Baseball Greats

One of the bonuses of spring training is seeing the former Reds greats that observe and contribute.  Eric Davis, Joe Morgan, Lee May, Jack Billingham and Jim Maloney spend a week or more in Goodyear.

Here Hall of Fame sportswriter, Hal McCoy has a conversation with Maloney.

Maloney threw three no-hitters as a fire balling righthander.  He pitched two 10-inning no-hitters in 1965 against the New York Mets on June 14, he gave up a home run to Johnny Lewis in the 11th inning.  He pitched his second on August 19 against the Chicago Cubs a game in which he also walked 10 batters.

The Fresno California native threw another no-hitter on April 30, 1969 against Houston.  Maloney, 72, won 134 major league games, all with the Reds (he pitched in 13 games for the California Angels in 1971).  He struck out 1,605 batters in 1,849 innings.

Maloney still follows the Reds on the baseball package.  He told McCoy "If I was still pitching and (Prince) Fielder and (Albert) Pujols left my league, my arm would feel a whole lot better."