Mike Nagy (#39)

Mike Nagy pitched in the big leagues for 6 seasons, mostly as a starter for the Red Sox in 1969 and 1970.

Nagy was signed by the Red Sox in 1966, and played 3 seasons in class-A ball before jumping to the majors to begin the 1969 season. As a 21-year-old rookie, Mike was 2nd on the staff in starts and innings pitched (behind Ray Culp), but had fewer strikeouts and more walks than the other 3 primary starters.

Nagy finished 2nd in the AL Rookie of the Year voting behind the Royals’ Lou Piniella, receiving 6 of the 24 1st place votes (to Piniella’s 9 votes).

Arm injuries affected him for the rest of his career. Mike slipped to 6-5 in 1970, and while he was the team’s #4 starter, he played a few games in the minors. He was back in triple-A for most of the ’71 and ’72 seasons, only pitching 12 games for Boston in 1971 and one in 1972.

Nagy was traded FOUR times in 1973: to the Cardinals in January, to the Rangers in March, back to the Cardinals in June (for pitcher Jim Bibby), and to the Astros in December. For all that traveling, he played only 9 games with the Cardinals, while spending most of the season with 2 AAA teams.

Mike pitched 9 games for the Astros in 1974 (his last major-league game coming in May), then spent the rest of 1974 and all of 1975 with their AAA team. He also played in Mexico from 1976 to 1979.

In 1977, Nagy started a still-operating real estate business in the Bronx.