This is a little story about memory, the wonders of the internet, and John D'Acquisto. Perhaps you will find it interesting.

As many of you know, John D'Acquisto was a big league pitcher from 1973-1982. Somehow or other, I really don't remember how, I was invited to be a member of a baseball group he runs on facebook.

Now, I'm aware that it's the internet, and anyone can claim to be John D'Acquisto, but this seems legitimate to me. It's a little bit like being part of a facebook group with Bert Blyleven, really. He's very old school about a lot of things, but he does seem to know a lot about pitching. When he's answering a technical question about mechanics and stuff like that, it's pretty interesting to read. Besides, it's kind of a thrill for a hick from small-town South Dakota like me to be in a facebook group run by a former major league pitcher.

Anyway, he recently mentioned an epic pitchers' duel in which he faced Sam McDowell. He threw 239 pitches in a nine-inning game, McDowell threw 249, and D'Acquisto won, 3-2. And I thought, wait a minute. Something doesn't seem right here.

Now, at this point, I wasn't doubting the 239 pitches that much. It's a lot, but this was the age when Men were Men. I just didn't see how you'd throw 239 pitches in nine innings and only give up two runs. Even if you faced forty batters—which would be a lot to only give up two runs, but isn't impossible—you'd have to average six pitches per batter, which would be really unusual.

So, I asked D'Acquisto if there were some sort of special circumstances about this game—he walked a ton of batters, he struck out a ton of batters, there was an abnormal number of really long counts—that led to this high pitch total. At first, he got kind of indignant that I would question his story. When I explained that I wasn't questioning it, but just thought there had to be something really unusual to average six pitches per batter for a full nine innings, he said that he had been mistaken, that it had been an extra-inning game.

Well, I still thought the story was probably true, or at least reasonably close. Again, Men were Men in those days, and sometimes pitchers were asked to go more than nine innings, especially if they were pitching well. So, I thought, I'm going to check b-r.com and see if I can find the game.

McDowell's career only overlapped D'Acquisto's by three years, 1973-1975. McDowell pitched solely in the AL and D'Acquisto solely in the NL in 1974, so that was out. McDowell was in the NL at the start of 1973, but pitched for the Giants, as did D'Acquisto, so that was out, too. That left 1975, when McDowell was with Pittsburgh and D'Acquisto was still with the Giants.

By now, you probably know where this story is going. John D'Acquisto did not pitch against Pittsburgh in 1975. In fact, he appeared in only ten games, six of them starts, and was awful before his season ended due to injury, which he was doubtless trying to pitch through. McDowell pitched against the Giants once, but it was 1.1 innings of relief in a blowout loss.

So I thought, well, it was a long time ago. I don't think he'd just make this story up out of thin air. Maybe there was another game where he pitched some extra innings and he just forgot who the opposing pitcher was. So I checked. In his entire career, John D'Acquisto never pitched more than nine innings in a game. In fact, he pitched only seven complete games, five of them in 1974, which was his best season as a starter and the only one in which he pitched 200 innings. It was also the season before he hurt his arm.

So, I thought, maybe in one of those complete games he walked a bunch of guys and struck out a bunch of guys. And there were a few of those. On September 6, 1974 he shut out Atlanta and Carl Morton in 2-0 game. He walked five, which is a high number, but only struck out five. He faced 33 batters. On September 15, 1974, only nine days later, he beat Houston 8-4 in a game in which he faced 39 batters, striking out nine and walking seven. His mound opponent that day was Dave Roberts, who lasted 3.2 innings. Finally, on August 9, 1979, pitching for San Diego, he shut out the Giants and John Montefusco 4-0. He walked six and struck out six. B-r.com reports that he threw 127 pitches in that game, a healthy total, but a far cry from 239.

My best guess is that he got the two 1974 games confused in his mind somehow, and that his mind simply filled in some gaps over the years. I have no idea how Sam McDowell got into it, but it certainly sounds better to say you outdueled Sam McDowell than that you outdueled Carl Morton. I doubt that it was 239 pitches, but in that 9-15-74 game where he walked nine and struck out seven, he must have thrown an awful lot of them.

I considered calling him out on this, but decided not to do so (other than here, of course, which he is unlikely to read). It was a long time ago. Most of us tend to embellish our stories a little, and as time goes on, the line between fact and embellishment gets blurred in our minds. I don't doubt that John D'Acquisto honestly believes he once threw 239 pitches in a 3-2 game against Sam McDowell. Besides, as I said once before, I kind of enjoy hearing old ballplayers spin their yarns, even if they play fast and loose with the truth.

So, I'll stay part of the facebook group, and continue to enjoy being there.  If you ever run into John D'Acquisto, tell him I said hi. Don't tell him his story isn't true. Let him cherish his memories. It's not hurting anybody.