Dick Donovan
Richard Edward "Dick" Donovan (December 27, 1927 – January 6, 1997) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched for the Boston Braves (1950–1952), Detroit Tigers (1954), Chicago White Sox (1955–1960), Washington Senators (1961), and the Cleveland Indians (1962–1965).
Donovan batted left-handed and threw right-handed. During a 15-year baseball career, he compiled 122 wins, 880 strikeouts, and a 3.67 earned run average.
Donovan, as a member of the White Sox, pitched in the 1959 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He lost his only World Series start in Game 3, but saved Game 5 for the White Sox, and pitched in relief in Game 6, allowing two hits, three earned runs, walked one, and struck out none. In his only postseason appearance, he compiled 0 wins, 1 loss, 1 save, 5 strikeouts, and a 5.40 earned run average. At the plate in the Series, he went 1-3 (.333 batting average).
His 1962 season was his career-best, when he won 20 games in 34 games started with 16 complete games and five shutouts in 250-1/3 innings, all of them new career-highs, for Cleveland. The book "Portrait of a Franchise: An Intimate Look at Cleveland Indians Baseball During the Rockin' Sixties" by Doug Kurkul chronicles Donovan's successful quest for 20 wins that season.
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