valedictory address because of his stutter. Several colleges recruited John as a basketball player, including the University of Kentucky, but John also caught the eye of Cleveland Indians' scout Johnny Schulte, who worried that John needed more of a fastball to succeed but considered his curveball already a major league pitch. John picked baseball and signed with the Indians after graduating, getting assigned to the Dubuque Packers of the Class D Midwest League. Playing career Minor leagues (1961–1963) John had a 10–4 record in 1961 but had some trouble with the Charleston Indians of the Class A Eastern League in 1962. "I was rearing back on every pitch and firing with all my strength at the strike zone," he said. "As a result I kept getting behind in the ball-and-strike count, often running it to three balls and no strikes, so I just had to put my fastball right over the plate and get it creamed." This led to a lot of walks, but player-coach Steve Jankowski worked with him, suggesting that John throw less hard so that he would have more control. The alterations helped John get called up to the Class AAA Jacksonville Suns of the International League during the year, and John won two games for them with the playoffs. He started 1963 with Jacksonville, got sent down to Charleston, went 9–2 with a 1.61 ERA for the West Virginian Indians, and got called up to the major leagues in September at the age of twenty. Cleveland Indians (1963–1964) On September 6, 1963, John started what would become a 26-year major league career, allowing one unearned run in one inning of a 7–2 loss to the Washington Senators. Used at first as a reliever, he finished the year with three starts. Though his record was 0–2, his earned run average (ERA) was 2.21. Cleveland manager Birdie Tebbetts called his fastball "deceptive." In his first start of 1964, on May 3, John threw a shutout against the Baltimore Orioles for his first major league win in the second game of a doubleheader. He won two of his first three games but then lost eight decisions in a row and got sent to AAA (now the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League) in July. Indians' pitching coach Early Wynn had been trying to get John to throw a slider, but John altered his grip, affecting his control. He