Marty Kutyna

Marion John "Marty" Kutyna (born November 14, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American former right-handed pitcher in professional baseball. Kutyna spent three full seasons in Major League Baseball, pitching almost exclusively in relief. He stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, weighed 190 pounds (86 kg), and batted right-handed.

After graduating from North Catholic High School, he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. Kutyna never attained the Major League level with the Redbirds, but he played an important role in their history nonetheless. He was part of a package of players that St. Louis swapped to the Cincinnati Redlegs on December 5, 1957, for young center fielder Curt Flood, who would go on to star on three pennant-winning Cardinal teams in the 1960s.

Kutyna toiled in the minors for nearly seven years before he finally reached the Majors on September 19, 1959 as a member of the Kansas City Athletics. He pitched the entire 1960 season for the Athletics, before being traded to the Washington Senators (for catcher and future Athletics manager Haywood Sullivan) in December 1960. Kutyna would spend two full seasons (1961–1962) with the Senators, appearing in 104 games. His 1961 season with Washington was notable for its durability. He made just six starts among his 50 games, but he threw a total of 143 innings.

One of the batters who he handled with ease throughout his career was slugger Rocky Colavito, who went 1 for 18 against Kutyna during his career, with four strikeouts. Overall, Kutyna was 14–16, with a 3.88 earned run average in 159 career games.

Although his playing career ended before his 30th birthday, Kutyna retained many memories from his playing career. He has told the story about one of the most unusual home runs ever: "When I was in the Pacific Coast League and with Portland, we had an infielder named Jack Bloomfield. Jack got up to bat, singled and rounded first base. The pitcher then threw over to first base to try and pick him off, but he threw it low into the dirt and Jack slid back head first. The first baseman could not find the ball so Jack got up and ran around the bases, second, third, and then home. When he got to the dugout he opened his shirt and the ball fell out because the ball went up his sleeve when he dove back to first base."