Allan Fulton Worthington (born February 5, 1929), nicknamed "Red", is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played all or part of 14 seasons in Major League Baseball for the New York / San Francisco Giants (1953–54, 1956–59), Boston Red Sox (1960), Chicago White Sox (1960), Cincinnati Reds (1963–64) and Minnesota Twins (1964–69). Worthington batted and threw right-handed.
Raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Worthington played baseball at the University of Alabama before becoming a professional. Acquired by the Giants in 1953, he began his career with the ballclub as a starter, pitching shutouts in his first two major league games. After spending most of 1954 and all of 1955 in the minor leagues, he became a full-time starter again in 1956. During 1957–58, he split his time between the rotation and the bullpen, and by 1959 he was almost exclusively used as a relief pitcher. He split 1960 between the Red Sox, the minor leagues, and the White Sox, retiring with about a month left in the season because the White Sox were engaged in ruses to steal opposing team's signs, and he could not play for the team with a clear conscience. He completed his degree at Howard College, then decided to return to baseball and spent two years in the minor leagues for the White Sox. The Reds acquired him in 1963, and Worthington posted a 2.99 earned run average (ERA) out of the bullpen for them that year. He began 1964 with Cincinnati, was sent to the minor leagues, and had his contract purchased by the Twins, whom he would spend the rest of his career with. Sports Illustrated called his 1.37 ERA with the team that year "impressive." In 1965, Worthington had a career-high 21 saves and a career-low 2.13 ERA, also winning 10 games. From 1966 to 1967 he saved 32 games, and in 1968 he led American League (AL) relievers with 18 saves. In a 14-year career, Worthington compiled a 75–82 record with 834 strikeouts, a 3.39 ERA, and 110 saves in innings pitched.
Worthington continued with his career in baseball after his retirement as a player. In 1972 and 1973, he served as the pitching coach for the Twins. Then, in 1973, he heard a radio commercial for Liberty University. Worthington contacted Liberty president Jerry Falwell and told him that the school should have a good Christian baseball coach; he was hired to create the school's baseball team. After their first season, the ballclub never had a losing record under Worthington again. He coached them until after the 1986 season, when Bobby Richardson replaced him. While he was still coaching, he became Liberty's Athletic Director, a position he held until his retirement in 1989. In May 2011, he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
Early life
Allan Fulton Worthington was born on February 5, 1929, in Birmingham, Alabama. He was the seventh of ten children of newspaper compositor Walter B. Worthington and his wife, Lake Worthington. Walter played amateur baseball locally, and two of Al's older brothers, Robert and Walter, played Minor League baseball as well. Growing up, Al went to Inglenook Elementary School and Phillips High School in Birmingham. He appeared in 23 games (21 starts), posting a 7–10 record and a 4.57 earned run average (ERA) in 124 innings pitched. He did not pitch well to begin the 1952 season; new manager Hugh Poland said the pitcher was "trying to throw too hard for his own good." Making his major league debut on July 6, he allowed two hits in a complete game shutout over the Philadelphia Phillies. He allowed four hits in his next start against the Brooklyn Dodgers on July 11, also a shutout, becoming the first National League (NL) pitcher to start his career with consecutive shutouts since Jay Hughes did so for the Baltimore Orioles in 1898. Worthington then lost his next three starts, but his ERA remained under 1.00; in one of the games, he allowed seven runs, but only one was earned. He won his final start of the season, also against the Pirates, on September 25, allowing two unearned runs in a complete game, 6–2 victory. In 20 games (17 starts), he had a 4–8 record, a 3.44 ERA, 52 strikeouts, 54 walks, and 103 hits allowed in 102 innings pitched. Worthington mainly pitched out of the bullpen for the Giants in 1954, though he made one start in the second game of a doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals on August 29, allowing three runs in four innings and taking a no decision in a 7–4 Giants victory. In 10 games for New York, Worthington had an 0–2 record, a 3.50 ERA, eight strikeouts, 15 walks, and 21 hits allowed in 18 innings pitched. With his help, the Millers defeated the Rochester Red Wings to win the Junior World Series. In his second start on April 28, he allowed six hits and three runs (one earned) in a complete game, 5–3 victory over the Phillies. Four days later, he allowed one run in a complete game and was rewarded for his efforts in a 4–1 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Later in the season, he missed over a month, not pitching between July 25 and August 28 because of a sore arm. With a 5–14 record after September 17, he won his last two starts of the year, including a game against Philadelphia on September 22 when he allowed one run in a complete game, 2–1 victory. Worthington appeared in 28 games for the Giants in 1956, making what would be a career-high 20 starts. He tied for sixth in the NL in losses (14, tied with Sam Jones, Tom Poholsky, and Vinegar Bend Mizell), posted a 3.97 ERA, struck out 95 batters, walked 74 batters, and allowed 158 hits in innings.
