Tim Lincecum

Tim Lincecum (born June 15, 1984, Bellevue, Washington, U.S.) is an American baseball player who was a star pitcher for the San Francisco Giants in the early 21st century. He earned the nickname “The Freak” for his unconventional pitching delivery that involved a high-kicking windup, an extraordinarily long stride down the mound, and a whiplike throwing motion. That delivery allowed Lincecum—despite his slender 5-foot 11-inch (1.8-metre), 170-pound (77-kg) frame—to generate the power to pitch fastballs that were often clocked at 98 miles (158 km) an hour. Lincecum led the National League (NL) in strikeouts for three consecutive seasons (2008–10) and helped the Giants win three World Series championships (2010, 2012, and 2014).

Lincecum’s father, a former college baseball player, introduced his son to the game and taught him the pitching delivery that Lincecum would later make famous. Lincecum led the baseball team at Liberty High School in Renton, Washington, to a state championship his senior year. Although he was drafted out of high school by the Chicago Cubs in 2003, Lincecum opted instead to play baseball at the University of Washington. During his three years playing for the Huskies, he was twice named the Pacific-10 Conference pitcher of the year. In 2006 Lincecum earned National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) first-team All-American honours. He decided to turn pro after his junior year, and the Giants selected Lincecum as the 10th pick in the first round of the 2006 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft.

Lincecum spent a short time playing in San Francisco’s minor-league system. He compiled a 6–0 win-loss record in the minors before being called up to the major leagues. Lincecum made his MLB debut on May 6, 2007. He appeared in 24 games that season, finishing with a respectable 7–5 record. His breakout season, however, came the following year, when he went 18–5, led the NL in strikeouts (265), and ranked second in the league with a 2.62 earned run average (ERA). Lincecum was selected to the first of four consecutive All-Star teams and won the Cy Young Award as the NL’s best pitcher that year. He finished the 2009 season with a 15–7 record, 261 strikeouts, and a 2.48 ERA. He again won the Cy Young Award, becoming the first pitcher in history to receive the award in each of his first two full seasons.

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In 2010 the Giants, behind a strong pitching staff led by Lincecum, made the playoffs for the first time since 2003. The team advanced to the World Series, where the Giants defeated the Texas Rangers four games to one. Lincecum was the winning pitcher in both the opening and final games of the series. Two years later the Giants claimed another World Series title with a four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers. However, as his preceding regular season had been the worst of his career to that point (5.18 ERA and a league-leading 15 losses), Lincecum was reduced to relief pitching in that series, although he provided solid play in games one and three.

While he again struggled in 2013 with a 4.37 ERA, Lincecum did pitch the first no-hitter of his career that year, striking out 13 batters in a 9–0 Giants win over the San Diego Padres. He recorded another no-hitter against the Padres in 2014, this time striking out 6 batters in a 4–0 shutout. The Giants returned to the World Series that year, where they beat the Kansas City Royals in a seven-game series to take their third title in five seasons. Lincecum pitched in game two of the series, retiring five batters and notching two strikeouts before leaving the game with a back injury. He continued to struggle with injuries in 2015, when he appeared in only 15 games. He was traded to the Los Angeles Angels the following year. Lincecum went 2–6 with the Angels in 2016, his last season in the major leagues, although he never officially retired from professional baseball.