Al Downing

Alphonso Erwin Downing (born June 28, 1941) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. An All Star in 1967 and NL Comeback Player of the Year in 1971, Downing surrendered Hank Aaron's record breaking 715th home run on April 8, 1974. Downing was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He attended Trenton Central High School and Rider College, now known as Rider University, Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Downing signed with the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1961, and was already on the major league roster by July of that season. In his first full major league season, 1963, Downing went 13-5 with a 2.56 earned run average for a Yankee team that went 104-57, but were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1963 World Series. In 1964, he...