1995-2004

John Cumberland played for the New York Yankees (1968-70), San Francisco Giants (1970-72), St. Louis Cardinals (1972) and California Angels (1974).. He also coached at the big-league level for the Red Sox and Royals.

He was born in Westbrook, Maine, on May 10, 1947 and began to gain notice as a pitcher with the Westbrook High Blue Blazes baseball team as a senior in 1965. He parlayed that success in his senior year to a professional baseball contract in 1966 when he signed with the Cardinals organization and joined the Eugene Emeralds of the Class-A Northwest League. The Yankees gave him a couple of cups of coffee in 1968 and ’69 after two more successful seasons at Syracuse.

His major-league debut came on September 27, 1968, in Boston. The Red Sox pounded the Yankees 12-2, and Cumberland worked the final two innings. He gave up 4 runs (2 earned) on 3 hits. The first batter he ever faced was Carl Yastrzemski, and Yaz hit a comebacker right back to him for an easy out. The rest of the game wasn’t as easy. Reggie Smith hit a 2-run homer, and Dalton Jones hit a 2-run double and scored on an error by shortstop Tom Tresh. John returned to the Yankees in July of 1969 before being returned to Syracuse.

John finally had a chance to stick in the majors with the Yankees in 1970. New York traded him to the San Francisco Giants. After two appearances with the Giants, he was sent to Triple-A Phoenix.

After being discarded by the Yankees and nearly discarded by the Giants, Cumberland ended up starting Game Two of the 1971 NL Championship Series between the Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates. He made it through a shaky first inning, working around two singles, but he allowed an RBI single to Manny Sanguillen in the second inning and a solo homer to Bob Robertson in the fourth inning. After Sanguillen singled again, John was removed from the game.

John earned a starting role in 1972 after a fine showing in spring training. He also broke his hand in two places in what he later described only as an accident, and instead of having a cast put on it, he tried to pitch through it. He was later claimed by the St. Louis Cardinals. After the 1972 season, St. Louis traded him to Minnesota and he was released by the Twins in spring training. He rejoined the Giants organization and started slowly for Phoenix and was released. He signed a minor-league contract with the Angels and finished out the ’73 season with Salt Lake City of the Pacific Coast League.

John was, by now, frustrated about his place in the game. He was released outright by the Twins without ever having thrown a regular-season pitch for them. He was out of baseball and working as a sales representative when he got the minor-league contract offer from California Angels.

He didn’t start the 1974 season with the Angels, but when the team needed a reliever, he was brought up from Salt Lake City at the end of May. He finished the season with Salt Lake City and retired from the game. He was 27 years old when he left baseball.

He had moved to Florida after high school and lived there for the rest of his life. Immediately after his retirement, he operated a horse feed and tackle store in Oldsmar and coached at different Little Leagues in Pinellas County. By 1979, he was feeling the itch to get back into the game. Unlike a lot of ballplayers who lose touch with the game, it was still very much a part of him. He got his chance to return to baseball when he was hired as a coach for the Lynchburg Mets of the Carolina League in 1982.

He was a part of the Mets organization until 1990 and then worked as a pitching coach for Wichita (San Diego Padres affiliate) in 1991, Milwaukee Brewers’ minor-league pitching coordinator in 1992 and Las Vegas (Padres) pitching coach in 1993.

He returned to the major leagues when he was named pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox in 1995. He was a late addition to manager Kevin Kennedy’s staff, and while he had some success stories, a couple of veterans had poor years. John was asked to take a leave of absence for unspecified reasons in July and was reassigned to the role of advance scout. After several years of coaching in the minors with the Red Sox, he returned to Boston in 1999 as the bullpen coach. He was dismissed in 2001 and joined the Royals organization the following season. After the Kansas City bullpen imploded one too many times in 2002, Cumberland was brought to Kansas City to be the pitching coach for new manager Tony Pena. He replaced Al Nipper, who coincidentally had replaced John as pitching coach for Boston in 1995. That assignment lasted until July of 2004.

John Cumberland retired from baseball and retired to Florida. He died in Lutz, Florida at the age of 74 on April 5, 2022.