South Side High School graduate Steve Hargan was a journeyman major-league pitcher who made the American League All-Star team in 1967.
Though he was only 15 at the time, most scouts said he didn't throw hard enough to be a major-league pitcher. Steve Hargan kept fighting to prove everyone wrong.
The 1961 South Side High School graduate signed with the Cleveland Indians in 1961 and started a steady climb to the majors that culminated in 1965. He was 13-5 with Portland when the Indians called him up, and Hargan won his first major-league game, 6-3 over the Los Angeles Angels.
Two years later, he was named to the American League roster for the All-Star Game. Unfortunately, he pulled a leg muscle in his last start before the game and could only hobble out for the introductions.
"It was probably my biggest thrill, just being there with these guys I admired when I was a kid," Hargan said in 1985.
That season he led the American League with six shutouts and had a 2.62 earned run average.
Injuries soon became a major part of Hargan's career. After going 13-10 in 1966 and 14-13 in 1967, he slipped to 8-15 in 1968 and 5-14 in 1969. He went back to the minors in 1970, but came back to Cleveland and posted an 11-3 record.
But the next year he faltered again and went 1-13, and the Indians sent him back to the minors in 1972 after he lost his first three games. Hargan kept pitching and joined the Texas Rangers in 1974. In three seasons with them, he went 29-27. His career ended in 1977 with brief stops in Toronto, Texas again and Atlanta and a 2-6 record.
Hargan's major-league career record is 87-107, with a 3.92 earned run average in 354 games.
