Athletes - Frank Viola

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	Athletes - Frank Viola

Frank John Viola (born April 19 1960 in East Meadow, New York) is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Minnesota Twins (1982-89), New York Mets (1989-91), Boston Red Sox (1992-94), Cincinnati Reds (1995) and Toronto Blue Jays (1996). He batted and threw left-handed, and was nicknamed "Sweet Music" – an unusual nickname he picked up after a Minnesota fan began displaying a banner bearing the phrase in the outfield's upper deck whenever Viola pitched.

Biography

Viola attended East Meadow High School in East Meadow, New York, at the same time that convicted serial killer Joel Rifkin was there. (Coincidentally, a school newspaper article exists that was written by Rifkin about Viola's athletic exploits.) Viola went on to attend St. John's University before being drafted in the 2nd round of the 1981 amateur draft by the Twins. Oddly, his first year in the majors was only one year after that, on June 6 1982.

The most prominent portion of his career came in Minnesota, where he picked up 112 of his 176 career wins. His overall career stats are impressive, with a 3.73 ERA, 176-150 record, 74 complete games, and 16 shutouts in 421 games. His most impressive career achievement is his Cy Young Award in 1988, when he won a career high 24 games.

His first two years in the majors were not horrible, but playing with some bad Twins teams, his statistics were pretty disappointing. In the 1982 and 1983 seasons combined, he went 11-25 with a 5.37 ERA. However, after those two seasons, his career would take off.

Averaging 229 innings pitched through his career, he was a true workhorse, finishing 74 of the 420 games he started. His best year, which was also his last full year with the Twins, most likely came in 1988 when he won 24 games, losing only 7 and completing 7 games, 2 for shutouts. That year, he had an impressive 255 innings pitched and gave up only 20 home runs, and 54 walks. Viola led the league in wins that year, and his ERA was a career-low 2.64. He would go on to win the AL Cy Young Award that year, beating out 2nd place Dennis Eckersley.

During the trade deadline in July 1989, 2 years after Viola had led the Twins to a World Series in 1987, they traded him to the Mets for a number of top players, including Rick Aguilera, David West, and Kevin Tapani. Leaving his lifelong team was tough, but Viola would go on to have more good years in New York and Boston.

In 1990, he would have another great season, this time for his hometown New York Mets finishing 3rd in the Cy Young voting. That year it went to Doug Drabek. He was 20-12 that year, with a 2.67 ERA in 35 starts, including 3 shutouts.

After making his third all-star team in 1991, he signed with the Red Sox in January of 1992. He would have a few mediocre seasons with them, and then finished his career with the Reds and then the Blue Jays ending his career on May 28 1996. He finished his career with 1844 strikeouts.

Statistics

Batting

Viola's 2 and a half years with the Mets in the National League gave him 179 at bats, enough to accumulate only 25 hits. He would get 6 more at bats in 1995 with the Reds and got 1 hit. Overall 26 for 185 was a .141 batting average. With 3 walks in his career, his on base percentage was .154. However, in his last season with the Mets he became more productive picking up 10 sacrifice hits and 2 doubles. He would end his career with 6 RBIs.

Postseason

He only got one chance in the postseason and he certainly made the most of it. It was with the Twins in 1987. After getting past the Detroit Tigers in the 1987 American League Championship Series, Viola and the Twins had to face favorites, the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. Viola pitched Game 1, when the Twins blew the Cardinals away 10-1.

Game 4 was his second start, and the Twins went on to lose 7-2. After the Twins tied the series in Game 6 with an 11-5 win under a Don Baylor home run, it was up to Viola in Game 7. He pitched a gem, shutting the Cardinals out after giving up 2 runs in the 2nd inning. Jeff Reardon saved the game and the Twins won 4-2 and won the World Series 4-3. Viola was named World Series MVP.

Info

Won the 1987 Babe Ruth award
World Series MVP in 1987
Won the 1988 AL Cy Young Award
Finished in the Top 10 in the league for innings pitched 7 times in his career
Finished 3rd in the league shutouts in 1984 with 4
All-Star in 1988, 1990, and 1991.
Ranks tied for #93 in Games Started on the All-time leaderboard

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