TOUGH : adjective \ˈtəf\
: physically strong and violent
Not to be confused with the Steve Ontiveros that was the first player to sign a million-dollar contract
in Nippon Pro Baseball history.
He was however, the pitching coach for the Chinese National Team in the 2008 Olympics.
Baseball Reference says he won the 1994 AL Pitching title.
I can't figure out why though.
Must be a mistake.
Hey, I didn't know you were doing a blog for this set. I just started collecting Ontiveros not long ago (he's a Michigan guy) and I thought it was weird that he won the '94 ERA title too, but don't forget that was a strike year. Also, while he had more appearances that AL runner-up Roger Clemens, he only made 13 starts (to Clemens' 24). He also threw about 65 fewer innings than Roger, but I guess he pitched enough to qualify thanks to the shortened season!
ReplyDeleteKudos to Skybox. This card is amazing. Love the photo selection and the way they cropped Ontiveros on the front. I'm confused though... on the back they write "when he's healthy, he's good"... which implies that he gets hurt frequently and can't play... which isn't exactly what I consider to be "tough".
ReplyDeleteI think the requirement is 1 inning pitched per team game. In 1994 the A's played 114 games, and he had 115 IP - so he barely got over that threshold!
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