Thomas Caesar Candiotti (born August 31, 1956) is an American former knuckleball pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Dodgers. Since the 2005 season, Candiotti is a television and radio analyst for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Early life
Candiotti is a graduate of Queen of All Saints Catholic School in Concord, California, Concord High School, and an alumnus of Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, California. Candiotti pitched for the Saint Mary's baseball team for four years. He later said that he might not have been able to play college baseball at a larger school.
Baseball career
Candiotti, nicknamed "The Candy Man" or simply "Candy", was not drafted by any major-league team. He got a shot when he traveled to Victoria, British Columbia, for a tryout with the independent Victoria Mussels of the Northwest League in 1979. Candiotti won five games that year for a Victoria team that lost out on the pennant by percentage points to the Walla Walla Padres. "I had no place to stay", Candiotti recalled years later. "For a week, I stayed in the locker room. After that, I stayed with a buddy. I slept on the floor at his place. I didn't have any money. I didn't have a car or anything. There were even a couple of times when I slept on the field in my sleeping bag. It was that bad."
He left the Blue Jays the following season to sign with Los Angeles where he pitched well for six years, hampered by poor run support. From 1992 to 1996, Candiotti's 3.57 ERA was fourth-best among National League pitchers with at least 900 innings pitched, behind only Greg Maddux (2.13), Tom Glavine (3.16), and John Smoltz (3.27), and 11th-best in the majors overall.
At the time of his retirement, Candiotti ranked in the top 100 all-time in major-league history in starts and strikeouts. In 2001, he was named one of the Top 100 Greatest Indians in Cleveland history.
Post-playing career
Candiotti held a front office position with the Indians in 2000 and 2001. He joined ESPN in 2001 as an MLB broadcaster and an analyst on Baseball Tonight. From 2002 to 2005, Candiotti continued on Baseball Tonight and served as a commentator for the Toronto Blue Jays. He has worked for several seasons as a radio analyst for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Candiotti had a small part in Billy Crystal's 2001 movie "61*" as knuckleball pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm. He was inducted into the International Bowling Museum's Hall of Fame on June 27, 2007.
Candiotti had two children with his wife, Donna. His son, Clark, pitches for the Fort Wayne TinCaps. He was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 2024 MLB draft with their compensation pick for losing Blake Snell. His other son, Casey, pitches for the Holy Names Hawks.
See also
- List of knuckleball pitchers
- List of Major League Baseball career hit batsmen leaders