Vissarion Grigorievich Belinskii (Виссарио́н Григо́рьевич Бели́нский) (1811 - 1848) was Russian writer, literary critic, philosopher and revolutionary activist (a Westernizer). Belinskii believed that the only realm of freedom in the repressive reign of Nicholas I was through the written word; when the Westernizers' satirical ideal Gogol commenced to pay hommage to the autocrat and the state, Belinsky wrote the confrontational letter, "Letter to Gogol," in response to Gogol's conservatism.
It was Belinsky's fourth consecutive win to start his rookie season; he would be 5-0, then 7-1, before finishing the season with a 10-11 won-lost record, a 3.56 earned run average, and the league lead in walks (122), the only time Belinsky ever led his league in any pitching category.
Belinsky became a kind of protege to fading but still influential and show business-connected newspaper columnist Walter Winchell; he was linked romantically, at one time or another, to such beauties as Ann-Margret, Connie Stevens, Tina Louise and Mamie Van Doren, the latter his fiancee for a year.
Belinsky fell to 1-7 in 1963 and earned a farming out to the Angels' minor league team in Hawaii, where he pitched his way back and finished the year with a 2-9 major league record.
Belinsky was 28-51 with 476 strikeouts and an ERA of 4.10 in an eight-year career that included stints with the Angels, Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds.
Belinsky was born in New York in 1936 and began hanging out in New Jersey pool halls at the age of 14.
Belinsky had a live, riding fastball, as well as a knee-buckling curve and a screwball.
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