Jim O’Toole died on Saturday at the age of 78:

The lefty started the opening game of the 1961 World Series, losing to Yankees ace Whitey Ford 2-0. He also lost Game 4 to Ford, as a New York team featuring Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Yogi Berra won the series in five games. O’Toole gave up four earned runs over 12 innings.

He was the National League’s starting pitcher in the 1963 All-Star Game. O’Toole called that one of his proudest career moments, recalling that manager Alvin Dark chose him to start with a roster that included future Hall of Fame pitchers Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn.

My thoughts go out to his family and friends. It was nice he got to spend Christmas with them.

O’Toole came up young, becoming part of the Reds rotation by age 22. He peaked early, going 81-55, a .596 winning percentage from age 23 to age 27. In that time his strength came from low walk and home run rates, and his 5.9 K per 9 was not shabby for the era. He was finished after his age 30 season in 1967, I suspect due to injuries that they might have treated today.