Frank Tanana
| Birthdate | 7/3/1953 |
| Death Date | |
| Debut Year | 1973 |
| Year of Induction | |
| Teams | Angels, Mets, Rangers, Red Sox, Tigers, Yankees |
| Position | Pitcher |
The California Angels’ number 1 draft pick in the 1971 draft, Frank Tanana was a three-time All Star who won 240 Major League games.
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Frank Tanana began his career as a fireballer and ended it as a soft-tossing control specialist
Frank Tanana began his career as a fireballer and ended it as a soft-tossing control specialist
The California Angels’ No. 1 pick in the 1971 baseball free agent draft out of Detroit Catholic Central High School, Tanana also had to decide from among more than 100 college basketball scholarships.
After two years in the minors, Tanana made his big league debut in 1973 at age 20. The southpaw began his career as a fireballing hurler whose fastball routinely hit triple digits on the radar gun.
He teamed with Nolan Ryan to provide the Angels with a solid one-two punch from 1973-1979. The Angel staff had little else to offer and soon a catchy rhyme was coined, “Tanana and Ryan and two days of cryin'”.
The American League ERA champion in 1977, Tanana pitched in three straight all star games in 1976, 1977, and 1978. An arm injury sapped the life out of his fastball and pushed Tanana to become an off-speed control specialist.
He transitioned well enough to win 240 games during his 21-year MLB career. In his final season in 1993, Tanana joined Rick Reuschel as the only pitchers to give up a home run to both Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds.
In the collection is this questionnaire signed and filled out entirely by Tanana. The first question posed to the lefty was about his success against Hall of Fame sluggers Hank Aaron, Carl Yastrzemski, and Al Kaline who combined to go 5-for-39 (.128) against him.
“I pitched against those great players when I was at my best and they were at the end of their careers!!,” said the humble Tanana. The rest of the questionnaire provides an interesting insight into the lefty’s career.
Frank was better than just good when he came from the Angels to the Tigers. They referred to his pitches as ‘junk’ but I never liked that description. He was crafty lime a fox. He’d lull you with curve balls around the plate then catch you off guard with a blazing 80-82 mph fastball on the corners. That was the Frank Detroiters remember so well (if you were around that is).
California angel,excellent
Win 240 games you have to be doing something right
4188 innings, 143 complete games, 34 shutouts, 2773 strikeouts, and 3.66 lifetime ERA. He played when you where expected to pitch a complete game. It truly wasn’t his fault that he played for uncompetitive teams.
He is a cool person, easy going.