Stan Belinda

Baseball career

Stan Belinda got his start pitching for State College Area High School and Allegany College of Maryland before the Pittsburgh Pirates picked him in the 10th round of the June draft, 238th overall. He worked his way up from the Gulf Coast League through the minors and debuted with the Pirates on September 8, 1989. Over the next few seasons, he became a key reliever, first setting up Bill Landrum and then taking over as closer in 1992. In Game 7 of the NLCS, Belinda entered the ninth inning with a 2-0 lead, three runners on, and no outs.

Kansas City Royals and Boston Red Sox

He got Ron Gant to hit a sacrifice fly, walked Damon Berryhill, and retired Brian Hunter on a popup. Then Francisco Cabrera singled, and Sid Bream scored from second on a throw from left fielder Barry Bonds, ending the game. The loss drew heavy criticism in Pittsburgh, and on July 31, 1993, the Pirates traded him to the Kansas City Royals for pitchers Jon Lieber and Dan Miceli. With the Royals, Belinda threw an immaculate inning, striking out the side on nine pitches.

Arm problems bothered him during his year and a half in Kansas City, and he left as a free agent, signing with the Boston Red Sox for 1995. Healthy again, he won 8 games with 10 saves as the primary setup man for Rick Aguilera. But his arm troubles returned, and he became ineffective, walking more batters than he struck out in just 28 innings. Belinda signed with the Cincinnati Reds and had the best season of his career, pitching 99 innings.

Colorado Rockies and Atlanta Braves

His 84 games pitched ranked second in the league, and his 114 strikeouts led all relief pitchers. The next season, he started feeling tingling and numbness in his legs, and on September 22, 1998, the Mayo Clinic diagnosed him with multiple sclerosis. Daily injections of Copaxone and changes to his diet and lifestyle let him keep pitching, but his performance suffered. He spent time as a mop-up pitcher for the Reds, then on October 30 of that year, he and Jeffrey Hammonds were traded to the Colorado Rockies for Dante Bichette.

Belinda put up a 7.07 ERA with the Rockies before being released in July. He signed with the Atlanta Braves but was released again on September 12, ending his career. He retired with 41 wins, 37 losses, and 79 saves, putting up a 4.15 ERA in 685 career innings.