Scott McGregor (left-handed pitcher)

{{For|the minor league baseball pitcher|Scott McGregor (right-handed pitcher)}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name = Scott McGregor

|position = Pitcher

|image = Scott McGregor (14678155130).jpg

|caption = McGregor in 2014

|bats = Switch

|throws = Left

|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1954|1|18}}

|birth_place = Inglewood, California, U.S.

|death_date =

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate = September 19

|debutyear = 1976

|debutteam = Baltimore Orioles

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate = April 27

|finalyear = 1988

|finalteam = Baltimore Orioles

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label = Win–loss record

|stat1value = 138–108

|stat2label = Earned run average

|stat2value = 3.99

|stat3label = Strikeouts

|stat3value = 904

|teams =

Baltimore Orioles ({{mlby|1976}}–{{mlby|1988}})

|highlights=

}}

Scott Houston McGregor (born January 18, 1954) is an American former professional baseball player and coach, who played his entire career in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles from {{mlby|1976}} to {{mlby|1988}}.

McGregor was an integral member of the 1983 World Series Champion Baltimore Orioles team, pitching a complete game shutout to clinch the series victory.{{cite web|url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/scott-mcgregor/|title=Scott McGregor|first=Malcolm|last=Allen|work=Society of American Baseball Research|access-date=November 9, 2022}}

Known for constantly changing speeds of his pitches, McGregor was a 20-game winner in {{mlby|1980}} and was named an American League (AL) All-Star in 1981.

After his playing career, he became a youth pastor before returning to serve as a major league coach. He was most recently the pitching coach for the Baltimore Orioles.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

In 1990, McGregor was inducted into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame.{{cite web |url=https://www.mlb.com/orioles/history/orioles-hall-of-fame |title=Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame at MLB.com |work=mlb.com |access-date=9 November 2022 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.camdenchat.com/story/2006/2/27/154050/931|title=The 40 Greatest Orioles of All-Time - No. 26 - Scott McGregor|date=February 27, 2006|website=CamdenChat.com|access-date=September 18, 2017}}

Baseball career

Born and raised in Southern California, McGregor played baseball at El Segundo High School with Baseball Hall of Fame member George Brett, who was a year ahead.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.si.com/vault/issue/70952/55 |magazine=Sports Illustrated|title=Love and Hate in El Segundo: Jack Brett & his sons|last=Garrity|first=John|date=August 17, 1981|page=52}} He was 51–5 with a 0.39 earned run average (ERA) with the Eagles.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1979/09/05/jackpot/fe9e2052-5fab-4e14-9eb6-07c91badd094/ Denlinger, Ken. "Jackpot," The Washington Post, Wednesday, September 5, 1979.] Retrieved October 9, 2023.

He was the 14th overall selection in the first round of the 1972 Major League Baseball draft by the New York Yankees.

McGregor was acquired along with Rick Dempsey, Tippy Martinez, Rudy May and Dave Pagan by the Orioles from the Yankees for Ken Holtzman, Doyle Alexander, Elrod Hendricks, Grant Jackson and Jimmy Freeman at the trade deadline on June 15, 1976. He, Dempsey and Martinez became part of a nucleus which kept the Orioles as perennial contenders for the next decade.[https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/15/sports/murray-chass-baseball-players-swap-memories-yankees-orioles-10-player-trade.html?pagewanted=all&mcubz=2 Chass, Murray. "Players Swap Memories of Yankees-Orioles 10-Player Trade", The New York Times, Sunday, June 15, 1986.] Retrieved December 24, 2022. He was selected to the American League All-Star team in 1981. He won 20 games in 1980. "The kid can pitch, that's all I can say," praised Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver after McGregor threw a shutout on June 24 of that year.{{cite web|last=Lowitt|first=Bruce|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1665&dat=19800625&id=gLAjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xSQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2890,5898688&hl=en|title=Orioles Edge Blue Jays, 1-0|newspaper=The Times-News|date=June 25, 1980|access-date=January 9, 2020}}

McGregor was solid{{Clarify|reason=vague|date=September 2017}} in two postseasons with the Orioles in 1979 and 1983. McGregor sent the Orioles to the World Series by clinching the 1979 ALCS with a Game 4 shutout of the California Angels. He pitched a complete-game victory in Pittsburgh in Game 3 of the World Series. Despite taking the loss in Game 7, McGregor yielded two runs in 8 innings to Willie Stargell and the eventual champion Pirates.{{cn|date=July 2018}}

In the 1983 postseason, McGregor allowed only two runs in the openers of the ALCS and World Series, but lost both games by scores of 2–1 to the White Sox and Phillies, respectively. However, in Game 5, he shut out the Phillies in a complete game to end the series, four games to one. He remained a starting pitcher on the Orioles for the next five seasons, and made his final appearance on April 27, 1988.{{cn|date=July 2018}}

McGregor was a better than average fielding pitcher in his major league career. In 356 pitching appearances covering 2,140.2 innings, he committed only nine errors in 445 total chances for a .980 fielding percentage, which was 24 points higher than the league average at his position.{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcgresc01.shtml|title=Scott McGregor statistics and history|work=Baseball Reference.com|access-date=January 21, 2021}}

After his baseball career ended, McGregor worked as a youth pastor and for five years headed a church in Towson, Maryland.{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/07/29/scott-mcgregor-and-the-pulpit-pitch/cb40d683-d0f3-4e11-898c-dd4d6b0600df|title=SCOTT MCGREGOR AND THE PULPIT PITCH|first=Jane|last=Leavy|date=July 29, 1988|work=washingtonpost.com|access-date=September 18, 2017}}

In 2002, McGregor returned to baseball as a pitching coach in Class A ball, and began working his way up. He was named interim Orioles bullpen coach on August 16, 2013, succeeding Bill Castro who was promoted to pitching coach after Rick Adair took a leave of absence for personal reasons.[https://apnews.com/article/6fbeecc21f014d16afcbbdd70b1968d0 Ginsburg, David. "Orioles pitching coach Adair on leave of absence," The Associated Press, Friday, August 16, 2013.] Retrieved October 9, 2023. He did not return in 2014.{{cn|date=July 2018}}