St. John's University Athletics
Former St. John's Pitcher Frank Viola Inducted Into Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame
7/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
July 11, 2005
Queens, NY - Former St. John's University pitcher Frank Viola, a past Cy Young Award winner and World Series Most Valuable Player, was inducted into the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame in June during a pregame ceremony at the Metrodome.
Viola, a native of Hempstead, NY, attended St. John's from 1979-81 and during his final season in college was nearly perfect. Viola was 10-0 with a 0.87 earned run average in 83 innings for St. John's, prompting the Twins to select him in the second round of the 1981 amateur draft. Viola had 10 wins in '80 and '81 for St. John's; a total that still ranks second all-time at St. John's for wins in a season.
Viola began his accomplished career in Minnesota, and was a major factor in a resurgent pitching staff that ultimately helped the Twins win a championship in 1987, their first since 1965.
In that World Series, Viola started three games (1, 4, and 7) and won two of them including an eight-inning, two-run, seven-strikeout effort in Game 7 to secure his place in Minnesota Twins lure.
Viola further cemented his legacy the following season, putting a Cy Young Award in the trophy case after posting a sterling 24-7 record with a 2.64 ERA.
He was traded to the New York Mets in a five-for-one deal during the following season, his eighth in the majors. The Mets enjoyed two All-Star seasons - in 1990 and 1991 - from Viola. In 1990, Viola made a bid for his second Cy-Young award, winning 20 games for the second time in his career, while sporting a 2.67 ERA, good enough for third in the voting.
Overall Viola spent 15 years in the majors with five teams. He signed a three-year contract with Boston in 1993 and finished his career with stints in Cincinnati, and Toronto. Viola was a three-time All-Star (1988, 1990, 1991), finished sixth of higher in the Cy Young voting four times, was in the top-ten in ERA five times, was top-five earned runs allowed five times, and led the league in game starts twice (1986, 1990).
