Forgotten Pitchers of the 1980s

The Studs: Dave Stieb and Bob Welch

The 1980s are widely regarded as a decade void of pitching stars, especially among starters. It is often pointed out that 20 Cy Young Awards handed out from 1980-89 were awarded to 17 different pitchers, with only Steve Carlton, Roger Clemens and Orel Hershiser earning multiple trophies. The 80s also saw several players, such as Dwight Gooden and Fernando Valenzuela, who failed to live up to perhaps unreasonably high expectations (despite combining for 367 career wins). Still, it would be unfair to dismiss the entire era, especially in the context of Hall of Fame voting. This series of articles will examine several pitchers who are most often and most undeservedly glossed over. It will not include names like Clemens, Hershiser, Saberhagen, Morris and Blyleven, all of whom are comparatively well-remembered for various reasons. Instead, I’ll try to dust off some names that have been pushed farther back into baseball fans’ minds. Two obvious choices are Dave Stieb and Bob Welch, the 2 ^nd and 3 ^rd winningest pitchers of the decade.

Dave Stieb was born in 1957 in Santa Ana, CA. He played college ball at Southern Illinois, but was chiefly an outfielder, batting .394 and being named an All-American. He only pitched 18 innings his senior season, but scouts from the Toronto Blue Jays were present for two of them, and on the strength of that brief appearance they convinced their team to draft him as a pitcher in the 5 ^th round. Even in his first season at A-level Dunedin, Stieb played the outfield on his non-pitching days, but his struggles at the plate, combined with his success on the mound, helped persuade him to make a full-time transition. He progressed quickly and made his big-league debut on June 29, 1979, at the age of 21; a 1983 Sports Illustrated article points out that was pitching in the major leagues after having thrown just 216 innings in high school, college and the minor leagues combined . He went on to start 18 games for the Jays, winning 8 and losing 8 more. His manager that year was Bobby Mattick, the former Blue Jays scouting director who had first seen him pitch at Southern Illinois.

From 1980-84, Stieb was part of a good young pitching staff on a bad, but improving, Toronto team. During that span, he averaged 280 IP, a 1.182 WHIP and a 134 ERA+; the latter was the best mark in the major leagues over that stretch. His win-loss record, however, failed to reflect his success, as the Blue Jays floundered at the bottom of the division for the early part of the decade. In 1985, under Bobby Cox, Toronto was able to capture its first division title, thanks in no small part to Stieb’s pitching. Although his record was just 14-13, he tossed 8 complete games in 36 starts and recorded an ERA of 2.48, good for lowest in the AL.

Stieb had a down year in 1986, but the Blue Jays stayed competitive and he, along with Jimmy Key, provided many strong innings at the top of the rotation. He finished the decade with 140 wins, second-highest in baseball behind Jack Morris’ 162. He also came in second to Morris in IP and starts, and tied with Fernando Valenzuela for the lead with 27 shutouts. Perhaps more importantly, Stieb had played a key role in transforming the Blue Jays from expansion team to contender, and was rewarded with a World Series ring in 1992.

As he matured, he had learned to control his frequent outbursts on the mound, directed at umpires, opponents and teammates alike; as he said in 1983, his age 25 season, “I realize now I could’ve had my butt kicked for the stuff I used to do.” More to the point, he added an excellent curveball and changeup to his original two-pitch repertoire of fastball-slider. This enabled him to rely less on the slider and use it as an out pitch, turning him into more of a strikeout pitcher; in 1983 and 1984, his first seasons with the expanded arsenal, he racked up 187 and 198 strikeouts, compared to 141 in 1982. He was also recognized as an outstanding defender; his career fielding percentage (.972%) and RF/9 (2.38) are well above the league averages of .956% and 1.83. In late 1988 and early 1989, he had one of the most astounding stretches of success in the history of the game, pitching three one-hitters in four starts. He finally got a no-hitter against Cleveland in 1990 after having thrown five career one-hitters, including three that he lost with two outs in the 9 ^th inning. Stieb played in 7 All-Star games, starting two of them, yet received only 7 votes in his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility, 2004.

