Mike McCormick spent years as a good pitcher on Giants teams that always seemed to fall just short. Signed as a teenager under baseball’s old Bonus Baby rules, he was rushed straight to the majors and had to learn on the fly. By the early 1960s, he had settled in as a dependable left-hander, even leading the National League in ERA in 1960, but he was rarely the name people talked about first.
Then came 1967. After bouncing around the league and returning to San Francisco, McCormick put together a season almost no one saw coming. He won 22 games, led the league in victories, and captured the Cy Young Award, becoming the first Giants pitcher ever to do so. It was a late payoff for a career built on patience, durability, and adaptation rather than raw dominance.
McCormick stayed primarily a starter throughout his career, logging 16 seasons and more than 1,300 strikeouts in an era that demanded innings and toughness from pitchers.
After retiring, McCormick settled in Sunnyvale, CA, then North Carolina before passing away at age 81 after a long battle with Parkinson’s.
