Background
He was born in Cambria Heights, Queens, New York, and graduated from Saint Pascal"s High School in neighboring Saint Alban"son
He was born in Cambria Heights, Queens, New York, and graduated from Saint Pascal"s High School in neighboring Saint Alban"son
He stood 6 feet 2 inches (188 m) tall, weighed 195 pounds (88 kg) and attended Saint Leo University.
In his 14 appearances, he threw three shutouts. On Wednesday, August 26, he made his Major League debut as a starting pitcher against the Padres at San Diego Stadium. The first-place Pirates were embroiled in a three-team race with the Chicago Cubs and Cambria"s boyhood team, the New York Mets, for the National League East Division championship.
But Cambria responded, pitching six scoreless innings before allowing two runs, only one earned, on a home run by San Diego"s Editor Spiezio in the seventh frame.
The runs were decisive, as the Pirates lost the contest, 2–1. He followed his debut effort with seven innings of one-run baseball against the San Francisco Giants, although he did not earn a decision in that game.
A rough outing against the Saint Louis Cardinals followed on September 9, pinning Cambria with his second career defeat. But eleven days later, Cambria faced his hometown Mets in his home borough, as the starting pitcher in the second game of a doubleheader at Shea Stadium.
But Cambria outpitched Seaver, allowing only two earned runs in 51⁄3 innings.
Cambria did not appear in the 1970 NLCS, which the Pirates dropped in three straight games to the Cincinnati Reds. The 1970 campaign proved to be Cambria"s one trial in Major League Baseball. An arm injury forced him to alter his delivery and he left baseball after the 1973 minor league season.
He graduated from Saint Leo"s, and later became its baseball coach and also was a minor league instructor in the Padres" organization.
He also served as commissioner of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League.