Right-hander Ray Culp was one of the most sought-after high school pitchers in the country in the late 1950s.
Fifteen of the 16 Major League clubs offered a contract to the Stephen F. Austin High School athlete. He won six postseason games, including a no-hitter, to lead his team to the state title in 1958, and ran off 18 consecutive victories over two seasons until he finally lost 1-0 in the state tournament in 1959, his senior year, according to a SABR Bio Project by Mark Armour.
Phillies scout Hap Morse signed him to a $100,000 contract following graduation. “I stayed in Austin for three straight months,” Morse said in a Baseball Digest story. “I was about ready to register to vote in Austin. I simply neglected the rest of my territory to concentrate on him. I saw every inning he pitched and nearly every practice.”
Culp, 18, reported to Johnson City (TN) in the Class D Appalachian League. He was 0-1 with a 5.29 ERA in four games (three starts).
He struggled the next three Minor League seasons before posting a winning season in Williamsport in 1962 (13-8, 3.20 ERA). He led the club in wins. Catcher Pat Corrales was on the club; Richie Allen played second base and left field. “There was little doubt about Richie’s bat. It was a matter of finding a position for him,” Culp recalls.
Phillies Debut
The 21-year-old Culp was now out of options and was brought to the Major League spring camp in 1963. An offseason injury to Dennis Bennett created an opening, and the Phillies decided to bring Culp north with the club. In his debut on April 10, he pitched two innings of relief and picked up a victory against Cincinnati.
After four relief appearances, he made his first start on April 27, a loss. His first win as a starter was a shutout against Houston on May 4.
The rookie wound up leading the staff in wins (14-11) with a stingy 2.97 ERA, earning an All-Star Game selection. The Sporting News named him the NL Rookie Pitcher of The Year. In the overall ROY voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, he finished third.
Bothered by an ailing elbow in 1964, he finished 8-7 with a 4.13 ERA. He did not start a game after Aug. 15. Bobby Shantz was his roommate.
Culp rebounded in 1965, 14-10, 3.22 ERA. Only Jim Bunning (19) and Chris Short (18) won more on the staff. After the 1966 season (7-4, 5.05 ERA), he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for left-hander Dick Ellsworth.
He finished 43-32 with a 3.64 ERA in 131 Phillies games (91 starts).
Major League Career
Culp spent 11 years in the Majors pitching for three different teams, Phillies (1963-66), Cubs (1967) and Boston Red Sox (1968-73).
He was Boston’s ace the first four seasons (16-6, 17-8, 17-14, 14-16, with more than 216 innings each year) and was an All-Star in 1969. A series of arm ailments limited his final two seasons. At age 31, his career was over. In 11 seasons, he was 122-101 with a 3.58 ERA.
Armour wrote, “The secret to Culp’s turnaround was his use of a new pitch -- the palm ball, taught to him by Roger Craig back when both were with the Phillies. ‘It’s a funny pitch,’ said Culp. ’You hold the ball deep against the front of the hand, in the spread between the thumb and the first finger. You don’t throw it hard. In fact, you couldn’t if you wanted to -- the fingers are in all the wrong places. But if you use your thumb correctly, you can get a lot of spin on the ball.’”
Batters tended to react quickly, as if it were a fastball, and hit the ball into the ground. Culp did not use the palm ball in a game until mid-1968, but it became a staple for the rest of his career.
Beginning on Aug. 27, he reeled off seven straight complete-game victories, including a string of four shutouts.
Culp started 1969 the way he had ended 1968, logging a 9-2 record by June 1, after finishing the previous season 12-2 in his last 14 decisions. His season ended Aug. 23 with an arm ailment. On Oct. 25, 1973, the Red Sox released the 32-year-old right-hander. “I was way too young to be going home. I had planned on pitching a lot longer.”
He returned to Austin and opened his own real-estate company, 123 Inc., so named because of Culp’s .123 lifetime Major League batting average. “It was my idea, because I could never forget my average,” he laughed. “Friends often kidded me, ‘Too bad 123 wasn’t your lifetime ERA.’” He worked in both commercial and rental real estate.
Ray and his wife, Sharon, had three daughters (Mitzi, Sherri, and Tammi) during his baseball career. After returning home, the couple had three sons (Wes, Clint and Cody). Culp spent many years involved in youth baseball coaching, and all his son’s played baseball; Wes made it the furthest, pitching three years in the Atlanta Braves system after being their 13th-round selection in 1993. His career was ended by injuries.
Sharon and Ray have four grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
The 84-year-old (Aug. 6) Austin native still lives there, saying, “Been in the same house for 65 years.”
Having pitched for the 1964 Phillies team that fell short and for the Red Sox between their 1967 and 1975 pennants, Culp never got to experience the postseason.
“I had a lot of success in the big leagues, but I never got a ring. That’s my one regret," he said.