Windy McCall
From BR Bullpen
John William McCall
- Bats Left, Throws Left
- Height 6' 0", Weight 180 lb.
- School University of San Francisco
- Debut April 25, 1948
- Final Game May 5, 1957
- Born July 18, 1925 in San Francisco, CA USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Twenty-one-year-old Windy McCall was signed as an amateur free agent by the Boston Red Sox before the 1947 season. The left-hander would be assigned to the Roanoke Red Sox of the class B Piedmont League and go 17-9 with a 3.78 ERA during his first year in pro baseball. In 1948 the Red Sox gave Windy a taste of the big leagues when he appeared in one game, lost it, and would spend the rest of the season with the Louisville Colonels of the American Association where he would go 9-12 with a 4.67 ERA. Windy would get another short look with Boston in 1949, appearing in five games with no decisions and be sent back down to Louisville where he would go 5-2 but wind up with the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League going 0-5 and wind up 1949 with a 5-7 record. On October 13, 1949 Windy was purchased by the Pittsburgh Pirates from the Boston Red Sox.
The Pirates gave him a six-inning look in 1950, again with no decisions, and he would spend the rest of the season with the AAA Indianapolis Indians going 7-7 but had a 5.28 ERA. Windy would spend the next couple of years in the minors and show back up with the New York Giants in 1954, and was used primarily out of the bullpen through the team's final seasons in New York. McCall was 2-5 plus a couple of saves for the World Champions in 1954. He would hang with the Giants for the rest of his major league career, finishing out in 1957 with a 11-15 record and a 4.22 ERA for his seven-year hitch in the major leagues.
McCall spent the rest of his pro baseball days in the high minors, finishing up with the AAA Miami Marlins in 1959 at age 33 with a 10-year career minor league record of 80 wins and 70 losses with a .436 ERA. Formerly a corporate salesman for Bekins Van and Storage in San Francisco, CA Windy moved to to Sierra Vista, AZ in the early 1980s where he was in real estate and property management. As of 2006, he was living in Arizona.
