October 11, 1978: Game 2 of the World Series is played at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. It is a rematch of the previous year's Series, in which the New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Dodgers. This time, the Dodgers won Game 1, and were leading Game 2, 4-3 in the top of the 9th. But the Yankees mounted a rally, and with 1 out, Bucky Dent was on 2nd base, Paul Blair on 1st.
Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda brought rookie Bob Welch in to relieve Terry Forster, who had relieved Burt Hooton. He had the unenviable task of getting 2 outs before the Yankees scored, and the next 2 batters were Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson. Yikes.
Welch had debuted on June 20, and Lasorda was impressed enough to use him in both the rotation and the bullpen. By the time the regular season was over, the nearly 22-year-old righthander had made 13 starts and 10 relief appearances, going 7-4 with a sizzling 2.02 ERA.
He got Munson to fly to right. Jackson, who earned his Mr. October nickname the year before by hitting 5 home runs off the Dodgers in the previous year's Series, including 3 in the clinching Game 6 (off Hooton, Elias Sosa and Charlie Hough), fought him hard, running the count full and fouling pitches off. Finally, on the 9th pitch of the at-bat, Reggie saw the runners break, and claiming to be distracted by it, swung and missed.
The Dodgers had a 2-games-to-none lead, and Bob Welch was a national hero to Yankee-haters.
If this had been a movie, the Dodgers would have gone on to win the World Series, and Welch would have become one of the greatest pitchers of his generation.
It wasn't a movie. The Yankees took the next 4 games. Once again, Reggie homered in a Game 6 to clinch, this time in L.A. -- off Welch, who was pitching in relief of Don Sutton. The Yankees won, 7-2.
Yankee Haters love to talk about what Welch did to Jackson in Game 2. They do not like to talk about what Jackson did to Welch in Game 6.
If you were taking over the script from here, you might have Welch so unsettled by this experience that he squanders his great chance at stardom, turning to alcohol and ruining his career and his life, before turning it around.
That's what happened: In 1979, he had a bad year on the mound, and a worse year off it. He claimed to have had alcohol-induced blackouts, and challenged opposing players to fights. After being confronted by his teammates and club officials, he spent 36 days at a treatment facility in Arizona.
Lasorda showed enough confidence in him and his recovery to move him into the starting rotation full-time in 1980. He rebounded to make the All-Star Game, playing it in his home park, Dodger Stadium. In 1981, he helped the Dodgers get back to the World Series; although he didn't pitch especially well in it, they finally beat the Yankees.
Shortly thereafter, he became perhaps the first prominent athlete to publish a memoir about substance abuse issues while still playing: Five O'Clock Comes Early, with New York Times sports columnist George Vescey. Even now, few athletes have written such a book while still playing. Another who did is Tony Adams, longtime Captain of London soccer team Arsenal, who published Addicted in 1998.
Welch won 16 games in 1982, 15 in '83 (an NL West-winning year for the Dodgers), went 14-4 in '85 (another Division title) and 15-9 with a League-leading 4 shutouts in '87. At age 32, he was, statistically speaking, having a pretty good career.
And yet, the Dodgers traded him. It was an awkward 3-team deal. Welch and Matt Young went to the Oakland Athletics. Jack Savage went to the Mets. The A's sent Alfredo Griffin and Jay Howell to the Dodgers, and Kevin Tapani and Wally Whitehurst to the Mets. The Mets traded away just one player, Jesse Orosco, to the Dodgers, not 14 months after Orosco got the last out in the 1986 World Series (still the Mets' last).
As you might guess, this was not such a good trade for the Mets: They really could have used Orosco on the mound, instead of a tiring Dwight Gooden, in the 9th inning of Game 4 of the 1988 NL Championship Series. Instead, the Dodgers, NL West Champs for the 7th time in 15 years, won on Mike Scioscia's home run, and won the Pennant. Griffin and Howell were big reasons why, so it was a good trade for the Dodgers.
It was a good trade for the A's, too, as Welch and Young solidified a pitching staff with Dave Stewart as the ace. The A's won 104 games and swept the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series, taking their first Pennant in 14 years.
Welch was in his 3rd World Series, and were heavily favored to beat the Dodgers, who had one of the weakest-hitting teams ever to reach the Series, especially since their best hitter, Kirk Gibson, was hurt. But Gibson, in his only at-bat of the Series, took Dennis Eckersley deep to win Game 1, and the Dodgers won in 5 games.
The A's were not fazed by this, and won the whole thing in 1989, with Welch and Eckersley -- both recovering alcoholics who had big years with other teams in 1978 -- helping lead the way. As in 1988, Welch won 17. They won another Pennant in 1990, and Welch went 27-6 -- the most wins in a season since Steve Carlton won 27 in 1972. No other pitcher has even won 25 in a season since. He received the AL's Cy Young Award. But the A's got swept in the World Series by the Cincinnati Reds.
Perhaps the big season took a lot out of Welch: At 34, he went into decline. In 1994, having gone just 3-6 before the strike hit, he decided not to come back when it ended, and retired, shortly before turning 38.
His career record was 211-146, for a .591 winning percentage. He's not in the Hall of Fame, and never will be, but that .591 WP is higher than those of Hall-of-Fame starting pitchers Bob Gibson, Dazzy Vance, Hal Newhouser, Catfish Hunter, Rube Waddell, Steve Carlton, Jesse Haines, Waite Hoyt, Burleigh Grimes, Don Drysdale, Don Sutton, Fergie Jenkins, Early Wynn, Jim Bunning, Vic Willis, Robin Roberts, Phil Niekro, Bert Blyleven, Nolan Ryan, Jack Morris and John Smoltz.
In 2014, Welch died from an accidental fall at his home in Seal Beach, California. He was 57 years old.
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October 11, 1978 was a Wednesday. Football was in midweek. The NBA and World Hockey Association seasons opened 2 days later. The NHL season opened that night, with these 6 games:
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Minnesota North Stars, 5-2 at the Montreal Forum.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-4 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
* The Atlanta Flames and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a tie, 4-4 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Colorado Rockies, 8-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Denver.
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