Frank Daryl Tanana (born July 3, 1953) is an American former professional baseball left-handed pitcher. In a Major League Baseball career that stretched from 1973 to 1993, he pitched for the California Angels, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, New York Mets, and New York Yankees. He struck out 2,773 batters in his career. He won playoff-clinching games for the teams he was on twice: once for the Angels in 1979, and once for the Tigers in 1987.
Raised in northwest Detroit, Tanana was a first-round draft pick by the Angels in 1971. He made his debut with the team in 1973 and won 14 games his rookie year. Tanana and fellow starter Nolan Ryan formed one of the toughest pairs of starting pitchers to hit against in baseball. Tanana led the American League (AL) in strikeouts in 1975, then made the AL All-Star team three years in a row. He won 19 games in 1976 and led the AL with a 2.54 earned run average (ERA) in 1977. In 1979, he won the game that clinched the Angels' first-ever playoff appearance. Injuries began to take their toll on him by the end of his tenure with the Angels, and he changed his style from relying on a hard fastball to throwing a repertoire of slower pitches, using deception to get hitters out instead.
Tanana was traded to Boston for the 1981 season; he went 4–10 with the Red Sox before becoming a free agent and signing with the Rangers. He tied for the AL lead in losses his first year with Texas, then failed to make their starting rotation at the beginning of the 1983 season, though he returned to it in June. In 1984, he had a 15–15 record for the team, his most wins since 1978. After getting off to a poor start with Texas in 1985, he was traded to Detroit, the team he rooted for growing up. Tanana would stay with the Tigers through 1992, pitching eight seasons with the club. He threw a shutout in the final game of the 1987 season to clinch a playoff spot for the team, winning 15 games that year. In 1988, he won 14 games; in 1989, he posted a 3.58 ERA. He was removed from the rotation for a time in 1990, only winning nine games that year, but the next season, he became the Tigers' first pitcher besides Jack Morris to start on Opening Day since 1979. This was the fifth Opening Day start of Tanana's career, as he had made four for the Angels in the 1970s. He won 13 games apiece in 1991 and 1992 before pitching one more season with the Mets and the Yankees in 1993.
After becoming a born-again Christian in November 1983, Tanana became a leader among baseball's Christian community. He has continued to serve in the ministry following his retirement, serving as an elder in his church, assisting the Tigers' chaplain, and performing Bible studies and marriage counseling. He lives in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Early life Tanana grew up in the northwest part of Detroit, Michigan. His father, also named Frank, had played professional baseball in the 1950s and was on the 1955 Eastern League championship team, the Reading Indians, before he left baseball and joined the Detroit Police Department to support his family. After young Frank got done with homework, he and his friends would spend the rest of the afternoon playing various sports. He rooted for the hometown Detroit Tigers growing up, listing Al Kaline, Mickey Lolich, Willie Horton, and Mickey Stanley among his favorite players.
Tanana attended Detroit Catholic Central High School, an all-boys school; though it was seven miles from his home, he was attracted to it after seeing their basketball team featured on the front page of a newspaper sports section. He made all-state twice in basketball, but it was in baseball he excelled, as he had a 32–1 record in his high school career. In a cocky moment his senior year, he threw sidearm to a hitter and injured his shoulder. He pitched through the injury for the rest of the year until leaving the mound after the fourth inning of the championship game, when the pain got to be too much for him. Thinking the injury would hurt his baseball chances, he had just about decided to attend Duke University on a basketball scholarship when the California Angels made him their first-round draft pick in 1971.
Minor league career Tanana was assigned to the Idaho Falls Angels of the rookie-level Pioneer League in 1971, but tendinitis in his shoulder prevented him from pitching. Instead, he received cortisone treatments. "I tell you, I didn't have many friends on that team," Tanana said. "Here were guys being cut off the team, and I, who couldn't throw, was staying because I had this bonus." Arm feeling better in 1972, he pitched for the Single-A Quad Cities Angels, posting a 7–2 record. In 1973, he spent most of the season with the Double-A El Paso Sun Kings. "He struck out 14 in his first game for us," El Paso (and later Angel) manager Norm Sherry said. "Right then, I knew he could pitch." Tanana also pitched a couple games for the Triple-A Salt Lake City Angels before getting called up in September and added to the Angels starting rotation.
Major league career California Angels Along with Nolan Ryan, Tanana anchored the pitching staff of the California Angels from 1973 to 1979. This led to the saying, "Tanana and Ryan and two days of cryin'", an indication of just how much the two meant to the rotation. (This was a variation on "Spahn and Sain, then pray for rain," referring to the pitchers of the Boston Braves of the late 1940s.) The duo were considered two of the toughest pitching teammates in history, drawing comparisons to Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tanana described pitching with Ryan as "exciting," saying, "He was just an amazing athlete, and you know we both wanted to be the best pitcher on the team, so it was good for both of us—that good, healthy competition. We had a wonderful staff."
