Frank Tanana

Frank Tanana
Birthdate 7/3/1953
Death Date
Debut Year 1973
Year of Induction
Teams Angels, Mets, Rangers, Red Sox, Tigers, Yankees
Position Pitcher

The California Angels’ number 1 draft pick in the 1971 draft, Frank Tanana was a three-time All Star who won 240 Major League games.

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Frank Tanana began his career as a fireballer and ended it as a soft-tossing control specialist

Frank Tanana began his career as a fireballer and ended it as a soft-tossing control specialist

The California Angels’ No. 1 pick in the 1971 baseball free agent draft out of Detroit Catholic Central High School, Tanana also had to decide from among more than 100 college basketball scholarships. After two years in the minors, Tanana made his big league debut in 1973 at age 20. The southpaw b

5 responses to “Frank Tanana”

  1. Michael Smith says:

    Frank was better than just good when he came from the Angels to the Tigers. They referred to his pitches as ‘junk’ but I never liked that description. He was crafty lime a fox. He’d lull you with curve balls around the plate then catch you off guard with a blazing 80-82 mph fastball on the corners. That was the Frank Detroiters remember so well (if you were around that is).

  2. Rich says:

    California angel,excellent

  3. Ron says:

    Win 240 games you have to be doing something right

  4. Dan says:

    4188 innings, 143 complete games, 34 shutouts, 2773 strikeouts, and 3.66 lifetime ERA. He played when you where expected to pitch a complete game. It truly wasn’t his fault that he played for uncompetitive teams.

  5. SH says:

    He is a cool person, easy going.

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"Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball…"

~Jacques Barzun, 1954