Raymond Michael Sadecki (December 26, 1940 – November 17, 2014) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher.

He is best remembered as the left-handed complement to Bob Gibson, who in 1964, won 20 games to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to their first World Series title in eighteen years.

After six appearances with the Rochester Red Wings in 1960, in which he compiled a 1.76 ERA, Sadecki received a call up to the majors at just nineteen years old.

He allowed five runs (2 earned), while lasting just 22⁄3 innings in his major league debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates to take the loss.

[5] Splitting his time between starts & relieving, he posted a 9–9 record, 3.78 ERA & 95 strikeouts over 1571⁄3 innings pitched to earn Cardinal Rookie of the Year honors.

He became a full-time starting pitcher in 1961, and led his team with 222.2 innings pitched & fourteen wins (tied with Larry Jackson).

After a contract holdout that had Sadecki enter Spring training late, he began the season in the bullpen, and earned his first career save against the expansion New York Mets on April 18.

[7] He won his next start against the Reds, even though it wasn't an especially impressive performance (8 hits, 3 walks, 4 earned runs in 8+ innings.

[9] A similarly poor performance against the Reds on June 5[10] placed Sadecki square in the crosshairs of manager Johnny Keane.

He pitched well over the rest of June (3-1 record, all 3 wins were complete games), but the wheels came off in July (1-4, 6.94 ERA), and Sadecki was optioned to the International League's Atlanta Crackers for the remainder of the season.

Prior to Ernie Broglio being included in the trade that brought Lou Brock to the Cardinals,[12] the Cubs inquired about Sadecki, but were turned down by the Cards.

Sadecki posted a 20–11 record and, along with Bob Gibson & Curt Simmons, helped pitch the Cardinals to their first pennant since 1946, with the Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds finishing tied for second, one game behind the Redbirds.

However, the Cardinals lost the first two games of the series, first with Al Jackson outdueling Gibson 1–0[17] (that same day, the Phillies spotted the Reds a 3–0 lead, then scored four runs in the eighth inning to win 4–3 and finally snap their 10-game losing streak[18]), then Sadecki getting battered in one inning, giving up five runs in a 15–5 loss.

After ending the season at 5–8 with a 4.23 ERA, he was dealt from the Giants to the New York Mets for Bob Heise and Jim Gosger on December 12, 1969.

[35] Despite joining an organization that had reigning Cy Young Award winner Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry & Nolan Ryan, Sadecki made twelve starts for the Mets by the All-Star break in 1970, and was 7–3 with a 3.38 ERA.

His role seemed to diminish further in 1973; all fourteen relief appearances to start the season came in losses in which the Mets were already down by a substantial number of runs.

He stepped into Jim McAndrew's spot in the rotation for the second half of the season with moderate success (4-4, 4.16 ERA), but it was when he returned to the bullpen in September that Sadecki made his mark with Mets fans.

When the Mets faced the Pirates in five crucial games that would determine the National League East, Sadecki made three appearances, in which he did not allow a run in eight innings pitched.

Though he did not allow an earned run, in his third appearance he failed to convert a save against the New York Yankees, which led to a loss.

Sadecki was the only pitcher to surrender more than one home run to Bob Uecker, who hit just 14 over his six-year career before becoming a Ford C. Frick Award-winning broadcaster.