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Aging Fan Favorite Wins 14
“I like watching the mates play,” he said by phone as he and his wife waited for his plane from the Indianapolis International Airport. “I’d like to be there, you know, but I had my time I guess.”
Maybury, who started 29 games for the Indianapolis Downforce, the YS9 AAA affiliate, has filled a big league roster during parts of three seasons, comporting himself well in the process, registering a 3-5, 4.29 ERA in 113 innings while starting 17 games and relieving in four others. He’s collected a +0.9 WAR in that brief stint. In other words, he’s been a pretty good little left-handed pitcher. But that hasn’t been enough to stick on that big league roster, so instead Callum Maybury has spent the bulk of his career in Indianapolis. He’s started 201 games, and posted a 78-59 career record with a 4.32 ERA at that level.
Of those numbers, it’s the “78” that is the most noteworthy.
Those 78 wins put him in a tie for the #30 slot in the Rupert Horn League’s all-time list—certainly an inglorious accomplishment, but an accomplishment indeed.
A year ago, Maybury had made a decision to cut bait and move on from the Downforce, a decision the team respected and even encouraged. The Nine front office floated trading him to any big league team that would give him a shot at the BBA, but found no takers. Then, after testing minor league free agency, Maybury considered retirement before deciding to come back when Chrissy, his wife, told him she didn’t want a mopey Aussie around the house and that he should play baseball as long as they could make it work. They’d been frugal, after all. And the cash brought by the 138 days he’s spent on the big-league roster had been banked. His minor league offer came with a small bonus. They could make it work.
“I had a good time this year,” Maybury said. “I took Chrissy’s advice and quit worrying about whether I’d ever play in Yellow Springs again.” Instead he focused on Indianapolis and the pennant chase there, and he won 14 games. When the club asked him to re-up again it was a no-brainer. Local advertising gigs were helping build the bank account, fans were happy to meet with him, and there was that list, you know? 78 wins. Callum Maybury has won eleven or more games each of the last five seasons. Eleven more in 2043 would lift him to a tie for 16th in that AAA list. Maybe eleven more the next would slot him in at #7. If he can still pitch at age 34 and the Downforce are still willing to let him take the hill, well, Maybury could well become one of the top three or four pitchers to even play in the Rupert Horn League.
“It’s not what I had in mind when I started,” he quipped. “But it seems to impress the hell out of Chrissy, and to be honest, if that’s all I ever manage to accomplish in my career, I’d say it worked out pretty well.”