Worthington started three of his first four games for the Giants in 1957, but after posting a 12.75 ERA, he was then used mostly out of the bullpen, though he still made occasional starts. On May 11, relieving Joe Margoneri to start the ninth inning of a 5–5 tie against the Brooklyn Dodgers, Worthington threw seven shutout innings, picking up the win as the Giants prevailed in the 15th on a Valmy Thomas home run. Four days later, he allowed two runs in innings, but the first allowed the Cardinals to tie the game in the seventh, and the second allowed them to win the game 6–5 in the 14th. Used for a start in the second game of a doubleheader on August 18, he held the Phillies to three hits in a 1–0, shutout victory. Five days later, he pitched 10 innings and held the Cubs to two runs, getting a no decision in an eventual 3–2 Giants victory. He made three more starts through September 5 before moving back to the bullpen for the rest of the year. Against the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 13, he worked six innings of relief, blowing a 7–6 lead when Gil Hodges hit a home run against him in the third inning but earning the win as the Giants prevailed 16–9. Given a start on June 15, he allowed eight hits but just one unearned run in a 3–1 victory over the Phillies. From that day forth, he was used mainly as a starter until August 6, after which he was exclusively used out of the bullpen for the rest of the year. In 54 games (12 starts), he had an 11–7 record, a 3.63 ERA, 76 strikeouts, 57 walks, and 152 hits allowed in innings. He made starts on August 22 and 27, a day after and the day of a Giants doubleheader, respectively. Other than that, except for a June 18 start, he pitched exclusively out of the bullpen. Between June 24 and August 8, he made only three appearances. Rigney, who had been friends with Worthington since the pitcher's minor league tenure, promised to stop the practice. This attracted interest from other teams, and the New York Mets were prematurely and erroneously reported by The New York Times and the Associated Press to have purchased his contract in October. A part of Cincinnati's bullpen in 1963, he made his first appearance in the major leagues in three years on April 10, allowing four runs (three earned) in one inning in a 10–7 loss to the Phillies. On May 15, he relieved Jim Maloney to begin the sixth inning and threw four scoreless innings, earning the save in a 10–2 victory over the Cubs. Exactly two months later, he entered in the ninth and struck out six in four scoreless innings, earning the win as the Reds defeated the Milwaukee Braves 4–3 in 12 innings. On September 17, with one out in the second and the Reds trailing the Houston Colt .45s by a score of 3–2, Worthington relieved Joe Nuxhall and pitched scoreless innings, earning the win in a 4–3 victory. At a team party late in the year, his teammates gave him a pair of binoculars as a joke. Ultimately, he allowed earned runs in just five of the 41 games he appeared in for Minnesota and had a 1.37 ERA with the Twins in 1964, which Sports Illustrated called "impressive." He had a 5–6 record, struck out 59 batters, walked 27 hitters, and allowed 47 hits in innings. On August 30, he entered in the seventh after Jim Kaat had allowed a run and threw three scoreless innings in an eventual 11-inning, 3–2 victory over the Detroit Tigers. In 62 games, he had a 10–7 record, a 2.13 ERA, 59 strikeouts, 41 walks, and 57 hits in innings. He had a career-high 21 saves, which ranked sixth in the AL. After Kaat allowed three hits and two runs to start the fourth inning of Game 7, Worthington relieved him, this time not allowing any runners to score in his two innings of work. The Twins lost 2–0 as the Dodgers became World Series champions.
