Chance Meeting With Baseball Fame Recalled : Memories: Winning the Cy Young Award in 1964 is a game-related milestone in the storied life of former Angel pitcher.

Dean Chance, that big-lug-of-a-former-pitcher, remembers the fall of 1964 very well. One night in particular.

Roused from a deep sleep, Chance found Bo Belinsky and an unknown woman on his doorstep. No surprise here. He had seen Bo with many an unknown woman during their days with the Angels.

But this was different.

“She had beaten Bo out of all his money playing gin,” Chance said. “Bo wanted me to play her and get his money back. I won the first game and then she cleaned me out in nine minutes. Turned out, she lived with Troy Donahue and played cards all the time in Gardena.”

A week or so later, Chance received the Cy Young Award as the best pitcher for the 1964 season.

Chance pitched 11 seasons in the major leagues, winning 128 games. But his legacy can be boiled down to three things--Bo Belinsky, card games and that Cy Young season.

Those three elements came together again last Sunday at Anaheim Stadium, where the Angels honored Chance on the 30th anniversary of his sensational season. Chance, who lives in Ohio, had come in from Las Vegas with Belinsky for the event. He left shortly after the ceremony because of a pressing engagement--a gin game.

“You can never pin Dean down,” Belinsky said. “Like tonight. We had dinner plans and someone said, ‘Hey Dean, let’s go play gin.’ You can forget about it, he’s gone.”

Yes, Chance, 53, has changed little since leaving baseball after the 1971 season because ofan arm injury. Oh, he’s a little heftier--OK, a lot heftier--but he still shows shades of that gosh-darn country boy who was signed by the Baltimore Orioles out of Northwestern High School in Wayne, Ohio.

He wandered through one post-baseball endeavor after another. He lost money managing boxers, helped run his family’s farm and spent some years working the carnival circuit, at state and county fairs.

But Chance had his past, no matter what his current occupation, and it always seemed to be around the corner.

“Not a week goes by that someone doesn’t ask me what Bo is doing,” Chance said.

His friendship with Belinsky, the legendary philanderer and occasional pitcher, often overshadowed Chance’s own accomplishments. The two became friends in 1962 and roomed together out of necessity. Manager Bill Rigney said he didn’t want to screw up two rooms.

Belinsky grabbed the headlines when he pitched a no-hitter in 1962. His legend grew with antics off the field. But when the topic is 1964, even Bo has to take a back seat.

“I can’t imagine a pitcher having such a year, especially now with the way the pitching is in baseball,” Belinsky said. “Dean rendered hitters totally helpless. I was in awe.”

Said Rigney: “People don’t realize how great Dean was that season. He flashed on the pages so quickly and was gone. But he was maybe the best right-handed pitcher I ever managed.”

Certainly the Orioles thought along those lines when they offered Chance a $30,000 signing bonus--a substantial amount in 1959. Chance seemed worth the money. He struck out 18 in one minor league game in 1960. The next night, teammate Arnie Phorsland struck out 23.

The Orioles could only protect 25 of their 40 players on the major league roster. They chose Phorsland over Chance.

“Best thing that ever happened to me,” Chance said. “There were too many good players with the Orioles. I finally got to get the ball and pitch.”

As a pitcher, Chance was good. He won 14 games for the Angels in 1962 and 13 in 1963.

As a card player, he was great.

“Dean was a great gin player, a super gin player,” said Philadelphia Phillie General Manager Lee Thomas, who played with the Angels from 1961-64. “I don’t know if he cheated or not, but either way, you didn’t want to play cards with him.”

Chance said he didn’t and doesn’t cheat. But the topic did come up, according to Belinsky.

One time, when the two were living together, a friend suggested they drill a hole in the ceiling to spy on players’ hands. They decided against the idea.

Still, the story apparently got around.

“Now, when he plays gin, everybody plays with an umbrella over their head,” said Belinsky, who lives in Las Vegas. “But Dean doesn’t need to cheat because he’s good. He’s not lucky, he’s just talented.”

Such was the case on the field in 1964.

Chance started slow. He was 5-5 at the All-Star break, then won nine consecutive games.

He finished with 20 victories, including 11 shutouts. He won six 1-0 games and had a 1.65 earned-run average. He led the league in victories, ERA, shutouts and complete games (15).

Chance had a wicked fastball, made more difficult to hit by an across-the-body motion.

“He never really looked at home plate until the last minute,” Rigney said. “Hitters hated that.”

Said Belinsky: “He had a heavy fastball and when it hit you, it felt like a cinder-block. He put some pitches under a few chins that season and they didn’t want any part of him.”

Chance almost cost the New York Yankees the pennant, beating them four times. The Yankees won it, finishing one game ahead of the White Sox, but scored only one run in 50 innings against Chance.

Mickey Mantle, whose home run accounted for the Yankee run, has called Chance the toughest right-hander he ever faced. But then, Chance had to be tough.

“You got to remember he was pitching for the Angels,” Belinsky said. “You had to make do with whatever runs you got.”

In one game against the Yankees, Chance pitched 14 shutout innings, allowing only three hits. The Angels lost in the 15th, 2-0.

“One night we got a run in the first and Dean went down the bench telling everyone, ‘That’s going to be enough,’ ” Rigney said. “It was. We won, 1-0.”

Before 1967, only one pitcher was given the Cy Young award. Chance received 17 of the 20 votes. Larry Jackson, who won 24 games for the Chicago Cubs, got two votes and the Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax, who was 19-5 with a 1.74 ERA and seven shutouts, got one.

“The day after I won, the Merv Griffin Show had me on with Anita Bryant,” Chance said. “They had me pitch to her. She hit the ball and damn near broke a camera.”

Chance remains the only Angel to win the Cy Young Award. But he didn’t remain an Angel. The club that became notorious in recent years for letting talent get away, let Chance go in 1967.

He averaged 15 victories during his five seasons with the Angels before being traded to Minnesota in 1967 for first baseman Don Mincher, outfielder Jimmie Hall and pitcher Pete Cimino.

Hall and Cimino were gone in a year, Mincher in two. Chance won 20 games for the Twins in 1967 and pitched in the playoffs in 1969. An arm injury that season nagged him until he retired.

“I had a lot of luck,” Chance said. “What I remember of 1964 is Jim Fregosi at shortstop, Bobby Knoop and Buck Rodgers catching. Those guys made it easy. I remember Joe Adcock winning about five games for me. I remember pitching in Dodger Stadium, that big ballpark. I remember Bo and me having fun. All of that contributed to my success. Yup, there’s nothing like old Lady Luck.”

With cards, Bo or baseball.