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Former 20-game winner Sadecki dies at 73

Lefty pitched for Cardinals, Mets, Giants, Royals, Braves, Brewers

ST. LOUIS -- Ray Sadecki, a left-handed pitcher who won 20 games for the Cardinals in their 1964 championship season, died Monday due to complications of blood cancer. He was 73.

Born in Kansas City, Kan., Sadecki debuted for the Cardinals in 1960 and went on to enjoy an 18-year Major League playing career. Eight of those seasons came in St. Louis, followed by stints with the Mets, Giants, Royals, Braves and Brewers. He finished with a career record of 135-131 and 3.78 ERA over 563 appearances (328 starts).

Sadecki won 68 of those games with the Cardinals, his career season coming in '64. Sadecki went 20-11 with a 3.68 ERA that year and started two World Series games against the Yankees, both of which the Cardinals won.

Sadecki would appear in the World Series once more in his career, in 1973 with the Mets. He made four relief appearances in New York's Series loss to Oakland.

The Cardinals swapped Sadecki for Orlando Cepeda in a May 1966 trade with the Giants, and Sadecki went on to win a dozen games for the Giants in both '67 and '68. It would be the first of five times Sadecki would be traded in his career. That included a 1974 deal that sent him back to St. Louis for one more year; the Mets acquired catcher Joe Torre in that trade.

Sadecki's final season came in 1977, when he made just four relief appearances before the Mets released him May 2. By the end of his career, Sadecki had thrown 85 complete games and struck out 1,614 in 2,500 1/3 innings.

Jenifer Langosch is a reporter for MLB.com. Read her blog, By Gosh, It's Langosch, and follow her on Twitter @LangoschMLB.
Read More: Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals