Roberto’s father, Sandy Alomar, spent 15 years as a major-league infielder, and Roberto and his brother, also Sandy, spent most summers in major-league locker rooms. It was during these times that the brothers learned the intricacies of the game from the best players in the world – Nolan Ryan taught 4-year-old Roberto how to pitch while Ryan was a teammate of Sandy, Sr.’s on the Angels.1 Perhaps just as important, they also learned how to handle themselves like major-league ballplayers. The offseason brought with it the Puerto Rican Winter League (in which his father and three of his uncles all starred) and the annual Caribbean World Series.2 Roberto frequently made the trek to games with his father, sometimes completing his homework in the dugout.3

Roberto Alomar was born on February 5, 1968, in Ponce, on Puerto Rico’s south coast, to Santos (Sandy) and Maria (Velasquez) Alomar. He had an older brother, Santos Jr. (Sandy), and a sister, Sandia. They grew up in Salinas, 20 miles from Ponce. Roberto’s baseball ability and instincts were evident even as a boy. When he was 6 a scout reportedly saw him playing pepper and inquired of his father (presumably tongue in cheek) if he could sign him.4 By the age of 7, Roberto was selected as an all-star for the Salinas little league, but was declared ineligible when it was discovered that he was too young to play in the league.5 The time for Roberto to sign his first professional contract came soon enough. When he was 16 he signed with Caguas in the Puerto Rican Winter League, where he was managed by Felipe Alou.6 Alou later said that Roberto “was the best I had ever seen. He was a natural and definitely had the instincts that you just don’t teach.”7

On February 16, 1985, shortly after he turned 17, Roberto signed with the San Diego Padres – the same club for which his father was a coach and with which Sandy Jr. had signed two years earlier. While other teams (most notably Toronto) had expressed interest in the middle infielder and made higher offers than the approximately $50,000 Roberto received, Sandy Sr. had given his word to family friend and Padres scout Luis Rosa that Roberto would sign with the Padres.8

Unlike many newly signed minor leaguers, Roberto did not have to adjust to living on his own for the first time. He was assigned to the same team, Class-A Charleston in the South Atlantic League, for which his father was a coach and to which Sandy Jr. was also assigned. His mother also made the trip and the family lived together and provided a stable foundation as Roberto’s professional career began to flourish.9 Roberto hit .293 and stole 36 bases for Charleston, and his manager Jim Skaalen recalled that “He was tearing up the league against older college players.”10

Skaalen moved up along with Roberto the next season to Reno in the Class-A California League.11 His brother and father, however, did not. Sandy Jr. was ticketed for Double-A Wichita (Texas League) and Sandy Sr. was promoted to coach with the Padres. Roberto later recounted the challenges of his time in Reno: “In the minor leagues everything is different. I was making $700 a month. I had to pay for rent, utilities, food, clubhouse dues. All I had in the house I rented was a mattress on the floor, not even a table. I had no car and had to walk everywhere.”12

Skaalen, though, saw him maturing on and off the field: “He seemed more relaxed away from his dad and brother. He got stronger and seemed to be enjoying every day. He was far ahead of the rest of the talent at that level, and I began to see the good, solid major-league player he was going to become.”13 Whatever the challenges off the field, Alomar’s play certainly did not suffer. He led the league after 90 games with a .346 average and 123 hits, earning him a promotion to Double-A Wichita (and a reunion with Sandy Jr.).14 Sharing a one-bedroom apartment with his brother, Roberto continued his torrid pace and finished the season hitting .319 with 12 home runs and 43 stolen bases.15

Roberto’s minor-league success provided real hope going into the spring of 1988 that he could break camp with the Padres. His performance did nothing to dampen that enthusiasm, as he hit .360 and put together a 10-game hitting streak.16 Padres manager Larry Bowa noted that “this kid is a finished product. All he has to do is go out there and play. He has all the tools; just turn him loose.”17 The Padres, though, had been burned each of the prior two seasons when they tried to promote second basemen (Bip Roberts and Joey Cora) from Double A to the big leagues, and Bowa was directed to give Roberto the bad news that his season would begin at Triple-A Las Vegas, not San Diego.18 The 20-year-old Roberto took the news hard, tearfully retreating to the training room, where he was consoled by his father along with several teammates.

For his part, Bowa had no explanation for the sentence he was ordered to deliver: “I told him he did everything I asked,” said Bowa. “I just told him to keep his head up, that it’s a long season. The chances of Robbie coming to the big leagues in 1988 are pretty good.”19 They were pretty good indeed, as Roberto made quick work of the Pacific Coast League and was leading the league with 14 runs batted in when he was called up to San Diego 2½ weeks into the season.20

On April 22, 1988, Roberto stepped into the batter’s box as a major leaguer for the first time. On the mound was none other than Nolan Ryan – the same Nolan Ryan who had helped teach him to pitch as a toddler. Unfazed, he beat out an infield single in his first major league at-bat.21 Roberto finished the season with 145 hits, a .266 batting average, and 24 stolen bases, finishing fifth in the National League Rookie of the Year voting. He was even stronger the next season, his first full year in the big leagues, batting .295 with 42 stolen bases in 158 games.

Continuing his ascent onto the national radar, Roberto was selected for his first All-Star Game in 1990. What made the honor even more special was that Sandy Jr. (who had been traded to Cleveland), was also selected. The two became the first pair of brothers to be selected for an All-Star Game since Jim and Gaylord Perry in 1970.22 Sandy Sr. reflected on the accomplishments of his two sons: “People have to realize I’m very proud of my kids for the way they act as persons. And they have talent and know how to display that talent.”23

While it appeared that Roberto had established himself as a core piece of the Padres’ future, the Padres had other ideas. After the 1990 season the Padres and Blue Jays struck a blockbuster deal that sent Alomar and outfielder Joe Carter to Toronto in exchange for Fred McGriff and Gold Glove shortstop Tony Fernandez.24 Along with Alomar and Carter, Blue Jays general manager Pat Gillick had also added center fielder Devon White days earlier as Toronto worked to position itself in the competitive American League East.25 Padres’ general manager Joe McIlvaine said, “We just felt it was something we wanted to give a shot to. It was kind of a gutsy trade on both ends.”26 Roberto was shocked: “I didn’t expect it; I didn’t understand it,” he later recalled.27

Surprised or not, Roberto joined a collection of talented players in Toronto and paid immediate dividends north of the border, putting together an early six-game hitting streak as the Blue Jays streaked to the top of the American League East.28 In May, however, Roberto once again ran into the task of facing Nolan Ryan – now pitching for the Texas Rangers. With two outs in the top of the ninth, the 44-year-old Ryan was one out away from his seventh no-hitter when Roberto strode to the plate. As the Fort Worth Star Telegram put it 25 years later, “[T]he kid he’d once coached stood between Ryan and history.”29 Ryan had the last laugh; he struck out Alomar on a 2-and-2 fastball to end the game.30

Later in the season, Roberto was once again elected to the All-Star Game, this time as an American League teammate of Sandy Jr. The long ovation he received from the Toronto crowd served as confirmation of how the city had taken to him: “When I was introduced they gave me such a long, loud ovation, I never expected it,” Roberto said.31

As the season wore on, Alomar kept hitting and the Blue Jays kept winning, clinching the American League East. In his first postseason, Alomar’s.474 batting average could not keep Toronto from being eliminated in five games by the Minnesota Twins. Alomar won his first Gold Glove, and it was clear that the Blue Jays were set to contend in the years to come. The offseason brought with it new riches as well: a three-year, $14 million contract that was the highest at the time on three fronts – for a second baseman, for a player 24 or younger, and for a player with four years or less in the major leagues.32 The average annual value of $4,666,667 made Alomar the ninth-highest paid player in the game.33

Bolstered by the acquisition of Dave Winfield in the offseason and David Cone in August, the Blue Jays again clinched the American League East in 1992. At midseason Alomar returned to San Diego for the first time since being traded and participated in the All-Star Game – once again with Sandy Jr. as a teammate.34

Alomar was named the most valuable player in the ALCS, with the most memorable moment being his game-tying two run home run off A’s closer Dennis Eckersley in the ninth inning of Game Four. He relished the opportunity to be part of the first Blue Jays team to reach the World Series: “I wasn’t here when they didn’t win in the past. … I just want to be here in the present when we win the big one, so we won’t have to hear anymore about the past.35 Alomar continued his clutch hitting and superb defense in the World Series, and helped the Blue Jays defeat Atlanta for their first championship. Alomar’s contributions led Dave Winfield to comment that “You’re one of the best players I’ve ever seen.”36 Manager Cito Gaston agreed: “I could talk about Robbie for an hour,” he said.37

After a slow start in 1993, the Blue Jays took off yet again and Alomar had career highs in numerous categories, including 55 stolen bases and 17 home runs. In the ALCS against the Chicago White Sox, he stole four bases as the Blue Jays won, four games to two. In the World Series, against the Philadelphia Phillies, Alomar hit .480 and drove in six runs as the Blue Jays, on Joe Carter’s game-winning home run in Game Six, won the World Series for the second year in a row.38

With two World Series titles in his back pocket, it was hard to imagine things ever going wrong for Alomar in Toronto. But go wrong they did. After a strike-shortened 1994 season, the Blue Jays began to take a step back in 1995 and look toward the future. This included trading veteran David Cone in July – a move that Alomar protested by sitting out the next game.39 Alomar was also removed from a game in early July when a fan, Tricia Miller, walked into the Skydome hotel where he lived and told employees that she planned to kill him.40 Alomar said, “I wasn’t shaken by it. I never knew that person. I never really knew what was happening. Cito told me in the dugout. They took me out of the game, but they had caught her by then, so I don’t know why.”41

By the end of the season, with rumors swirling about his future, Alomar was unhappy with what he felt was unfair treatment by the Toronto front office and local media:

“I never said that I want to be traded. … They made it sound like I said, ‘Trade me now, I want out of here.’ And the fans believed what they read in the papers. When I stood out on the field in Toronto and heard them booing me, I knew they didn’t understand or know what the truth was. I hadn’t said anything like what the writers wrote. But I could do nothing about it, and I learned how the media is.”42

With no offer from the Blue Jays, Alomar was ready to hit free agency: “If [the Blue Jays] had offered me something before the All-Star break, then maybe I would’ve thought about it and gone for it. Now you’re in the last week of the season. … Now maybe it’s time for me to try the market.”43

At 27 years old and already a six-time All-Star, Alomar inked a three-year, $18 million contract with the Baltimore Orioles in December 1995.44 He was thrilled to team up with fellow All-Star Cal Ripken Jr.: “I never expected to play alongside one of the legends of baseball. … It’s going to be like a dream come true for me.”45

