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Better than Koufax or not, Juan Marichal without question 1) has the best right arm in baseball, and 2) is the most complete pitcher in the game today, or any other day. "No man has the assortment of pitches Juan has," says Giants Manager Herman Franks —and there is a consensus about that. "Koufax has two pitches—a fastball and a curve," says St. Louis Outfielder Mike Shannon. "They're the two best pitches in the league. But Marichal has more. He has four or five—and he can control them all." Shannon hasn't seen the half of it: Juan has 13 pitches (see diagram), and one of the keys to his success is that he exhibits no particular fondness for any of them. "You can't anticipate him," explains Outfielder Frank Robinson, late of Cincinnati and currently of the Baltimore Orioles, who freely admits that he is happy to be playing in the American League—where he is batting .322 and doesn't have to worry about Marichal any more. "Juan has no set pattern. He's got all that stuff, and he'll throw any of it in any situation."
Actually, there is one pitch that Marichal prefers not to throw: his best one, the fastball. For one thing, it is too much like work. ("Has major-league fastball," read a plaintive note in the first scouting report the Giants received on Juan's pitching, "but wants to throw curves all the time.") For another, the fastball is essentially a strikeout pitch. Sandy Koufax may get his kicks out of setting strikeout records, but Marichal would rather save his arm. "It takes at least three pitches to strike a man out," he says matter-of-factly. "It only takes one for a ground ball." In his first two games this year, against Chicago and Houston, Juan did not throw a single fastball. He gave the Cubs three hits and the Astros seven, won by scores of 9-1 and 7-1.
As Fast as He Feels. Just how fast Marichal's fastball travels when he does throw it is a subject of mild controversy. "Slower than Koufax's" is a common comment, but the truth is: as fast as he feels like throwing it. One National League hitter claims to have counted ten different speeds, and few batters have ever seen Marichal really cut loose. Cincinnati's John Edwards is one of the privileged few. After Marichal struck him out with the bases loaded last week, Giants Coach Charlie Fox noted that "Edwards obviously knew those fastballs were coming. But they were the very best in the league, and they went right by him."