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Nowhere to Go But Up. Today, of course, Schwarz probably would not bat an eye if Martinez spent $5,000 of the Giants' money. In addition to Marichal, he has supplied the National League with such stars as Atlanta's Felipe Alou, first in hits (67), second in doubles (11), third in runs (30); Pittsburgh's Matty Alou (Felipe's brother), the league leader in triples (7), and Manny Mota, who last week was leading the league in batting (.361). It is a tribute to Horacio's loyalty that all three were originally the property of the San Francisco Giants—and no reflection on his judgment that none still is.
Together with other Escogido prospects of 1958, Marichal was flown to Sanford, Fla., for a tryout with the Giants. There, either because he really was impressive, or because he was already into them for $500, the Giants decided to keep him in the organization. Off he went to the Michigan City White Caps in the Class D Midwest League—where he led the league in innings pitched (245), victories (21;) and earned-run average (1.87). In 1959, he moved up to Springfield in the Class A Eastern League. There he invented his now famous high kick and taught himself how to throw a screwball—but otherwise it was the same story: No. 1 in innings pitched (271), No. 1 in victories (18), No. 1 in ERA (2.39), and No. 1 in strikeouts (208).
Once again, there was no place to go but up, so up Juan went to Tacoma, Wash., in the Class AAA Pacific Coast League. In May 1960, a San Francisco scout visited Tacoma, gave Juan a hard look and filed a report that takes its place among baseball's famous last words. "Potential major-league material," it read. "Should make the parent club in two years."
Two months later, almost to the day, Juan Marichal stood on the mound in San Francisco's windswept Candlestick Park, took his eight regulation warmup tosses, and prepared to pitch his first game for the "parent club"—against the Philadelphia Phillies. Maybe Juan was prepared; but nobody else was—not for what followed. For the first 61 innings, not a single Phillie reached first base. After 7 innings, Marichal still had not given up a hit. At that point, Philadelphia Catcher Clay Dalrymple singled sharply to leftfield, and the spell was broken—barely. Juan shrugged, retired the next four Phillies in a row and thereby put the finishing touches on one of the most glittering debuts by a rookie pitcher in the history of baseball: a one-hit, 2-0 victory.
Spanish Not Allowed. It was no fluke, either—as Marichal proved by winning his next two starts, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-1 and the Milwaukee Braves 3-2. By the end of that first, abbreviated big-league season, his record was 6-2. The boy from Laguna Verde obviously knew how to pitch in the big time: now all he had to do was learn how to live there.