SAN DIEGO — Ohio State baseball legend Steve Arlin, a Shawnee High School graduate, has died at age 70.
Arlin was the star of Ohio State’s 1966 College World Series champion team and its 1965 national runner-up team. He went on to pitch six years in the big leagues with the San Diego Padres and Cleveland Indians.
Arlin had a 24-3 overall record in 1965 and 1966 for the Buckeyes. In the 1966 College World Series, he pitched in five games in six days.
He is in the College Baseball Hall of Fame and Ohio State has retired his number.
“He was phenomenal,” said his OSU teammate Jim Elshire at a reunion of the 1965 team on an OSU football weekend last September.
Arlin attended dental school in the offseason and graduated from OSU’s program in 1970. After retiring from baseball he had a dental practice in San Diego, specializing in endodontics, for several decades.
He was selected No. 13 overall in the 1966 major league draft and got to the big leagues in 1969. But most of his career was spent with San Diego teams which offered little support for their pitchers.
In his first full season in the major leagues, he was 9-19 with a 3.48 earned run average in 1971 and followed that with a 10-21 record the next year with a 3.60 earned run average. He finished his career 34-67 with a 4.33 earned run average.
Arlin came within one out of a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1972. He had two one-hitters and four two-hitters during his career.
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