With the first-ever $100 million baseball contract announced during the 1998 off-season, it might not seem so special that pitcher Wayne Garland awoke one day in 1977 to find himself a millionaire. Even less special when you realize that his Cleveland Indians contract earned him $2.3 million over ten years, or by today’s standards, a modest $230,000 per year. Nevertheless, it was a truly life-changing event for the former Cohn High School star. The contract was Garland’s reward for being a twenty-game winner with Baltimore. His last year with the Orioles, Garland went 20-7 with an earned-run average of 2.68. It was one of the finest performances in baseball and included four shutouts, fourteen complete games, and 113 strikeouts. Garland is one of four Nashville natives who won twenty or more games in the major leagues, joining Johnny Beazley of the St. Louis Cardinals, Jim Turner of the Boston Braves, and Frank Hahn of the Cincinnati Reds. A legendary little-leaguer, Garland, at the age of twelve, started the season by striking out the first fifty-six batters he faced, and in his last season before turning pro, he pitched a perfect game in the Connie Mack League. Twice as a big leaguer, he just missed a no-hitter. A sore pitching arm ended Garland’s career prematurely in 1981, after just four seasons with the Indians. Since his retirement from playing, Garland has been, among other things, a pitching coach with the Pirates farm teams.
