When someone said there is a man nicknamed “The Mad Hungarian,” what can you visualize?
a solitary blogger seated at a typewriter from day to night with gray locks relocating every movement? A chef exactly who got chances by tinkering with all types of weird meats and spices? How about a major league relief pitcher with one of the most specific and infuriating pre-pitch behavior inside the game’s history? The true answer is an important group pitcher. Their name is Al Hrabosky, and then he was actually certainly the Mad Hungarian.
Based on his looks alone, there seemed to be no mistaking that Hrabosky is somebody of Hungarian descent. He had long-hair and a thick, dark colored beard, often times displaying a Fu Manchu mustache that made him have a look completely menacing on a large league mound. But there are other factors why Hrabosky ended up being known as Mad Hungarian and never the standard Hungarian.
“How is it possible to frighten batters if I resemble a tennis pro?”
Al Hrabosky, after being required to shave his facial hair
Over the years, Hrabosky created a schedule regarding mound that was since remarkable whilst ended up being ridiculous. Usually doing this with athletes on base, in-between pitches Hrabosky would stroll from the mound towards second base, switching his back about batter. He would take a breath, wipe the ball together with his palms quite carefully, after which slam golf ball into their glove. Best then would Hrabosky step-on the rubberized and stare along the batter as if the guy are challenging him to a duel. Fans adored the theatrics, but as one would ever guess, opposing batters despised this type of histrionics from Mad Hungarian.
Obviously, Hrabosky’s antics earned him the trustworthiness of a crazy man with opposing team’s enthusiasts. During a game title in Chicago in 1975, one enthusiast tested so how angry Hrabosky had been by leaning inside checking out bullpen at Wrigley industry and putting a live cockatoo about Mad Hungarian’s head. Hrabosky grabbed the bird from their mind and threatened to actually chew their mind off. His teammates spoken your from it, however the mere menace just added to their purposefully-constructed profile as a person who may have many screws loose.
“I want batters to think I’m insane. I want these to see I’m insane.”
Actually, it absolutely was this insanity that Hrabosky thinks made him the pitcher he had been. He customized every at-bat as a one-on-one struggle with the hitter. The guy need the batter to be nervous in which he wanted to punish your for all the hazard he posed to his own personnel. It had been that personality and “the Mad Hungarian” image he very very carefully designed that once produced your one of the recommended reduction pitchers in baseball.
“People may believe I’m a weirdo whenever they see me, nevertheless’s some thing I’ve surely got to create. We consider my personal fastball merely ordinary, nevertheless when We psych myself I’ll place it against anybody’s. It’s positive wondering. I envision myself throwing to a certain area. I then start to see the batter move and miss.
We ensure it is an individual battle amongst the two of united states by contemplating anything he’s done against my personal group. So many pitchers seem like they have been scared to dying Pueblo backpage escort throughout the mound. Maybe not me. I make an effort to become the situation about. I Would Like the hitter to get nervous, to ponder basically am a tiny bit crazy.”
When all ended up being mentioned and done, Hrabosky pitched 13 seasons for the discipline, winning 64 games, conserving 97, and posting an ERA of 3.10. Along with winning the 1975 NL Fireman of the Year honor after top the state group in saves that seasons, there’s small components on their trophy case. On paper, it is maybe not a career that sticks out. In case your noticed the Mad Hungarian pitch, couple of baseball players need ever before stood out extra.