Baseball Remembers: Sudden Sam McDowell

The word “phenom” might have been invented to describe a young Sam McDowell. At least, that certainly seems to fit when his signing as a seventeen-year old high school kid was newsworthy enough to warrant inviting him to New York to appear on To Tell The Truth and announce the deal.

Raised in Pittsburgh, McDowell had blown through amateur competition with a blazing fastball. He struck out 152 hitters in just 63 innings as a senior in high school, and nearly every major league team tried to sign him.

As noted in the clip, he settled on the Cleveland Indians, in part because they offered him $75,000, but also because his parents were assured that he would work his way through the minors and wouldn’t be rushed to the big leagues at a young age. That was a promise the Indians sort of kept at first, but mostly didn’t.