page_title: Sal Maglie
hierarchical_section_title: Sal Maglie
caption_attribution_description: English: New York Giants pitcher Sal Maglie. Mislabeled as 1956, actually from 1953 Bowman set.
context_page_description: Salvatore Anthony Maglie was an American Major League Baseball pitcher and later, a scout and a pitching coach. He played from 1945 to 1958 for the New York Giants, Cleveland Indians, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, and St. Louis Cardinals. Maglie was known as "Sal the Barber", because he gave close shaves—that is, pitched inside to hitters. A gentle personality off the field went unnoticed during games, his foreboding physical appearance contributing to his menacing presence on a pitcher's mound. He was the last of 14 players to play for the Giants, Dodgers and Yankees at a time when all three teams were in New York City. During a 10-year major league baseball career, Maglie compiled 119 wins, 862 strikeouts, and a 3.15 earned run average.
  Born and raised in Niagara Falls, New York, Maglie had to play ball secretly growing up because his parents discouraged it. Signed by the Buffalo Bisons of the International League in 1938, he pitched in the minor leagues for five years, then took two years off during World War II to work at a Niagara Falls defense plant.
context_section_description: Salvatore Anthony Maglie (April 26, 1917 – December 28, 1992) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher and later, a scout and a pitching coach. He played from 1945 to 1958 for the New York Giants, Cleveland Indians, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, and St. Louis Cardinals. Maglie was known as "Sal the Barber", because he gave close shaves—that is, pitched inside to hitters. A gentle personality off the field went unnoticed during games, his foreboding physical appearance contributing to his menacing presence on a pitcher's mound. He was the last of 14 players to play for the Giants, Dodgers and Yankees at a time when all three teams were in New York City. During a 10-year major league baseball career, Maglie compiled 119 wins, 862 strikeouts, and a 3.15 earned run average.
  Born and raised in Niagara Falls, New York, Maglie had to play ball secretly growing up because his parents discouraged it. Signed by the Buffalo Bisons of the International League in 1938, he pitched in the minor leagues for five years, then took two years off during World War II to work at a Niagara Falls defense plant. He started pitching again with the Jersey City Giants in 1945, then made his major league debut with the Giants later that year at the age of 28, posting a 2.35 earned run average (ERA) in 13 games (10 starts). It would be five years before he returned to the major leagues, as he joined the Mexican League for more money in 1946 and was subsequently banned from Major League Baseball (MLB) for five years by Commissioner Happy Chandler. Not until he was 33 in 1950 did Maglie become a full-time pitcher.
  For the first part of the 1950 season, Maglie pitched out of the bullpen for the Giants. Moved into the starting rotation midseason, he threw shutouts in four straight starts and pitched 45 consecutive scoreless innings. Emerging as the Giants' ace in 1951, he led the National League (NL) with 23 wins as the Giants reached the 1951 World Series. Maglie followed this with an 18-win performance in 1952, but back trouble threatened his career in 1953. Inserting a lift into one of his shoes to correct a tilted pelvis, he returned in 1954, winning the game which clinched the NL pennant for the Giants and giving up two runs in seven innings (though earning a no decision) in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series against the Indians, which the Giants swept in four games. Maglie spent one more season with the Giants in 1955 before being claimed off waivers by the Indians on July 31. Seldom used with Cleveland, Maglie joined the Dodgers in May of 1956 and went on to finish second in NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) and MLB Cy Young Award voting. He threw a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies on September 25 and won Game 1 of the 1956 World Series against the Yankees, an accomplishment he called his "greatest thrill." He held the Yankees to two runs in Game 5 but suffered the loss because Don Larsen threw a perfect game; the Yankees went on to win the World Series in six games. Maglie spent three more seasons with the Dodgers, Yankees, and Cardinals before retiring in 1959.
  After his playing career, Maglie served one year (1959) as a scout for the Cardinals, two stints (1960–62; 1966–67) with the Boston Red Sox as a pitching coach, and one season (1969) with the Seattle Pilots as a pitching coach. He held a variety of jobs in Niagara Falls before retiring in 1979. In 1983, Hyde Park Stadium in his hometown was renamed Sal Maglie Stadium. Maglie died on December 28, 1992, due to bronchial pneumonia complications.
caption: Maglie's image from his 1953 Bowman Gum card.
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