Alomar carried his winter-ball success (he led the league in hitting) over to Baltimore, going on a tear to begin the season, hitting .410 in the beginning part of June.46 Former teammate Tony Gwynn heaped praise on the player Alomar had become, saying, “He has the ability to hit a home run, or work the count and hit a double down the opposite line and do whatever he wants to do. He’s probably the best all-around player in the game.”47 Alomar went on to make his seventh consecutive All-Star Game, collect his sixth consecutive Gold Glove and set numerous career highs as the Orioles clinched the American League wild-card playoff spot.48

Perhaps the most memorable moment of the season, however, occurred during a late-September game in Toronto. After being called out on strikes in the top of the first, Alomar argued with home-plate umpire John Hirschbeck on his way back to the dugout. When Hirschbeck threw him out of the game, Alomar returned to the field. During the course of the argument, Alomar took offense to being called a derogatory name, and spit in Hirschbeck’s face.49

Alomar apologized and donated $50,000 toward research into Lou Gehrig’s disease, which Hirschbeck’s son had.50 This did nothing to prevent his being relentlessly booed for the remainder of the season and the playoffs, or from receiving a five-game suspension to be served at the start of the 1997 season.51

Alomar delivered a game-tying two-out single in the deciding Game Four of the Division Series against Cleveland, and then hit the game-winning home run in the 12th inning.52 Brother and Indians catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. said, “He’s my brother and with all the things that happened with this incident, I felt kind of sorry for him.”53 Roberto was ready to turn the page on the incident: “I’ve been going through a tough time. … Human beings make mistakes. I apologized to the umpire, his family, and all of baseball. It’s time to move on.”54 The Orioles did move on to the ALCS, but were eliminated in five games by the New York Yankees on their way to the World Series title.

The fact that Alomar was even allowed to play in the playoffs did not sit well with many, including major-league umpires. When it was announced that his suspension would be delayed until the next season, the umpires voted to not work the playoffs unless the suspension was changed to apply to the first round.55 The boycott was abandoned, however, when an agreement was worked out in a Philadelphia federal court.56

After he served his five-game suspension to start the 1997 season, Alomar helped the Orioles to 98 wins and the American League East crown. He also took the first step toward putting the spitting incident behind him, publicly shaking hands with Hirschbeck near first base in April before the first Orioles game Hirschbeck called since the incident.57 Several nagging injuries pestered Alomar throughout the season, including a nagging groin injury in late July that made him miss close to a month of playing time. Alomar said the injury “made me grow up. I now knew what it was like to be hurt and what you had to do to come back.”58 After defeating the Mariners in the Division Series, the Orioles came up short of the World Series yet again, this time losing to Sandy and the Cleveland Indians in six games.

The Orioles were nowhere near contention in 1998. The season was not without its highlights though, as Roberto collected three hits (one of them a home run) and the All-Star Game MVP award in Denver, making the Alomar brothers back-to-back winners of the award since Sandy had won the year before. As his three-year contract with the Orioles came to a close, Roberto once again found himself on the free-agent market.

It did not take long for Roberto to find a new home. He signed a four-year contract with the Indians, reuniting with Sandy.59 “It means a lot to be beside my brother, not only to me but to my family,” Roberto said.60 Indians general manager John Hart stated the obvious: “We are elated to have the Alomar brothers in the Indians family.”61 In addition to Sandy, the move to Cleveland also allowed Roberto to team with shortstop Omar Vizquel, who along with Roberto had also won six Gold Gloves. “It would be worth the price of a ticket just to watch Omar and Robbie turn a double play,” said Hart.62

Free from the injuries that plagued him in 1998, Alomar made an immediate impact on the Indians. “Robbie is one of the few players in the game that can make everybody around him better,” Indians manager Mike Hargrove said.63 The Indians had compiled an enviable offense that exploded out of the gates, and Alomar ended the year with what proved to be a career high 24 home runs. He finished third in the MVP voting (the highest he would ever finish). His hot hitting continued in the playoffs; he went 5-for-8 while the Indians surged to a 2-0 series lead over the Red Sox in the ALDS.64 The Tribe would not win again, however, and fell in five games.65

Although things did not turn out as hoped in October, a late-season meeting helped Alomar to finally turn the page on the spitting incident, which had continued to follow him through the jeers of fans around the country. On September 5, during a rain delay at Camden Yards, John Hirschbeck and family came knocking on the visitor’s clubhouse door, asking for Roberto. Hirschbeck’s 13-year-old son was a fan, and wanted to meet Roberto. The moment together allowed both families to heal. “I don’t see why he should be booed,” Hirschbeck said afterward. “If he and I can forgive and forget, why not everyone else?”66

The next two seasons also ended in disappointment for the Indians. In 2000 they missed the playoffs altogether despite winning 90 games. They charged back to the playoffs in 2001, but fell in five games in the ALDS to the Seattle Mariners. Alomar won Gold Gloves and was an All-Star in both seasons, and stole a combined 69 bases. He still looked to be in his prime with one year left on his contract. But another change of scenery was in store.

On December 11, 2001, the Indians traded Alomar, pitcher Mike Bacsik, and first baseman Danny Peoples to the New York Mets in exchange for outfielders Matt Lawton and Alex Escobar, relief pitcher Jerrod Riggan, and two players to be named later.67 While the move was designed to clear payroll and acquire younger talent, Indians general manager Mark Shapiro knew that the deal would not sit well with all fans. “I think I’ll need a flak jacket when I get off the plane [from the winter meetings], probably,” he said.68 Alomar said he was “kind of disappointed … I was real happy in Cleveland and thought I did a great job.”69 Mets General Manager Steve Phillips was elated: “We sit up in that room and all we do is dream all day about different scenarios,” he said, adding that “I have to admit that I thought this was a long shot.”70

But what had seemed like a dream scenario for Phillips at the Winter Meetings would soon turn into a nightmare. The Mets came nowhere near meeting expectations, finishing in last place in the National League East, 26½ games out of first place. Alomar also began to show the first sign of decline, hitting .266 and snapping his 12-year streak of appearances in the All-Star Game. The 2003 season began much the same way, with Alomar hitting.262 on July 1 when the Mets shipped him to the White Sox for three prospects.71

All told, Alomar played only 222 games for the Mets, and for his part understood that he did not perform at the high level that the Mets, and he himself, had expected. “Sometimes, you put too much pressure on yourself in New York, and maybe I did that,” he said.72 Along with providing a change of scenery, joining the White Sox allowed him to reunite again with Sandy.73 But Roberto hit only .253 down the stretch and the White Sox finished in second place in the American League Central, missing the playoffs.

A free agent once again, Alomar signed a one-year deal in the offseason with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the hopes of rejuvenating his career. “If I can get in good shape, I think I can play the way I used to play,” he said.74 Despite missing 56 games with a broken right hand suffered when he was hit by a pitch in late April, he did indeed experience a resurgence of sorts in his limited time on the field with Arizona, carrying a .309 batting average into early August.75 With the Diamondbacks hopelessly out of contention, Alomar was once again an attractive commodity for teams looking to add a veteran presence for the stretch run. So it was that the White Sox acquired him for the second consecutive season. Alomar struggled mightily in sporadic action, though, batting only .180 in 65 plate appearances as the White Sox once again missed the playoffs.

After multiple seasons of declining performance, Alomar made one last run at extending his career, this time with Tampa Bay, signing a one-year, $600,000 contract in January.76 When he committed multiple errors in one inning of a spring training game, however, he decided it was time to walk away. “I played a lot of games and I said I would never embarrass myself on the field,” he said, adding, “I had a long career, but I can’t play at the level I want to play, so it’s time to retire. I just can’t go anymore. My back, legs and eyes aren’t the same.”77 Alomar concluded his 17-year career with a .300 batting average, 2,724 hits, 210 home runs, and 474 stolen bases to go along with 12 All-Star Game selections and 10 Gold Glove awards.

There was no question that Cooperstown would be the final stop of Alomar’s career. With some Hall voters still holding the Hirschbeck incident against him, though, he came up eight votes short of admission in his first year of eligibility, in 2010. “I feel disappointed, but next year hopefully I make it in,” he said, adding that “at least I was close.”78 Some sportswriters were not as gracious in their assessment of the snub. The Chicago Tribune’s Phil Rogers wrote, “If anybody didn’t vote for Robbie because of the spitting incident, then shame on them.”79

Whatever the concerns some Hall voters had in Alomar’s first year of eligibility, resistance to his election was all but nonexistent the next year. He was named on 90 percent of the ballots, far over the 75 percent needed for induction into the Hall of Fame.80 Even Alomar was surprised by the drastic increase in support from the previous year. “I didn’t expect to get that many votes,” he said.81

Alomar, who went into the Hall wearing a Blue Jays cap, opened his induction speech in Spanish and spoke fondly of his father’s and brother’s impact on his life and career.82 Sandy Jr. recounted the brothers’ year-long wager as teammates/roommates for Class-A Charleston: “We said whoever had the best game, would get the bed. I slept on the couch the whole year.”83 He added, “We didn’t win a championship together but we won this together. And this is a big one. In my heart, you are a Hall of Famer.”84

Statistics aside, it is the way Alomar’s former teammates describe him that truly tells the story of the player that he was. Toronto teammate Pat Hentgen, asked how he described Alomar to present-day players, said, “I tell them Robbie was a career .300 hitter, a clutch hitter, a guy who could hit for power, a great baserunner and basestealer … and (pause) his best asset of all was his glove.”85 The Orioles’ B.J. Surhoff perhaps best summed up Alomar’s baseball career: “Robbie could beat you with the bunt, with the extra base, with the homer. He could beat you with a stolen base. He could beat you by going from first to third, a baserunning move. He could beat you by making plays in the field. Robbie’s a baseball player. And a damn good one at that.”86

Alomar continued to be involved in baseball after his retirement. In January of 2016, he and his wife, Kim, launched Foundation 12, a Canadian charitable organization serving youth baseball players, though the organization does not appear to be currently active as of 2022. In 2021, Alomar was placed on the ineligible list by Major League Baseball following an investigation into a 2014 sexual assault allegation.87 Alomar stated that he was “disappointed, surprised, and upset” with the decision, and that he would “continue to spend my time helping kids pursue their baseball dreams.”88

Last revised: March 9, 2022

Notes

1 “25 Years Later, Nolan Ryan Remembers His Seventh No-Hitter,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 30, 2016, star-telegram.com/sports/mlb/texas-rangers/article74925477.html.

2 Norman L. Macht, Roberto Alomar (Childs, Maryland: Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc., 1999), 9-11.

3 Macht, 3.

4 Macht, 10.

5 “Like Father Like Son?: Padres Think Roberto Alomar Is a Bit More Than a Chip Off the Old Block,” Los Angeles Times, April 22, 1988, articles.latimes.com/1988-04-22/sports/sp-2096_1_roberto-alomar.

6 Macht, 15.

7 Macht, 15.

8 Macht, 16.

9 Macht, 16.

10 Macht, 17.

11 Macht, 18.

12 Macht, 18.

13 Macht, 19.

14 Macht, 19

15 Macht, 21.

16 “Padre Notebook: Few Except Feeney Appear Satisfied as Roberto Alomar Is Sent Down,” Los Angeles Times, March 26, 1988, articles.latimes.com/1988-03-26/sports/sp-354_1_roberto-alomar.

17 Macht, 23.

18 “Padre Notebook.”

19 “Padre Notebook.”

20 “Like Father Like Son?”

21 Macht, 25-26.

22 “Alomars an All-Star Family: Padres: Roberto Alomar, Along With Teammate Tony Gywnn, Is Named an NL Reserve. Brother Sandy Had Already Been Selected as The Starting AL Catcher for Tuesday’s Game,” Los Angeles Times, July 6, 1990, articles.latimes.com/1990-07-06/sports/sp-113_1_sandy-alomar-jr.

23 “Alomars an All-Star Family.”

24 “Blue Jays Land Carter, Alomar From Padres San Diego Gets Fernandez and McGriff in Deal,” Baltimore Sun, December 5, 1990, articles.baltimoresun.com/1990-12-06/sports/1990340005_1_blue-jays-fred-mcgriff-tony-fernandez.

25 “Blue Jays Land Carter, Alomar From Padres San Diego Gets Fernandez and McGriff in Deal.”

26 “Blue Jays Land Carter, Alomar From Padres San Diego Gets Fernandez and McGriff in Deal.”

27 Macht, 31.

28 “Padres Winning December Deal Looks Like Tie With Blue Jays in April,” Baltimore Sun, April 21, 1991, articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-04-21/sports/1991111135_1_blue-jays-roberto-alomar-deal.

29 “25 Years Later.”

30 “25 Years Later.”

31 Macht, 33.

32 “Cadaret and 8 Others Settle Contract,” New York Times, February 8, 1992, nytimes.com/1992/02/08/sports/baseball-cadaret-and-8-others-settle-contracts.html.

33 “Cadaret and 8 Others Settle Contract,”

34 Macht, 35.

35 “Blue Jays Eck Out a 7-6 Victory in 11: AL Game 4: Alomar’s Two-Run Homer Off Eckersley Ties It in Ninth as A’s Blow 6-1 Lead,” Los Angeles Times, October 12, 1992, articles.latimes.com/1992-10-12/sports/sp-138_1_blue-jays.

36 Macht, 37.

37 “Alomar’s MVP Play Points to New Star,” Baltimore Sun, October 15, 1992, articles.baltimoresun.com/1992-10-15/sports/1992289072_1_alomar-blue-jays-toronto.

38 Macht, 42.

39 Macht, 43-44.

40 “Orioles’ Multitalented Alomar Is Second to None,” Washington Post, March 31, 1996, washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1996/03/31/orioles-multitalented-alomar-is-second-to-none/b8cd697d-9630-464e-bcd9-84d6ba8db8cf/?utm_term=.9d34bd1c1107.

41 “Orioles’ Multitalented Alomar Is Second to None.”

42 Macht, 44.

43 “Jays’ Alomar in No Rush to Decide ’96 Destination He, Molitor Express Interest in Joining Ripken,” Baltimore Sun, September 27, 1995, articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-09-27/sports/1995270116_1_alomar-blue-jays-second-baseman.

44 “O’s Wave Money Wand Building Winner: Signing Six-Time All-Star Roberto Alomar Adds Exclamation Mark to New General Manager’s Swift Revamping of Orioles,” Baltimore Sun, December 22, 1995, articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-12-22/news/1995356066_1_gillick-orioles-roberto-alomar. New manager Davey Johnson was informed of the signing in the dentist’s chair when he answered a call from General Manager Pat Gillick who said, “Well, you’ve got yourself an All-Star second baseman.” Johnson claimed to not feel any pain for the remainder of the day. “Alomar finds O’s 2nd to none Six-time All-Star signs, three-year, $18 million deal,” Baltimore Sun, December 22, 1995, articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-12-22/sports/1995356093_1_roberto-alomar-cone-orioles.

45 Macht, 47.

46 Macht, 46, 51-52.

47 “Alomar Hitting His Prime at Plate,” Los Angeles Times, May 28, 1996, articles.latimes.com/1996-05-28/sports/sp-9201_1_alomar-hitting.

48 Macht, 51-52.

49 Macht, 52-53.

50 Macht, 54.

51 Macht, 54.

52 “Alomar Shows Some Spit and Polish,” Los Angeles Times, October 6, 1996, articles.latimes.com/1996-10-06/sports/sp-51279_1_sandy-alomar.

53 “Alomar Shows Some Spit and Polish.”

54 “Alomar Shows Some Spit and Polish.”

55 “Umpires Vote to Boycott Over Alomar,” New York Times, October 1, 1996, nytimes.com/1996/10/01/sports/umpires-vote-to-boycott-over-alomar.html.

56 “Umpires Abandon Boycott,” Los Angeles Times, October 2, 1996, articles.latimes.com/1996-10-02/sports/sp-49681_1_umpires-working-game.

57 Macht, 57.

58 Macht, 59.

59 Macht, 62.

60 “Cleveland Lures Roberto Alomar,” CBS News, November 23, 1998, cbsnews.com/news/cleveland-lures-roberto-alomar/.

61 “Cleveland Lures Roberto Alomar.”

62 “Cleveland Lures Roberto Alomar.”

63 “Alomar: Villain Turned Hero in Cleveland,” Los Angeles Times, June 27, 1999, articles.latimes.com/1999/jun/27/sports/sp-50609.

64 “Baines Goes Deep as Indians Move One Game From Sweep,” Baltimore Sun, October 8, 1999, articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-10-08/sports/9910080129_1_roberto-alomar-baines-cleveland.

65 “Red Sox Ace Out Indians,” Los Angeles Times, October 12, 1999, articles.latimes.com/1999/oct/12/sports/sp-22770/2.

66 “Score One for Friendship,” Baltimore Sun, October 27, 1999, articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-10-27/news/9910270108_1_roberto-alomar-john-hirschbeck-holy-water/3.

67 “Indians Trade Alomar to Mets,” Southeast Missourian (Cape Girardeau, Missouri), December 12, 2001, semissourian.com/story/54375.html.

68 “Indians Trade Alomar to Mets,” CBC Sports, December 11, 2001, cbc.ca/sports/baseball/indians-trade-alomar-to-mets-1.257404.

69 “Indians Trade Alomar to Mets,” CBC Sports.

70 “Indians trade Alomar to Mets,” Southeast Missourian, December 12, 2001, www.semissourian.com/story/54375.html.

71 “Mets Trade Roberto Alomar to White Sox,” New York Times, July 1, 2003, nytimes.com/2003/07/01/sports/baseball/mets-trade-roberto-alomar-to-white-sox.html.

72 “Mets Trade Roberto Alomar to White Sox.”

73 Sandy Alomar signed with Chicago prior to the 2003 season.

74 “Alomar Jr. Joins Diamondbacks, CBC Sports, January 7, 2004, cbc.ca/sports/baseball/alomar-jr-joins-diamondbacks-1.516620.

75 “Diamondbacks Trade Alomar to White Sox,” Orlando Sentinel, August 6, 2004, articles.orlandosentinel.com/2004-08-06/sports/0408060185_1_dominican-republic-clemens-white-sox.

76 “Notebook: Roberto Alomar: “It’s Time to Retire,” Seattle Times, March 20, 2005, seattletimes.com/sports/notebook-roberto-alomar-its-time-to-retire/.

77 “Notebook: Roberto Alomar: “It’s Time to Retire.”

78 “Hall Passes: Alomar 8 Short,” Baltimore Sun, January 7, 2010, articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-01-07/sports/1001060140_1_hall-s-veterans-committee-john-hirschbeck-roberto-alomar.

79 “Hall Passes: Alomar 8 Short.”

80 “Alomar, Blyleven Elected to Hall of Fame,” Baltimore Sun, January 5, 2011, articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-01-05/sports/bs-sp-hallofame-01-20110105_1_sandy-alomar-sr-pitcher-bert-blyleven-induction.

81 “Alomar, Blyleven Elected to Hall of Fame.”

82 “Alomar, Blyleven and Gillick Enter Baseball Hall of Fame,” USA Today, July 24, 2011, usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/hallfame/2011-07-24-hall-of-fame-alomar-blyleven_n.htm.

83 “Alomar, Blyleven and Gillick Enter Baseball Hall of Fame.”

84 “Alomar, Blyleven and Gillick Enter Baseball Hall of Fame.”

85 “Robbie Was Best of the Best,” Toronto Sun, July 16, 2011, torontosun.com/2011/07/16/robbie-was-best-of-the-best.

86 “Alomar Falls Just Short in First Bid for Hall of Fame,” Baltimore Sun, January 7, 2010, articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-01-07/sports/bal-sp.alomar07jan07_1_roberto-alomar-greatest-second-basemen-ballot/2.

87 Keegan Matheson, “MLB Puts Roberto Alomar on Ineligible List,” MLB.com, April 30, 2021. https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-puts-roberto-alomar-on-ineligible-list

88 “MLB puts Roberto Alomar on Ineligible List.”

At bat, Bailor choked up and held his hands slightly apart like Ty Cobb. He hit just nine home runs in 954 games, but his career average was .264 and he was a tough man to strike out, fanning in only five percent of his plate appearances in the majors. He liked to swing at the first pitch, though, so he also walked just six percent of the time. This and a suspect shoulder (not to mention the team’s tremendous depth) were among the reasons the Baltimore Orioles left him exposed in the 1976 expansion draft.2 The first original Blue Jay was a fan favorite in Toronto, managed in their minor-league system, and became first-base coach on the back-to-back World Series champions of 1992-93.

Robert Michael Bailor was born on July 10, 1951, in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. This small town is in Fayette County, amid the Appalachian Mountains, a little less than 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. At one time, in the early twentieth century, Connellsville boasted wealth from coal and coke, but after the boom ended it wasn’t easy to make ends meet there. In 1977 Canadian columnist Earl McRae wrote a vivid feature about Bailor and his roots. Bob’s father, Robert Joseph Bailor, made his living as an engineer for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, hauling coal, iron ore, and limestone. He was a third-generation railroad man whose grandfather had come from Poland; the family name was originally Bialkowski. McRae wrote, “It’s a fact and a proud one that most of the men in town, like Bob Bailor’s father, wear blue shirts and carry lunch pails. Most of their women, like Bob Bailor’s mother Agnes [née Bunch], wear aprons and carry pots and pans.” 3

Bob was one of six children. He had three younger brothers (James, William, and David) plus two sisters (Christine and Mary Beth).4

“There were plenty of opportunities to fish and hunt around Connellsville,” Bailor told Jim Kaplan of Sports Illustrated in 1978. “I started doing both when I was five. The legal hunting age is 12 in Pennsylvania, but I cut it a few years.”5 Yet he started playing baseball even earlier. As his father told Earl McRae, “When Bob was hardly able to walk, he wanted me to go out in the snow and play catch with him.”6

As one might expect, Bailor (whose childhood nickname was “Buzz”) was a Pittsburgh Pirates fan as a boy. His favorite player was Roberto Clemente. In August 1963, Connellsville won the Pennsylvania state Little League title. In the final game against Levittown, Bob scored the game’s only run.7 “After we won the state championship, we played in the Eastern Regionals in New York,” he said in 2010. “We went on a plane, and we saw a Pirate game at the Polo Grounds.” He recalled correctly that it was the last season for the old stadium, and that the home team was one of his future clubs, the Mets.8

Oddly enough, Bailor did not play high school baseball. In part because of the area’s chilly spring weather, Connellsville High did not have a team, and neither did the school he wound up attending, Geibel Catholic High, also in Connellsville. Like his father, Bob was short and wiry. Nonetheless, he played halfback on a town football team and was a good basketball player, too. At least as late as 2016 (the last public mention available), he still held Geibel’s school record for most points in a game (47).9

Tom Sankovich, who started the Connellsville High baseball program in 1971, said, “There was so much talent, probably the most talent that Connellsville had in baseball was between 1960 and 1970 and none of those kids played high school baseball because Connellsville didn’t field a high school team.” He added, “There was a great baseball tradition in Connellsville because of the American Legion team and Little League baseball. The Little League had a bunch of old-time guys coaching that had no kids playing and they coached the kids to play the right way. They were teaching them fundamentals and they had great discipline.”10

“The American Legion competition was real good,” said Bailor in 2010. “That was the only baseball going at that time in that area. A couple of years we went to the Legion state championship and got close, but could never get over the hump.”11 One of his teammates was Bob Galasso, who pitched in the majors in 1977, 1979, and 1981. Another was a slugging first baseman named Jim Braxton, who became best known as O.J. Simpson’s blocking back with the Buffalo Bills in the NFL.

After graduating, Bailor considered going to Gannon College in Erie, Pennsylvania, as a basketball player.12 He wound up enrolling in California State College – not any of the campuses in the Golden State’s system, but rather the school in California, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. One reason he went to college was to escape going to Vietnam, because he had a low draft number.13

In August 1969, however, the Baltimore Orioles signed Bailor as a free agent. “I think I probably only weighed 140 pounds back then,” he explained. “I never got drafted – there were a couple of other guys on our Legion team that got drafted. Herman Welsh was the Legion coach and he probably played a big role in me getting signed. A scout for the Orioles, Jocko Collins, offered me a contract.”14 Collins, who also signed Bob Galasso for the Orioles that year, was able to get Bailor a modest $1,500 bonus. The teenager bought himself a 1964 Plymouth Valiant.15

In the summer of 1970, Bailor reported to his first minor-league club: Bluefield, West Virginia in the Appalachian Rookie League. It was about 250 miles straight down Interstate 79 from Connellsville. In 46 games he batted .273 with no homers and eight RBIs. He also pitched in one game, allowing eight earned runs in just one inning.

From 1971 through 1973, Bailor made steady progress through the lower levels of Baltimore’s chain. In 1971 he won the batting title in the Class-A Northern League, hitting .340 with two homers and 50 RBIs in just 68 games for the Aberdeen Pheasants. In 1972, he was a California League All-Star with Lodi (.290-2-34 and a league-leading 63 steals in 129 games). In 1973, moving up to Double-A Asheville, he was a Southern League All-Star. He hit .293-0-29 in 115 games and was chosen as the league’s best hustler.16 He made it up to Triple-A Rochester for 17 games at the end of that season. In November 1973, the Baltimore Sun highlighted him as one of the organization’s 12 standout prospects.17

When that story came out, Bailor was getting his first experience of baseball overseas, as he went to play with Magallanes of the Venezuelan Winter League. It was a successful time, as he batted .318 in 54 games. On a sad note, though, Bailor watched on New Year’s Day 1974 as his roommate, pitcher Mark Weems, went for a swim but was swept out to sea and drowned. For three days, Bailor, pitcher Don Hood, and Ray Miller (then a player-coach for Rochester) searched for the body so they could send it back to the Weems family for burial. “It made me realize how fragile life really is,” Bailor told Earl McRae.18

Bailor’s progress stalled at Rochester in 1974. He played in just 96 games and batted only .230-1-25. “Due to injuries and the play of [Tim] Nordbrook, Bailor was installed in center field upon his return.”19 He returned to Magallanes that winter, batting .267-0-12 in 60 games. In spring training 1975, he battled for a roster spot in Baltimore with Doug DeCinces. DeCinces stayed, playing all four infield positions that year, while Bailor went back to Rochester. Baltimore skipper Earl Weaver said, “His ticket to the major leagues is his wheels.”

“We were kind of backed up when I started progressing through the farm system,” Bailor said in 2010. “I played the infield—all the infield positions—but they had Brooks Robinson and Mark Belanger and Bobby Grich, so Earl Weaver asked me to go out in the outfield and they had Don Buford, Paul Blair and all these Gold Glove outfielders, so it was tough. But you just had to keep grinding and try to make a name for yourself.”20 In addition to Belanger, a perennial Gold Glover, and Nordbrook, the Orioles had another major-league shortstop in their very deep system then, Kiko Garcia.

Bailor added that the veteran O’s “were all real good with the young guys. There was none of that looking over your shoulder – they went out of their way to help you. To this day Brooks Robinson is probably the best guy I ever played with as far as personality and helping and doing all the right things.”21

At Rochester in 1975, Bailor hit .293-5-39 in 129 games, although he missed some time with a leg that became infected after a severe bruise.22 He was an International League All-Star, ranking among the circuit’s leaders in hits (147), triples (6), and stolen bases (21). The Orioles called him up in September. He got into five games and went 1-for-7.

That winter, he was enjoying the hunting at home when he got a call on New Year’s Day 1976 to replace Yankees second baseman Willie Randolph with Magallanes. Bailor played in just six games, as he developed a sore shoulder from playing second, an unfamiliar position, after rushing back into action. Despite his inflamed rotator cuff, he made Baltimore’s Opening Day roster, but he got into only one game in April. “[He was] unable to play the field. . .Frustrated by doctors’ inability to fix his throwing arm, Bailor requested to come down to Rochester, where he could at least DH. He joined the club in early June but had to wait for a roster spot to open.”23

Once he finally returned to action, Bailor hit .311-1-12 in 36 games for the Red Wings. The Orioles recalled him in September, and after pinch-running seven times, he went 2-for-6 as the DH in the last game of the season. A little over a month later, on November 5, the Toronto Blue Jays made him their first pick in the 1976 expansion draft. Toronto general manager Peter Bavasi called him, “the best shortstop available” and added, “We’ve checked him out thoroughly and the shoulder’s fine.”

“It was a big break,” Bailor recalled in 2010. “When the expansion draft came, it worked out perfect for me—granted we didn’t have good teams in Toronto early, but it gave me some exposure as far as other ball teams.”24 He also liked all the opportunities to fish and hunt in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada.

Bailor’s 1977 rookie season was his best in the majors. He played 122 games, mainly at shortstop and in center field, although he missed a month with torn knee ligaments. The injury came as he stole third base at Anaheim Stadium on August 21; he was carried off on a stretcher. In 1988, Bailor recalled that the doctors told him he could continue his career until the knee gave out. He said, “I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did.”25

Bailor finished the season hitting .310, best among all big-league rookies that year and still a record for expansion teams. That July, he said, “When I was leading the league for a while earlier in the season, I cut the averages out of the paper because I figured I’d never be ahead of Rod Carew again.”26 His five homers accounted for more than half his career total in the majors. The first of them came on April 16 at old Comiskey Park off Steve Stone of the Chicago White Sox. He struck out just 26 times (while drawing only 17 walks). Dennis Leonard of the Kansas City Royals said, “I struck him out five times on really tough pitches, sliders that were low and away. He rarely goes after a bad pitch. He’s an intelligent hitter, a good, scrappy player.”27 The Toronto baseball writers named him the Blue Jays’ player of the year.

In 1978 Bailor posted a .264-1-52 batting line in a career-high 154 games and 676 plate appearances. He was playing primarily right field, because Toronto installed Luis Gómez at short, but also saw much action at third base and in center. The next year, however, still playing mainly right field, he slumped to .229-1-38 in 130 games. By that time, young Alfredo Griffin was Toronto’s shortstop.

Things weren’t much better for Bailor in 1980 (.236-1-16 in 116 games). He missed nearly a month in June and July after suffering a broken wrist while hit by a pitch in an exhibition game against Toronto’s top farm club, Syracuse. That August, Bailor made three relief pitching appearances for the Jays, all in games where they were trailing by several runs. The first two outings were scoreless, but he failed to retire a batter in the last and wound up with a 7.71 ERA.

In 2010, Bailor said, “I think the big reason Toronto took me in the expansion draft was because I could play everywhere. I started out playing shortstop with them, but then when they started building the foundation and getting new players – well, then I’d move somewhere else – third base and second, centerfield, all over the place. Well, finally they got good and they traded me.”28 (It actually wasn’t until 1983 that the Jays broke above .500, though.)

On December 12, 1980, the New York Mets obtained Bailor for pitcher Roy Lee Jackson. “It was kind of a shock to me,” he said in 2010. “I lived in Manhattan and going there as a visiting player – you knew you were going to leave in three days, but coming from Connellsville and then living in New York City was kind of a shock.”29

In his three seasons with the Mets, Bailor played mostly shortstop and second base, but he also filled in at third base and occasionally in the outfield. He missed the first three weeks of the 1981 season with a rib cage injury. During the remainder of that strike-interrupted season, he saw limited action (.284-0-8 in just 51 games and 95 plate appearances). However, he was an “irregular regular” in both 1982 (.277-0-31 in 110 games) and 1983 (.250-1-30 in 118 games). Bailor came up with a number of key late-inning plays while he was a Met. One memorable performance came at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati on August 23, 1981. He knocked in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, then after moving to left field, ended the game with a leaping, over-the shoulder catch of George Foster’s long drive.

George Bamberger, who managed the Mets in 1982, loved Bailor. That August Bamberger said, “Who on this club could be having a better year than him? I’d have to say he’s the most valuable player on the club at this moment. He’s just done so much…. He can do so many things.” Teammate Hubie Brooks, then a second-year player, said of his fellow infielder, “A lot of times when I’m not sure of something, I go to him.” Bailor’s versatility and “heady game” also won him praise from rival managers such as Pittsburgh’s Chuck Tanner.30

Bailor told a self-deprecating anecdote about the anonymity of his time in New York. He kept two back covers from the New York Post. The first came after the highly popular Rusty Staub delivered another pinch-hit. The headline read, “Rusty does it again!” Later, when Bailor had a key hit of his own in extra innings, the Post proclaimed, “Miracle at Shea!”31

Those were dark years for the Mets. Starting in 1983, however – especially with the midseason arrival of Keith Hernandez – one could sense that the club’s fortunes were ascending. On December 8, 1983, Mets general manager Frank Cashen made one of his best rebuilding trades. He sent Bailor and lefty reliever Carlos Diaz (who was coming off a very effective season) to the Los Angeles Dodgers. In return, the Mets got another middle infielder named Ross Jones – but the key to the transaction was young pitcher Sid Fernandez. It is interesting to observe that Davey Johnson, whom the Mets had named their manager that October, wasn’t crazy about the deal at first. In his book Bats, Johnson said, “[Cashen] traded two guys I could have used. . .for a pitcher who wasn’t ready to play regularly in the spring. In the end it turned out for the best, but in the short run, it handicapped me.”32

In 2010 Bailor joked, “I went from New York City to LA – I felt like Jed Clampett going out there. [Tom] Lasorda was good to play for – he let you do your own thing and had a lot of enthusiasm and kept you pumped up all the time.”33 Not long after the trade, Bailor remarked that he didn’t like to be called a utilityman. “That makes it sound like I change light bulbs for a living,” he said.34 He had a chance to win the starting shortstop job for the Dodgers, but in spring training 1984, he dislocated his left shoulder diving for a ground ball. He did not come back until early May, went on the DL again in August, and got into just 65 games overall (.275-0-8).

Davey Johnson and Frank Cashen still liked Bailor. In Bats, a chronicle of the 1985 season, Johnson wrote that Cashen got excited because Dodgers GM Al Campanis had said that he was willing to make a deal. Johnson said, “Bailor would be the perfect right-handed bat. What do they want for him?” The asking price was a top prospect, though, and it turned the Mets off from dealing with Campanis.35 In 1985, Bailor started the season on the DL again and landed there once more in June. He went .246-0-7 in 74 games, but he finally got a taste of the postseason as Los Angeles lost the NL Championship Series to the St. Louis Cardinals. He appeared in two games and was hitless in his only plate appearance.

As Bailor was fighting for a job in spring training 1986, his wife, Jamie, delivered their first child, Robert Michael Jr. There was talk that he would be traded to Philadelphia, and Bob said, “It couldn’t have come at a worse time.”36 However, the Dodgers made him one of their final two cuts. Toronto then immediately approached him to be a player-coach for Syracuse. However, “Bailor rejected the offer because he wanted to spend time with his baby son and was comfortable with the knowledge that the Dodgers still owed him about $400,000 for 1986. Jays’ personnel director Gordon Ash explained, ‘Bob’s a good baseball man and we’ve told him he could have a good future in our organization in some capacity.’”37

Bailor had begun thinking like a manager as he sat on the bench alongside Tommy Lasorda and helped Dodgers third-base coach Joey Amalfitano.38 In 1987 he rejoined the Blue Jays organization, managing the Dunedin club in the Florida State League. “There he displayed the grasp of strategy, the leadership skills and the flair for teaching [Blue Jays executive Paul] Beeston had recognized so long before.”39

He then spent four seasons as Syracuse’s skipper. The Chiefs finished first in the International League in 1989 but lost the Governor’s Cup playoff finals to the Richmond Braves. Of greater interest that year, though, was how close Bailor came to being manager of the big club. After Jimy Williams was fired in May, the Buffalo News wrote, “The Toronto Blue Jays’ brass is said to be divided evenly between interim manager Cito Gaston and Syracuse manager Bob Bailor as the permanent replacement.”40 When Gaston’s interim tag was removed, though, it came as a relief to Bailor because the speculation had ended.41

Toronto finally did bring the first Blue Jay back to the big leagues in November 1991, naming him first-base coach. When the club won the World Series for the first time in 1992, he said, “I’ve gone from walking in snow to walking in champagne,” (a reference to Toronto’s first game ever, played with snow on the Exhibition Stadium field).42 That winter, the press called him a dark-horse candidate for the opening with the Texas Rangers, but that job went instead to Kevin Kennedy.

In subsequent years, the Toronto press noted that the Blue Jays had groomed Bailor as Gaston’s eventual successor. He served as first-base coach through 1995; in June of that year, he was still described as a “manager-in-waiting.”43 The Blue Jays sacked all of Gaston’s coaches after the season, though, and did not offer Bailor another job in the organization. He was still without a job in baseball in early 1996. He soon retired and didn’t look back.

Bob and Jamie Bailor moved to Palm Harbor, Florida, near Tampa, where Bob continues to enjoy fishing and hunting. For several years in the ’80s and ’90s, he and his brother Jim were commercial hunting guides in Colorado during the offseason. He maintained a house in Connellsville, where he lived throughout his playing career. In 2010 he said, “If it were up to me I would probably be in Connellsville fulltime.” He also had a hunting cabin in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, which borders Fayette County on the east. When Fayette County inducted him as part of the second class in its Sports Hall of Fame that year, Bailor said, “It’s a big thing for me. Being from there and growing up there and playing a lot of sports, this means a lot to me.”44

Connellsville has continued to honor Bailor, as seen in April 2016, when he was on hand for the Opening Day of the Little League in which he had once starred.45 Bailor was described as “still the same hometown guy.”46 The Connellsville Little League Board named the local field after him. He remarked, “I’m living proof a dream can come true.”47

Last revised: January 10, 2017

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted www.baseball-reference.com, www.retrosheet.org, www.findagrave.com, www.checkoutmycards.com, www.pelotabinaria.com.ve (Venezuelan statistics), and www.ultimatemets.com.

Notes

1 Valerie Vecchio, “Bailor of Connellsville,” Syracuse Post-Standard, February 5, 1988: B1.

2 Joseph G. Preston, Major League Baseball in the 1970s (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2004), 223.

3 Earl McRae, “Goodbye Connellsville,” in McRae, Requiem for Reggie, and Other Great Sports Stories (Toronto, Ontario: Chimo Publishing, 1977). Available online at http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hJAjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fKEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3786,3023995&dq=bailor+connellsville&hl=en

4 James Bailor obituary, June 12, 2012, legacy.com (https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/triblive-penn-hills/name/james-bailor-obituary?pid=176594157)

5 Jim Kaplan, “I’ll Tell You What–This Guy Can Hit,” Sports Illustrated, May 22, 1978.

6 McRae, “Goodbye Connellsville.”

7 Associated Press, “Connellsville Cops State Title,” August 11, 1963.

8 Jason Black, “Hall of Fame induction thrills Bailor.” Connellsville (Pennsylvania) Daily Courier, June 23, 2010. On a side note, the team that defeated Connellsville in the regional final, Stratford, Connecticut, was national runner-up that year.

9 Jim Downey, “Connellsville Little League honors Bob Bailor,” Uniontown (Pennsylvania) Herald-Standard, April 10, 2016.

10 George Von Benko, “Chemistry carried 1989 Connellsville baseball team,” Uniontown Herald-Standard, April 5, 2011.

11 George Von Benko, “Bob Bailor: from Legion to Big Leagues,” Uniontown (Pennsylvania) Herald Standard, June 24, 2010. This article formed the basis for Bailor’s page on the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame website (http://www.fayettecountysportshalloffame.com/2010/bailor.html)

12 Herschel Nissenson, Associated Press, “Bailor Is Written-In Candidate,” ,” Evening Standard (Uniontown, Pennsylvania), July 1, 1977: 3.

13 McRae, “Goodbye Connellsville.”

14 Von Benko, “Bob Bailor: from Legion to Big Leagues.”

15 Bill Heufelder, “No Blue With Jays,” Pittsburgh Press, June 29, 1977.

16 Associated Press, “Two Named Loop’s Best,” August 22, 1973.

17 Lou Hatter, “12 Oriole farm prospects stand out,” Baltimore Sun, November 14, 1973: C3.

18 McRae, “Goodbye Connellsville.”

19 Brian Bennett, On a Silver Diamond: The Story of Rochester Community Baseball from 1956-1996 (Scottsville, New York: Triphammer Publishing, 1997), chapter 4.

20 Von Benko, “Bob Bailor: from Legion to Big Leagues.”

21 Von Benko, “Bob Bailor: from Legion to Big Leagues.”

22 Von Benko, “Bob Bailor: from Legion to Big Leagues.”

23 Bennett, On a Silver Diamond, chapter 4.

24 Von Benko, “Bob Bailor: from Legion to Big Leagues.”

25 Vecchio, “Bailor of Connellsville.”

26 “League Top Hitter Needs Fans Votes.”

27 Kaplan, “I’ll Tell You What–This Guy Can Hit.”

28 Von Benko, “Bob Bailor: from Legion to Big Leagues.”

29 Von Benko, “Bob Bailor: from Legion to Big Leagues.”

30 Steve Halvonik, “Mets’ Best Player? Versatile Bob Bailor,” Pittsburgh Press, August 9, 1982: C-5.

31 Vecchio, “Bailor of Connellsville.” Bob Elliott, “Bailor doesn’t hate Jays,” Toronto Sun, June 30, 2010.

32 Davey Johnson and Peter Golenbock. Bats (New York: G.P. Putnam, 1986), 37.

33 Von Benko, “Bob Bailor: from Legion to Big Leagues.”

34 Gordon Edes, “Bailor May Become Dodger Shortstop, Campanis Says,” Los Angeles Times, December 17, 1983: OC-C1.

35 Johnson, Bats, 143.

36 “Proud Papa Has a New Worry,” Daily News of Los Angeles, March 26, 1986.

37 “Jays sign Bailor to one-year deal,” Globe and Mail (Toronto), October 10, 1986.

38 Vecchio, “Bailor of Connellsville.”

39 Jim Proudfoot, “Bailor surprised to be a Jay again,” Toronto Star, March 11, 1992: C4.

40 Larry Felser, “Successor to Williams Divides Blue Jay Brass,” Buffalo News, May 15, 1989.

41 Neil MacCarl, “Gaston gets praise from losers in race for job with Jays,” Toronto Star, June 1, 1989.

42 Jim Henneman, “Jays’ Bailor sees the best and worst of times,” Baltimore Sun, October 26, 1992: 3C.

43 Steve Milton, “Gaston hangs tough at Jays helm,” Spectator (Hamilton, Ontario), June 28, 1995.

44 Black, “Hall of Fame induction thrills Bailor.”

45 Downey, “Connellsville Little League honors Bob Bailor.”

46 Jim Downey, “Bailor still the same hometown guy,” Uniontown Herald-Standard, April 12, 2016.

47 “Class Notes,” Geibel Family Newsletter, Fall 2016 (https://www.geibelcatholic.org/alumni/Documents/2016%20Fall%20Newsletter.pdf)

It doesn’t take long to make a lasting impression that sticks with someone throughout his professional baseball career. Some of the things Derek Bell said over the course of his career surprised many and outraged others. This did not seem to faze Bell in the slightest. “What can I say?” Bell would ask. “I just have to go out there and be Derek, and Derek’s a pretty easygoing guy. I’m not going to let anybody intimidate me.”1 Bell’s childhood hero Dwight Gooden perhaps understood Derek the most. “Derek wants to be liked by everybody. He’s an easygoing guy, easy to get along with, but he’s very sensitive. He needs to know the team is behind him all the way. He’s one of those guys that needs to hear it constantly, especially when he’s struggling.”2

Derek Nathaniel Bell was born in Tampa, Florida, on December 11, 1968. He grew up with his mother, Chestine Bell, in Tampa and never really knew much about his biological father, Jimmie Lee Jackson. His father met Chestine while she was a freshman at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida. Jimmie had been a quarterback in high school and Derek’s mother once said that she had caught a pass from him. “Derek was that pass,” she said.3 She moved back to Tampa after her freshman year to live with her parents.  

On April 24, 1976, Jackson was found dead in his Manhattan apartment with two gunshot wounds to the head. Chestine found out about Jimmie’s death seven months after his funeral when she contacted the family to inquire why Jimmie had not sent toys for Derek’s Christmas. She kept the news of Jimmie’s death from Derek until he was 14, when Jimmie’s sister, Lillie Golden, told him what happened. “He was in college so I didn’t get a chance to see him,” Bell said. “Being that young, I know I had (a father) and I knew he was in college. Then they said ‘No, he passed away’ and then I was without a dad.”4 Bell never looked for anyone to take the place of the father he never really knew. “My mom’s my mom and my dad; she’s two people in one.”5 It would be his mother, who worked as a medical records technician, as much as anyone, who gave Bell the support he needed once he started playing baseball.  

Bell’s interest in baseball started in a section of Tampa that produced over 35 African American major leaguers. The Belmont Heights Little League was where Chestine wanted Derek to play. Chestine used her mother’s address in the College Hill Projects to make sure that Derek qualified to play in the league. “We never lived in Belmont Heights,” Chestine said in response to reports that Bell had lived there, “but his grandmother did, and she was my sole babysitter.”6 Bell joined the league when he was 9. It was there that he met his best friend, Gary Sheffield. Bell grew to a height of 5-feet-9 over the next three years and into what the boys in the league called a monster “because that is what boys call boys who look like grownups.” Bell’s coach had to carry his birth certificate around to prove that he was a kid.7   

Sixty-four boys who have played in the Little League World Series have gone on to play in the major leagues. Bell is one of 14 to play in both the Little League World Series and the major-league World Series.8 Bell and Sheffield were teammates on the 1980 Little League World Series team that lost to Taiwan’s Hualien County in the championship game, 4-3. A year later, Bell became the first two-time Little League World Series player who would become a major leaguer when he played on the 1981 Little League World Series team from Tampa. Bell struck out nine in five innings, but his Tampa team lost 4-2 to Taichung, Taiwan.9 Bell commented after being drafted by the Blue Jays in 1987 how important his time in Little League was in making him good enough to be a professional player. “My time playing for Belmont Heights was very important,” said Bell. “That’s where I started when I was 9, and if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be where I’m at now.”10

A few years after Bell’s Little League career ended, University of Miami baseball coach Ron Fraser showed up at baseball tryouts at C. Leon King High School in Tampa to watch Bell take batting practice. Bell took two swings and then Fraser introduced himself to Bell, and told Bell’s coach, Jim Macaluso, that he would give four guys off his roster for this one guy. Macaluso later said that Fraser told him “he had only seen one other high school player with a better swing and that was Dave Winfield. He told me back then that this kid would make the big leagues.”11 Bell played center field his senior season at King, and he led the team in hitting with a .440 average and set a school record with 30 RBIs.12

The June 1987 amateur draft started with the Seattle Mariners picking Ken Griffey Jr. In the second round the Toronto Blue Jays selected Bell, by now a 6-foot-2, 190-pound senior center fielder at King High School. Bell signed a contract and was assigned to St. Catharines of the short-season Class-A New York-Penn League. “It feels great,” said Bell. “I just want to play baseball, be successful, and get to pro ball.”13 He batted .264 for St. Catharines with 10 home runs and 42 RBIs his first season.  Bobby Mattick, coordinator of Blue Jays minor-league development, when asked about Bell’s progress as a hitter after his first season in the minors said, “He was hitting .240 for a while there, but (manager Joe) Lonett was saying it was the hardest .240 he’s ever seen. This kid’s right out of high school and he was hitting breaking balls in that league – the better of the two rookie leagues we’re in. It’s really something. The boy’s got a chance to be an outstanding hitter.”14Baseball America ranked Bell the seventh-best major-league prospect in the league.15 Bell continued to impress over the next few years, winning the Most Valuable Player Award in 1988 while playing for Myrtle Beach of the South Atlantic League, and the International League MVP Award in 1991 while with the Syracuse Chiefs. He was named the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year in 1991, when he hit .346 in 119 games for the Chiefs.16 (He also played in 18 games in two short stints with the Blue Jays and batted .143.) 

During his first trip to the majors (June 28 to July 14), Bell went 1-for-17, a .059 average, reflecting that he was used only sparingly and that most of his at-bats were against Randy Johnson and David West. To Bell, he was not given a fair chance to prove himself. When the Blue Jays sent him back to the minors, Bell did not mince words when he told the press that he was not happy about being sent down. “I was shocked and upset when Cito Gaston called me into his office to tell me I was going down again,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d be sent down anymore. I thought it was too soon to give up on me. They’ve given a lot of other guys a lot more chance to prove themselves.”17 During his second call-up, at the end of the season, Bell went 3-for-11 with no extra-base hits. His first season in the majors was one from which Bell wanted to move on.

Bell arrived at Blue Jays spring training in Dunedin, Florida, in 1992 and made quite the impression. He sported a clean-shaven head and spent time talking trash with his teammates. He gave the impression, by one reporter’s account, of being “the most merry fellow at the Toronto Blue Jay camp.”18 The reporter, Rosie DiManno of the Toronto Star, went on to say that Bell did not act like some rookies who come to camp “all shy and reticent, minding their manners and keeping their distance. Bell is in your face, in everyone’s face, and yapping up a garrulous storm.”19

Bell won the left field job out of spring training in ’92 but his first season in the majors almost ended as soon as it began. In the second inning of the second game of the season, Bell fractured his hamate bone when he fouled off a pitch from Tigers starter Frank Tanana. He returned to the club from the disabled list on May 9 where he started in left field and went 1-for-4 with an infield single against the California Angels in Anaheim.20 He struggled a bit when he returned but he hit .310 in his final 71 at-bats at the end of the season. General manager Pat Gillick praised Bell for his maturity during the playoffs in key moments that helped the Blue Jays win the World Series.21

Bell was on the receiving end of one of the major leagues’ most famous practical jokes. On October 4, 1992, during Fan Appreciation Day, Joe Carter and Dave Winfield drove Bell’s Jeep out onto the field and it was announced that the car was to be given away to a fan in the stands. “In Toronto, they gave us cars. Honda was a sponsor, so everyone had the same car. But Derek decided to drive his car. And he loved his Jeep. And he talked about his sound system – the sound system cost more than the car itself!” Carter said.22 Bell got his car back, but the prank became one of the funniest moments in baseball history.

Bell did play a role in helping the Blue Jays win the World Series. He drew critical walks that led to the winning run scored in Game Four of the American League Championship Series against the Oakland Athletics and the tying run in Game Two of the World Series against the Atlanta Braves. Those moments and his batting average of .310 after the All-Star break did not prevent his time with the club soon coming to an end. Bell’s over-the-top demeanor in 1992 and into 1993 became somewhat tiresome for management and some of his teammates. Bell did not see the problem. “I’ve always been this way, smiling and talking trash. Sliding into home plate, gee, I used to do that when we won games in Little League. Why should I change? Everybody around here likes my enthusiasm. Isn’t that better than if I were mean all the time and never smiled at anybody?”23

GM Gillick told the press that Bell needed to learn how to control his enthusiasm a bit, saying: “He’s a good kid. And I don’t want to stifle his enthusiasm. But I think he’s starting to learn that there are situations where you have to control yourself, where you have to concentrate on the job you’re supposed to be doing. It’s just a matter of channeling that enthusiasm.”24

The final straw may have come during a 1993 spring-training game against the Tigers when manager Gaston publicly criticized Bell for letting a lazy fly ball fall in front of him for a hit and getting doubled off second base on a routine popup. “Maybe you can get away with that kind of play in Triple A somewhere,” Gaston said. “That’s just being careless. Everybody likes the kid, and I know he wants to do well, but I think he gets caught up in trying to look good rather than play good.”25 Bell was traded to the San Diego Padres less than 48 hours later.

Bell had two solid seasons with the Padres, coming into his own offensively. In 1993 he hit .262 with 21 home runs, 72 RBIs, and 26 stolen bases. In the strike-shortened 1994 season, in 108 games he hit .311 with 14 home runs and 54 RBIs, with 24 steals. Despite the offensive outburst, he was traded at the end of 1994 to the Houston Astros in a cost-cutting move by the Astros. Houston manager Terry Collins liked the idea of adding Bell’s bat to his potent lineup. He dismissed the label that Bell was a good player who came with a lot of baggage. “Players can get tags put on them. People say, ‘This guy is going to be a good player’ or ‘He has a chance to be a good player.’ I think Derek Bell has proven he’s a good player. He’s a complete player,” Collins said.26

Bell also dismissed the baggage label. “I’m living for today and the future,” he said. “I don’t even have a clue (how the label) got started. I’ve never heard any of my past teammates or managers say I didn’t run the ball out, didn’t hustle or give 100 percent all the time. I guess when you get rid of a guy, you have to have some excuse.”27 While in Houston, Bell met Tom McCraw, the Astros hitting coach, whom Bell described as the closest thing to a father-figure he ever had. McCraw acknowledged that he treated Bell “just like my son. I told him ‘I’m going to tell you what’s going wrong. I’m going to tell you how to do it.’ He’d huff and he’d puff, then he’d do it.” Bell once made a baserunning mistake and McCraw reprimanded him in the dugout. Bell cringed. “He said, ‘Don’t holler at me, I’m sensitive,’” McCraw recalled. “I realized I went past the line and backed it up.”28

While with the Astros, Bell became one of the most lethal of the Astros “Killer B’s” alongside Jeff Bagwell, Sean Berry, and Craig Biggio. He was an MVP candidate his first year with the team in 1995, and in 1998 he had arguably his best season as a major leaguer when he hit .314 with 22 homers, 108 RBIs, and 111 runs scored. Despite his successes on the field, Bell could not help but get himself in trouble. On July 15, 1999, the day Astros manager Larry Dierker returned to managerial duties after brain surgery, Bell complained because he was batting sixth, not second. This soured Bell’s relationship with the club and the fans and was a contributing factor in his eventual trade to the New York Mets at the end of the season. Bell claimed the whole situation was misunderstood. “I’m a team player, and I felt that I couldn’t hit-and-run and do the things I’m capable of doing from the six slot,” he said. “That’s the only thing I was upset about. Is that selfish? I want to win so badly. The only way I thought we could do that was with me batting second, making things go.”29

Bell’s salary jumped dramatically in Houston. He made $385,000 while with the Padres in 1994. His salary climbed to $1.45 million his first year with the Astros. By the time he left for the Mets in 2000, his salary was $4.5 million annually. This helped feed Bell’s desire to live a flashy lifestyle.  

Bell had a pretty good season in his one campaign with the Mets and it was the second and final time he made it to the World Series as a player, but it was his lifestyle that all the media in New York wanted to hear about. Bell purchased a yacht named “Bell 14” (for his number when he played with the Astros) and took it with him when he moved to New York. He lived in it while playing for the Mets because the cost of living was high in the city. Bell said he had more important things to spend his money on like his auto detailing business in Tampa called DB 14.30 Sports Illustrated, in a piece about Bell’s lifestyle, wrote that he had over 2,000 hip-hop CDs, 100 DVDs, games for his Sony PlayStation and Sega Dreamcast, and over 100 pairs of alligator shoes. He also owned a gold-and-diamond baseball pendant and sparkling diamond studs, one for each ear. Also included was a six-bedroom house in Tampa, a four-bedroom house in a Tampa suburb for his mother, a 2000 Mercedes-Benz S500, a 1999 Ford Expedition, and a $50,000 diamond ring. “Bell also gave his 22-year-old half-brother Marlon a ‘99 Mercedes,” the magazine wrote. Finally, a 2000 Bentley Azure. “The Rolls is fresh,” said Bell. “Florida State maroon, with a sweet interior, yo.”31

Todd Zeile was a teammate of Bell’s with the Mets during the 2000 season. Zeile said that Bell would have custom suits made for him on road trips. “The suits were orange, green, purple, white and black and they all had matching belts and shoes to go with them. The key to this was that he would only wear them once. Every time he wore a suit, that would be it. He would discard it. He would give it away.”32

A free agent after the 2000 season, Bell signed a two-year, $9.75 million deal with the Pirates. He played in only 46 games in an injury-plagued 2001, where he had 27 hits and a .173 batting average, and was demoted to Triple-A Nashville. During spring training in 2002, Pirates GM Dave Littlefield wanted Bell to compete for the starting right field position with Armando Rios, Craig Wilson, and Rob Mackowiak. Bell responded by making a comment to the press that essentially ended his professional career. “Nobody told me I was in competition,” he said. “If there is competition, somebody better let me know. If there is competition, they better eliminate me out of the race and go ahead and do what they’re going to do with me. I ain’t never hit in spring training and I never will. Ask Littlefield and ask manager Lloyd McClendon if I’m in competition. If it ain’t settled with me out there, then they can trade me. I ain’t going out there to hurt myself in spring training battling for a job. If it is a competition, then I’m going into ‘Operation Shutdown.’ Tell them exactly what I said. I haven’t competed for a job since 1991. If I don’t start, then I guess I’ll be out of here.”33

Bell left the team on March 29 and was released two days later. The Associated Press reported that “when a Pirates spokesman saw Bell leaving the clubhouse, he asked him if he had any message to pass on. Bell said only, ‘I got onto my yacht and rode off into the sunset.’”34 Bell’s yacht at the time was docked at the Twin Dolphin Marina on the Manatee River near Bradenton, Florida. The Pirates paid him over $4 million after he left the team. Mark Madden of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette commented, “Derek Bell becomes the ultimate Pirate: lives on a boat and steals money.”35

In a 2020 interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Bell contended that the “Operation Shutdown” quote was a hip-hop term and he wished that the reporter, Robert Dvorchak, had asked him to clarify what he meant. “I worded it wrong, but I’ve always been that way,” Bell said. “I say what’s on my mind.”36  In the interview, Bell did apologize to Pittsburgh fans for not living up to the terms of his contract. “I do want to apologize and let Pirates fans know that I’m very, very sorry that I didn’t live up to that contract. They expected me to do more, and I didn’t get a chance to do more. It haunts me to this day that I didn’t get a chance to show ’em because Pittsburgh is a great city. It’s a steel town. They love their sports. They love their players. They just want you to do well.”37

Bell largely avoided off-field issues throughout his career. When something went wrong either in his personal life or on the field, he often retreated to his home or his hotel room and played video games. It was his routine. Dwight Gooden and Gary Sheffield credited his mother for raising him that way. “For a long time, he was an only child, and I kept him shielded,” said Chestine Bell. “Just go to school, play baseball, and come home. You’ve got to try and keep him on the straight and narrow.”38

The straight and narrow path seemed to abandon Bell a bit after his playing career. Bell sold the Bell 14 yacht because it became too much for him to handle. “It got old.”39 Bell also fell victim to a few drug issues in 2006 and 2008. “Things happen,” he said. “I was retired. Sometimes, when you retire, you want to have fun. I never got in trouble when I played ball. I never did drugs when I played ball. I ran into a little rut. You do the wrong thing, and things happen. I’ve moved past that. Lesson learned. I’m moving on way beyond that.”40

Bell’s health took a hit as well, but he didn’t stop engaging with fans. He regularly does autograph shows and is often asked to write “Operation Shutdown” on hats and balls. “I’m a fan-friendly person.”41He had to quit helping his good friend, Ty Griffin, coach baseball at King High School and Tampa Catholic High School because of cataracts and the demands on his arms and legs. As of 2020, Bell’s fiancée had to help him get around because of his cataracts.   

Bell never made an All-Star team but his play on the field is not something that people will remember him for. Brash, showy, and full of enthusiasm, Bell’s magnetism and energy in the clubhouse kept his teammates loose. In a YouTube video titled The MLB Player Who Lived on a Yacht During His Career, the narrator, “Mike,” describes Bell as “possibly the most unique off-the-field presence in baseball history.” The 9½-minute video details some of the stories that the narrator feels makes Bell’s career unique. He ends the video by saying that Bell’s story should inspire others because Bell came from nothing and had a prosperous and successful major-league baseball career. “But that is not what he is gonna be remembered for,” Mike says. “In this story, talking about the players analytics isn’t the most important thing about them. The important thing is what made them unique as a human being and highlighting that. Sometimes baseball fans don’t do enough of that. They really don’t make them like Derek Bell anymore.”42

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Sports Illustrated.

Notes

1 Rosie DiManno, “Derek Bell Can Sure Talk a Good Game,” Toronto Star, March 4, 1992: C1.

2 Tyler Kepner, “Still Room to Grow: For Mets’ Bell, Numbers Haven’t Matched His Power,” New York Times, March 12, 2000: SP7.

3 Thomas Hill, “Bringing Up Derek: Bell Never Bothered by Life with No Father,” New York Daily News, May 21, 2000.

4 Hill.

5 Hill.

6 Hill.

7 Kepner.

8  Three of the 14 (Ed Vosberg, Jason Varitek, and Michael Conforto) have played in the Little League World Series, the College World Series, and the Major League World Series. See “Current and Former Major Leaguers Who Have Played in the Little League Baseball World Series,” Little League, accessed April 27, 2022. https://www.littleleague.org/who-we-are/alumni/major-leaguers-played-llbws/.

9 Jane Gross, “Tampa Team in Final of Little League Series,” New York Times, August 28, 1981: A15. “Taiwan Nine Retains Title,” New York Times, August 30, 1981: 204. 

10 Brian Landman, “Put Me in, Coach // Life Lessons Are First on Baseball Diamond,” St. Petersburg Times, June 14, 1987: 22. 

11 Erik Erlendsson, “Derek Bell Still Has That Swing,” Tampa Tribune, October 10, 1999.

12 Brian Landman, “Despite Disappointing Loss, King Had a Great Season,” St. Petersburg Times, May 3, 1987: 9.

13 “King’s Bell Signs Contract with Blue Jays,” St. Petersburg Times, June 12, 1987: 5.

14 Allan Ryan, “Blue Jays Stars of the Future,” Toronto Star, September 13, 1987: E28.

15 Neil MacCarl, “Blue Jays’ Other Bell Awaiting His Chance to Play in the Big Leagues,” Toronto Star, February 28, 1988: G8.

16 Allan Ryan, “Blue Jays Chase Seattle Reliever,” Toronto Star, December 11, 1991: C6; Dave Perkins, “Is Derek Bell the Solution to Jays’ Woes?” Toronto Star, December 9, 1991: D1. 

17 Marty York, “Derek Bell Assails Demotion to Farm // ‘Wasn’t Given Fair Shot,’ Says .059 Hitter After Being Sent Back to Syracuse,” Globe and Mail (Toronto), July 19, 1991: C13. 

18 Rosie DiManno, “Derek Bell Can Sure Talk a Good Game.”

19 Rosie DiManno.

20 Tom Slater, “Jays Lose Tough Duel,” Toronto Star, May 10, 1992: G1.

21 Brian Landman, “Jays’ Bell Hustles Back Into Action After Injury,” St. Petersburg Times, May 3, 1992: 5C;  Rosie DiManno, “Bell Bubbles with Enthusiasm // Blue Jays’ Young Outfielder Makes No Apologies for Antics,” Toronto Star, March 4, 1993: D4.

22 Larry Brown, “Joe Carter Shares Story Behind Epic Derek Bell Car Prank,” Larry Brown Sports, December 17, 2019. https://larrybrownsports.com/baseball/joe-carter-story-epic-derek-bell-car-prank/528745.

