Mel Queen, Jr.

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Melvin Douglas (Mel) Queen (born March 26, 1942 in Johnson City, New York) is a former player and pitching coach in Major League Baseball. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.

An outfielder-turned-pitcher, Queen played with the Cincinnati Reds (1966-69) and California Angels (1970-72). He finished his career with a win-loss record of 20-17, 189.7 innings pitched, 306 strikeouts, and a career ERA of 3.14. Following his playing career, he served as the Toronto Blue Jays pitching coach (1996-1999) and became their interim manager for the final five games of 1997 after the firing of Cito Gaston.

As a pitcher, Queen relied almost enirely on his fastball. As Queen said, "I just went to the mound and threw as hard as I could." ^[1]

Contents 1 Trivia 2 References 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Trivia

• His father, Mel Sr., was a major league pitcher for the Yankees and Pirates (1942-52). He is also a brother in law of Jim Lonborg, a major league pitcher from 1965-1979 for the Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, and Philadelphia Athletics.
• Queen led Three-I League third basemen with 228 assists while playing for the Topeka Reds in 1961.
• He struck out Houston Astros rookie Candy Harris in his only major league at bat. {Astrodome -- April 22, 1967}

[edit] References

• 1968 Baseball Register published by The Sporting News

[edit] See also

1. ^ Dragseth, P.J. Go Pro Baseball Wise, 1999.

• Second generation MLB players

[edit] External links

• Baseball Reference - statistics and analysis
• Retrosheet