A Tearful Farewell for McGregor, Who Is Given His Release by Orioles

BALTIMORE — With tears in his eyes, Scott McGregor said goodby to baseball Monday.

The left-hander who has won more games than all but four other pitchers since 1980 was released Monday by the Baltimore Orioles, who have lost 23 of 25 games this season.

“I gave it everything I had and the results weren’t there,” McGregor said at a press conference. “ . . . There have been good times and bad times. I choose to remember the great times.”

McGregor, 34, has struggled in recent years, going 13-25 since the beginning of the 1986 season. He was 0-3 this season with an 8.83 earned-run average.

The former El Segundo High star found solace in his best outing this season, in which he went 7 innings but lost, 3-2, to the Cleveland Indians on April 15.

“That’s very important to me--my last start here was a good one, against Cleveland,” McGregor said. “I got a standing ovation. That meant a lot.”

McGregor won 107 games since 1980. Only Jack Morris of the Detroit Tigers, Fernando Valenzuela of the Dodgers, Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees and Dave Stieb of the Toronto Blue Jays have won more. McGregor finished with a 138-108 record, including 20-8 on 1980.

One game stood out in McGregor’s memory--a complete-game shutout of the Angels at Anaheim Stadium in the fourth game of the 1979 American League playoffs that clinched the pennant for the Orioles.