Tanana made four starts with the Angels in September 1973. His major league debut was September 9, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals. Tanana only lasted four innings, giving up four runs and taking the loss. His next start, on September 14, also was against Kansas City—Tanana threw a complete game this time, only allowing two runs (one earned) to earn his first major league victory. He threw a complete game shutout in the Angels' last game of the year on September 30, allowing just two hits in a 3–0 win over the Minnesota Twins.
In his first full season, Tanana was named the Angels' number two starter, behind Ryan. An elbow injury during the season caused Tanana to lose seven games in a row at one point; Tanana could not remember losing more than two games in a row before in his career. "My confidence was taking a beating, but I knew it wouldn't last forever," he said. After losing his 19th game September 22, Tanana was in danger of losing 20 games his rookie season, as there were still seven games to go. In his next start, September 27, he gave up two runs and was losing until pinch-hitter Doug Howard drove in two runs in the seventh inning to give him and the Angels a 3–2 victory over the Minnesota Twins. Then, in the last game of the year against the Oakland Athletics, he threw a shutout in a 2–0 victory. In 39 games (35 starts) his rookie year, Tanana had a 14–19 record, a 3.12 earned run average (ERA), 12 complete games (four shutouts), and 180 strikeouts in innings pitched. The 180 strikeouts were seventh in the American League (AL) (teammate Ryan led the league with 367), the four shutouts were tied for sixth (with five other pitchers), and Tanana did not lead the league in losses, as four other pitchers tied him for third behind Lolich (21) and Clyde Wright (20).
In the first game of a doubleheader on June 21, 1975, Tanana struck out 17 batters in a 4–2 victory over the Texas Rangers, becoming the first left-hander in AL history to have that many strikeouts in a game. "Everybody stood up and applauded for me in the ninth inning," he remembered. "I felt invincible." He threw 13 shutout innings on September 22 against the Chicago White Sox, yet left with a no decision because neither Jim Kaat nor Rich Gossage had allowed a run thus far—the game would go to 16 innings before the Angels eventually won 3–0. Tanana struck out 13. At season's end, Tanana's 269 strikeouts led the American League; it would be the only time from 1972 to 1979 that anyone other than teammate Ryan, injured that year, led the AL in strikeouts. Tanana placed fourth in ERA (2.62), tied for third with three others with five shutouts, and had a 16–9 record on the season. He and Kaat tied for fourth in AL Cy Young Award voting after the season.
With Ryan coming off a year in which he had missed time with injury, Tanana was named the Angels' Opening Day starter for 1976. As it turned out, 1976 would be the first of four straight Opening Day starts for Tanana. He was named an All-Star for the first time in 1976. The Angels' offense did not always score a lot for him; on August 27, 1976, he and Catfish Hunter of the New York Yankees each pitched 13 scoreless innings in a game where both men received a no-decision. It was the second year in a row Tanana had thrown 13 scoreless innings without getting a decision, but the Angels would lose this one in 15, 5–0. At season's end, he was among the league leaders once again in wins (19, tied with Mark Fidrych and Ed Figueroa for fourth), ERA (2.43, behind Fidrych's 2.34 and Vida Blue's 2.35), strikeouts (261, second to a healthy Ryan's 327), and complete games (23, tied with Jim Palmer for second behind Fidrych's 24). With a 19–10 record, he came close to winning twenty games, missing the mark because of a midseason injury and also an August 22 outing against the Yankees where, having allowed only two hits going into the ninth, he started taking it easy, gave up six runs and was removed, and received a no decision, though the Angels eventually won 11–8 in eleven. As it turned out, 19 wins would be his career high. He came in third in Cy Young voting behind Palmer and Fidrych and also got votes for the AL Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.
For the second year in a row, Tanana made the All-Star Game in 1977. In July, Sports Illustrated forecasted that he might reach 25 wins on the season. From April 29 through July 3, he threw 14 straight complete games. Shortly after the streak, though, he got an inflamed tendon in his left arm and had to be shut down for almost two weeks. After he returned, his arm was still tired, and the Angels had to shut him down for the rest of the year after September 5. Still, United Press International called the 1977 season his best year. He led the AL in earned run average (ERA) (2.54) and shutouts (7) while posting a 15–9 record. His 205 strikeouts were good for third in the league, behind Ryan's 341 and Dennis Leonard's 244. He finished ninth in Cy Young voting after the season.
Tanana started the 1978 season strong, with a 1–0 shutout of Oakland on Opening Day. He was named to the All-Star Game for the third year in a row. Through the end of July, he had a 14–6 record and a 2.99 ERA. However, his numbers were not as good in his final 11 starts; though his record was 4–6, his ERA hopped up to 5.22. Still, Tanana finished the year with an 18–12 record, tying with Lary Sorensen and Fergie Jenkins for ninth in the AL in wins. He threw ten complete games and tied with four others for fifth in the league in shutouts, with four. His 3.65 ERA was the highest of his career at the time, though, and his strikeout total dropped to 137, even though he threw 239 innings.