On April 24, 1966, Worthington struck out six batters in innings, allowing a run but earning the save as the Twins beat the California Angels 5–3. 12 days later, he gave up a home run to George Scott that tied a game against the Red Sox but struck out five in three innings and picked up the win as Minnesota defeated Boston 4–3. In a game against the Baltimore Orioles on May 30, he entered with two outs in the sixth after Dwight Siebler had allowed three runs in the inning. Following a walk to Brooks Robinson, Worthington induced a foul pop fly from Curt Blefary to end the inning, but he gave up a run in the eighth, allowing the Orioles to tie the game. However, the Twins scored three times in the bottom of the inning, and Worthington pitched a scoreless ninth as the Twins prevailed by a score of 7–4. In 65 games, he had a 6–3 record, 16 saves, a 2.46 ERA, 93 strikeouts, 27 walks, and 66 hits allowed in innings. In the second game of a doubleheader against the Orioles on July 11, he allowed three runs in three innings but got the save in a 10–7 triumph, striking out five hitters, his second-highest total of the season. On August 9, he entered in the eighth and threw a season-long innings, allowing just two hits and no runs but getting a no-decision as the Senators beat the Twins 9–7 in 20 innings. He threw a scoreless eighth and ninth inning on August 28, preserving a 3–2 victory over Baltimore. The Twins were in a close pennant race with the Red Sox, with the outcome hanging on the final game of the year on October 1, where Minnesota faced Boston. The Red Sox were already winning 3–2 in the ninth when Worthington entered and threw two wild pitches, allowing another run to score. The Twins lost 5–3. In both that outing and his next on April 30, he struck out a season-high five batters. He entered a game against the Oakland Athletics on May 16, pitching three scoreless innings to finish the game as the Twins rallied from a 3–2 deficit to win 4–3. After the Athletics scored three runs in the eighth inning, putting runners on first and second with two outs and the Twins leading 7–5, Worthington relieved Kaat and got John Donaldson to ground out, then pitched a scoreless ninth as the Twins won 7–5. In 1968, he led the AL with 18 saves. He allowed a run on June 14, though, then saw his ERA shoot up to 17.18 as he gave up six runs in in an inning on June 17, in a 13–1 loss to the Angels. On July 25, he relieved Jim Perry with two outs and a runner on third in the seventh inning of a game against the Indians, striking out Chuck Hinton to keep the score 2–0. Tasked with finishing the game, he blew the lead in the ninth when Duke Sims hit a tying two-run home run against him. However, he threw a scoreless 10th and 11th innings, and the Twins ultimately prevailed 4–2 in 16 innings. In 46 games, Worthington had a 4–1 record, though his 4.57 ERA was his highest since 1960 and he only had three saves. He struck out 51 batters and walked 20, giving up 65 hits in 61 innings.
In a 14-year career, Worthington compiled a 75–82 record with 834 strikeouts, a 3.39 ERA, and 110 saves in innings pitched. In 1974, he joined Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he helped start the Liberty University Flames baseball team, becoming the ballclub's first head coach. He served 13 seasons as the Flames' head coach, and the team's first season was its only losing one under his tenure. As of 2010, he was the winningest head coach in Liberty's history, with a 343-189-1 record (64.4 winning percentage). Under his tenure as athletic director, the baseball team achieved NCAA Division I status in 1988. Worthington retired in 1989. It was replaced by Liberty Baseball Stadium in 2013, but the new ballpark was rededicated as Worthington Field at Liberty Baseball Stadium in 2019. In 1980, Worthington managed the Falmouth Commodores, a collegiate summer baseball team in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League. He led the Commodores to the league title with a team featuring future major leaguers Steve Lombardozzi and Bream. After his retirement from Liberty, Worthington returned to Birmingham and served as the pitching coach for Briarwood Christian School.
Personal life
Worthington's nickname was "Red."