San Antonio Brewers Players - Dennis Eckersley, Joe Azcue, Larry Andersen, Jim Kern, (Paperback)

Chapters: Dennis Eckersley, Joe Azcue, Larry Andersen, Jim Kern, . Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 23. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Dennis Lee "Eck" Eckersley (born October 3, 1954), is a former American Major League Baseball player who was born in Oakland, California. Eckersley had success as a starter, but gained his greatest fame as a closer, becoming the first of only two pitchers in Major League history to have both a 20-win season and a 50-save season in a career (the other being John Smoltz). He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004, his first year of eligibility. He is also noted as the pitcher who gave up a dramatic, walk-off home run (a phrase Eckersley coined after this home run) to the injured Kirk Gibson in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Eckersley was drafted by the Cleveland Indians out of Washington High School of Fremont, California, in the third round of the 1972 amateur draft, and made his Major League debut on April 12, 1975. He was the American League Rookie Pitcher of the Year in 1975, compiling a 13-7 record and 2.60 ERA. His unstyled, long hair, moustache, and live fastball made him an instant and identifiable fan favorite. Eckersley pitched reliably over three seasons with the Indians; he even threw the 200th no-hitter in history on May 30, 1977, against the California Angels. Eckersley was traded with Fred Kendall on March 30, 1978 to the Boston Red Sox for Rick Wise, Mike Paxton, Bo Diaz, and Ted Cox. In the book The Curse of Rocky Colavito, author Terry Pluto noted that the trade was necessitated by an awkward situation, namely that Eckersley's wife had left him for teammate Rick Manning. Over the next two seasons, Eckersley won a career-high 20 games in 1978 and 17 games in 1979, with a 2.99 ERA in each year. However, during the remainde...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=3925