on. In fact in contemporary newspaper stories he is referred to in such terms as “stout,” “portly,” and “husky,” even before he was shipped off to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1937. I saw one estimate that he had added 50 pounds during his pitching tenure, which would have put his weight as around 235 pounds by the time he retired.

Colon was a fairly slender pitcher when he broke in with the Cleveland Indians in 1997, however as the years went by the slender frame morphed into his current physique, and in the latest stats I can find he is listed as 5’11”, 285 pounds.

Despite the fact they both ended up on the hefty side, each player was extremely popular with their fan base and team mates. You can hardly read an article about Fitzsimmons without seeing him referred to as a fan favorite. That the Dodger’s arch rival Giants considered him washed up in 1937 only endeared more to the Brooklyn fans, especially when he quickly returned to the form he had displayed in his younger days as a clutch pitcher in the starting rotation.

Colon became a fan favorite with the Mets with his acrobatic behind the back throw to first base in 2015, his determined pitching, and his unlikely first career home run at the age of 43. He, like Fitzsimmons, was very popular in the clubhouse.

Both pitchers were considered good fielders even into their later years of pitching despite their size. Fitzsimmons was a four time league leader among pitchers in putouts and once lead in assists, and was usually among the leaders other years. Colon’s fielding is not just the flashy behind the back throw, but he also has good fundamentals for fielding like finishing his delivery in a balanced position to haul in grounders.

There are of course differences between the two, Fitzsimmons was a pretty good hitting pitcher while Colon is not. Their pitching styles differ as well, Fitzsimmons main pitch was a knuckler, while Colon relies primarily on the fastball.

Fitzsimmons had a fine career with the Giants, he was a 20 game winner in 1928 and otherwise was usually well up in the teens for wins. He formed an excellent one-two pitching punch along with future hall of famer Carl Hubbell. After Fitzsimmons was acquired by the Dodgers, his career rebounded under young manager Leo Durocher. In 1940, at the age of 38, he was 16-2 with a 2.82 ERA as the Dodgers finished in second place. The next year he lost some time to injury but still finished at 6-1 with a 2.06 ERA as the Dodgers won their first pennant in 21 years in a close race with the St. Louis Cardinals.

In the 1941 World Series Durocher tapped Fitzsimmons to start game three at Ebbetts Field against the Yankees, the Series being tied at that point. Fitzsimmons pitched a masterful game as did opposing pitcher Marius Russo. With two outs in the seventh inning, it was a scoreless game when Russo came to bat. He smashed a vicious line drive that struck Fitzsimmons in the knee, causing a fracture. Somehow he was able to recover the ball and throw out the runner to end the inning. After he was carried off the field on a stretcher, the Yankees went on to win the game and the rest of the World Series games as well.

Colon had a very good career prior to joining the Mets, including his Cy Young award in 2005 with the Angels. He has been very consistent in his three years with the Mets, recording 15 wins in 2014 and 14 in 2015 when the Mets won the pennant. His 2016 was even better, a 15-8 mark with a 3.43 ERA. The Mets just barely squeaked into the 2016 wild card game, and without Colon to bolster an injury riddled pitching staff, they would not have made the post-season.

So these two pitchers, born 72 years apart, both became fan favorites with a New York NL team and each helped push their team to pennants.