After Stieb and Morris, the winningest pitcher of the 1980s was Bob Welch, who recorded 137 victories in the decade. Welch was not considered a dominant pitcher, never leading the N.L. in either ERA or strikeouts. The only time he ever won 20 games was in 1990, his Cy Young season with the Athletics, when he won 27. As a result, even more so than Stieb, Welch is often overlooked, while the attention he does receive stems largely from two things.

First, in 1978, his rookie season with the Dodgers, Welch struck out Reggie Jackson with two on and two out in the 9 ^th inning in the second game of the World Series, saving 4-3 victory for L.A. He also appeared at the end of game 4 and lost it, giving up hits to Jackson and Lou Piniella in the bottom of the 10 ^th . The Dodgers went on to fall to the Yankees in the series, but young Bob Welch found himself at center-stage. As he later remarked, “I’m glad it was Reggie Jackson I struck out. If it had been Bucky Dent, no one would remember me.”

Welch was unable to repeat his post-season success during the 1979 season, as he struggled with arm injuries. A further explanation came in the spring of 1980, when Welch revealed that he had a problem with alcoholism. With the Dodgers’ support, he checked himself into a rehabilitation clinic. Just 23 years old, Welch successfully kicked the bottle and joined Los Angeles’ starting rotation that season, winning 14 games, striking out 141 and earning a spot on the All-Star team. He published his story in 1982 in the book Five O’Clock Comes Early , and has since been an active anti-alcohol spokesman in baseball.

These two events have unfortunately obscured the sterling career that Welch put together in the following 15 seasons. From 1981-85, the Dodgers finished either first or second in the N.L. in team ERA, largely due to the contributions of Welch and Mexican sensation Fernando Valenzuela. In his 8 seasons as a starting pitcher with the Dodgers, Welch struck out 1162 batters while walking just 507. Only five other National League pitchers recorded 1000 strikeouts over that span, and none had as few walks.

On December 11, 1987, Welch saw his career take a rather significant turn, as he was dealt to Oakland as part of a three-team, eight-player swap. The Dodgers dealt Welch and Matt Young to the Athletics, and Jack Savage to the Mets, while receiving Jesse Orosco from the Mets and Jay Howell and Alfredo Griffin from the Athletics. Oakland also sent minor league pitchers Wally Whitehurst and Kevin Tapani to New York. For the Dodgers, the trade turned out quite well, as Orosco and Howell improved the bullpen tremendously. The Mets fared worse, as neither Savage nor Whitehurst ever developed as they’d hoped; Tapani was later sent to Minnesota along with Rick Aguilera and Dave West for Frank Viola. For Oakland, Young did not pan out, but Welch alone proved the trade to be a fair one for the team. In his first two seasons in the A.L., he posted a career-high 17 victories, and helped lead the 1989 team to the World Championship. 1990 was easily his best season, as he posted a record of 27-6 and a 2.95 ERA; since 1960, only Denny McLain has won more games in a single season. Incredibly, the 33-year-old Welch struck out only 127 men on the year, just 4.8 K/9. For his performance he was awarded with his second All-Star game selection and the Cy Young Award. The Athletics made it back to the World Series but were swept by the underdog Reds. Welch pitched four more seasons in Oakland before retiring in 1994. He received one Hall of Fame vote before falling off the ballot.

Like Dave Stieb, Bob Welch has been largely forgotten since his retirement. Unlike Stieb, though, Welch received very little attention even during his playing days. Following the 1983 season in which he’d won 15 games and finished 8 ^th in Cy Young voting, the right-hander admitted, “I can walk around Long Beach in my shorts and nobody notices me.” It is remarkable that in his 17-year career, Welch was named to only two All-Star games. His teammate Fernando Valenzuela, meanwhile, was named an All-Star six times in the 1980s, despite winning 9 fewer games over that span.

References: The Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, www.baseball-reference.com, www.baseballlibrary.com, www.baseballhalloffame.org.