23 Rosie DiManno, “Bell Bubbles with Enthusiasm.”

24 Rosie DiManno, “Bell Bubbles with Enthusiasm.”

25 Jeff Pearlman, “Yo Ho Ho! Thrown Overboard by the Astros, the Mets’ Hot-Hittin’, Hip-Hoppin’ Derek Bell Has Been Cruisin’ Since He Docked In New York,” Sports Illustrated, May 22, 2000.  https://vault.si.com/vault/2000/05/22/yo-ho-ho-thrown-overboard-by-the-astros-the-mets-hot-hittin-hip-hoppin-derek-bell-has-been-cruisin-since-he-docked-in-new-york; Ronald Blum, “Mets Hope Hampton Is the Answer: New York Acquires 22-Game Winner, Along with Derek Bell from the Houston Astros,” Vancouver (British Columbia) Sun, December 24, 1999: H12. 

26 Bill Chastain, “Present perfect; Others May Have Doubted Derek Bell in the Past, but His Manager Calls the Astros’ Outfielder a ‘Complete Player,’” Tampa Tribune, August 15, 1995. 

27 Chastain. 

28 Hill.

29 Pearlman.

30 Hill.

31 Pearlman.

32 SNY, “Todd Zeile Shares Great Derek Bell Stories from the 2000 Mets,” YouTube, May 11, 2018.  https://youtu.be/WCML9LmwTbc.

33 Robert Dvorchak, “Pirates Finally part with Bell,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.com Sports, March 30, 2002.  https://old.post-gazette.com/pirates/20020330bucs3.asp; Craig Calcaterra, “Happy Anniversary to ‘Operation Shutdown,’” NBC Sports, March 19, 2014. https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/03/19/happy-anniversary-to-operation-shutdown/; Jason Mackey, “It Haunts Me to This Day,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 15, 2020: C1.  .

34 Associated Press, “Bell Packs His Bags and Leaves the Pirates,” New York Times, March 31, 2002: G8.

35 Mark Madden, “Baker’s Son Gives Us a Series Moment,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.com, October 26, 2002. https://old.post-gazette.com/sports/columnists/20021026madden1026p1.asp.

36 Mackey, “It Haunts Me to This Day.”

37 Mackey, “It Haunts Me to This Day.”

38 Kepner, “Still Room to Grow.”

39 Mackey, “It Haunts Me to This Day.”

40 Larry Brown, “Derek Bell Has One Classic Mug Shot,” Larry Brown Sports, December 2, 2008.  https://larrybrownsports.com/darwin-nominations/derek-bell-mug-shot-drugs/4089. Jason Mackey, “It Haunts Me to This Day.”

41 Mackey, “It Haunts Me to This Day.”

42 Stark Raving Sports, “The MLB Player Who Lived on a Yacht During His Career,” YouTube, April 17, 2021.   https://youtu.be/RqRMLrShHnQ. 

The first American to win both a World Series ring and an Olympic gold medal, Pat Borders played parts of 17 major league seasons (1988-2005) for nine different teams.1 When the Blue Jays won consecutive championships in 1992 and 1993, he caught more innings than any American Leaguer both years and earned 1992 World Series MVP honors.

Patrick Lance Borders was born on May 14, 1963, in Columbus, Ohio. His parents, Mike and Donna (Holbrook) Borders, taught social studies and math, respectively, and later had another child, Todd. Mike played softball into his 60s, and competed against his sons in basketball, Wiffle Ball, and baseball. “He was the biggest influence on me for learning the game,” Borders said.2 Pat attended his first big-league game at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium and saw his favorite player, Reds star Pete Rose.3

When Pat was 9, his family moved to Lake Wales, Florida, about 60 miles east of Tampa.4 He often attended weekend ballgames at a local park, though he said, “I was more interested in chasing after the foul balls and then practicing with them afterward.”5 With his father pitching to him nearly every day, Borders developed his aggressive batting style. “I’d swing at every pitch because there wasn’t any backstop, and if I didn’t swing at it and hit it, I’d have to go chase it.”6

At Lake Wales High School, Borders was an all-state quarterback and football defensive end.7 He also played basketball for the Highlanders before baseball season. Initially, Pat was a designated hitter, as coach Don Bridges recalled that he had “hands of stone.” Following a teammate’s injury, however, Borders switched to third base as a sophomore.8 “He practiced until it was dark. He could never get enough,” Bridges said. Borders also worked hard off the field, describing his early occupations as “[a] lot of shovel work. Digging footers for houses, setting rebar, working a lot of construction jobs and agricultural jobs.”9

As a senior, Borders drove in 36 runs in 25 games and batted .513 with 10 home runs.10 His 29 career homers tied Glenn Davis’s state high-school record.11 Borders played in the 1982 Florida Athletic Coaches Association North-South All-Star Game, where three of his teammates, Dwight Gooden, Ron Karkovice, and Rich Monteleone, became first-round picks in the June amateur draft.12 Borders, on the other hand, planned to attend Mississippi State on a football scholarship.13 That changed after he ripped a series of line drives in front of a Blue Jays scout that spring. Tim Wilken was in Kissimmee only because Toronto had other scouts at the first contest he’d visited in Tampa.14 On Wilken’s recommendation, the Blue Jays drafted Borders in the sixth round.

Borders signed quickly and joined Toronto’s rookie-level Pioneer League club in Medicine Hat, Alberta. He batted .304 with 5 homers in 61 games to help them win the championship. In 1983 he advanced to the Florence (South Carolina) Blue Jays of the Class-A South Atlantic League and rapped 31 doubles to tie for second in the circuit while hitting .274 in 131 contests. Back at Florence in 1984, Borders increased his home-run output from 5 to 12, tied for the SAL lead with 85 RBIs, and was named MVP of the league’s All-Star Game.15 He received the R. Howard Webster trophy, awarded to the top prospect at each Toronto affiliate.16 Realistically, however, Borders’s .864 fielding percentage through three seasons at the hot corner clouded his future. “It became apparent to us he would be a defensive liability at third base in the big leagues,” said Blue Jays GM Pat Gillick.17 Borders wasn’t much better in the outfield and finished 1984 playing first base.

Although Borders led the Kinston (North Carolina) Blue Jays with 60 RBIs in the Class-A Carolina League in 1985, his .261 batting average, 10 homers, and 116 strikeouts in 127 games didn’t impress, considering the Toronto organization’s talented collection of first baseman. “I didn’t think I could compete with Cecil Fielder, Fred McGriff, and Willie Upshaw in home runs,” Borders conceded.18 “I never thought I’d make it to the majors, to tell you the truth.”19 Gillick acknowledged, “We were going to release him. It was (Blue Jays VP Bobby) Mattick who suggested that …we might try him behind the plate.”20 Mattick said Borders “called me in the winter of ’86 and said he would like to try it.”21

That offseason Borders asked former Dodgers and Senators backstop Doug Camilli for assistance. “He had the talent, and he had the desire,” Camilli recalled “Here was a complete athlete who was willing to do whatever it took to get to the majors.”22 Borders said, “The position itself didn’t hold any allure for me, especially getting beat up like catchers do. Once I got into it, I had more fun than any position I ever played.”23 Borders began the 1986 season in Florence but was promoted to the Double-A Southern League in mid-May. In six weeks with the Knoxville Blue Jays, he didn’t play much, and he returned to the Carolina League on June 22 to finish the year with Kinston, now a co-op team featuring players from different organizations. Between three clubs, he hit a combined .339 with 11 homers in 77 games. Borders had caught in only 18 contests prior to joining Kinston, but manager Dave Trembley deployed him behind the plate 27 times and had him block countless balls in the dirt during drills.24

Borders gained more experience in the Florida Instructional League before beginning a fifth straight season at Class A in 1987.25 After only three games with the Dunedin Blue Jays in the Florida State League, however, he returned to Knoxville to replace Jeff DeWillis, who’d been summoned to the majors because of Matt Stark’s injury.26 In 94 Double-A games, Borders hit .292 with 11 home runs and caught 77 times as he learned to call pitches and discern hitters’ weaknesses.27 “The whole thing was a lot more complex than I thought,” he admitted.28 The Blue Jays added him to their 40-man roster and sent him to the Dominican Republic for winter ball, where he batted .290 in 56 contests for the Caimanes del Sur.29

In spring training 1988, Borders and four other catchers competed for the chance to back up veteran Ernie Whitt. While Stark and Greg Myers had already tasted the majors, Borders, Francisco Cabrera, and Carlos Diaz were in big-league camp for their first “Class for Catchers” with Blue Jays coach John Sullivan. “[Borders] has impressed me,” Sullivan said. “He receives well, has a strong arm, and has been good in the throwing drills.” Hitting coach Cito Gaston reported, “Bobby Mattick had the catchers working on fielding bunts and he said Borders was the best of the young ones.”30 In Grapefruit League play, Borders hit .373 and gunned down nine of 17 opposing basestealers to win the job as Whitt’s platoon partner.31

Borders debuted on April 6, 1988, at Royals Stadium, and lined a two-run triple to right-center off Kansas City southpaw Charlie Leibrandt in his first at-bat. Although he was charged with a throwing error and a passed ball, he also cut down speedster Willie Wilson trying to steal third and went 3-for-4 with five RBIs in Toronto’s 11-4 victory. “[Borders] definitely has the attitude to be a good one for a long time,” remarked winning pitcher Mike Flanagan.32 On April 14 Borders hit his first homer, a solo shot off the Yankees’ Al Leiter.

“I suppose my one big shock about the big leagues was how quickly the opposition picks up on your weaknesses,” Borders said.33 Nevertheless, he did a solid job, batting .276 with five homers in 41 games before pulling a rib-cage muscle prior to a July 7 exhibition.34 After healing, he spent more than a month on a rehab assignment with the Syracuse Chiefs in the Triple-A International League before rejoining the Blue Jays in September.

Next, Borders joined the Cardenales de Lara for winter ball in Venezuela, explaining, “I wanted to work on picking off runners, being more selective at the plate, and improving things like blocking the plate.” In one game, he picked off three runners – one at each base.35 After hitting .283 with 7 home runs in 60 games, he returned to the United States and worked out with his brother Todd, who’d been drafted as a catcher by the Cubs.36

In 1989 the Blue Jays fired manager Jimy Williams after falling 12 games below .500 by mid-May. During the skipper’s final series in Minnesota, Borders made throwing errors in consecutive losses and deepened a slump that grew to 4-for-46. “That affected my catching, or maybe my catching affected my hitting.” he said. “I was pretty much a wreck mentally.”37 He temporarily lost his platoon job under new manager Cito Gaston, and Toronto still had a losing record when Borders blasted a game-winning eighth-inning grand slam off Willie Hernández on July 7 in Detroit. He finished with a .257 batting average and 3 homers in 94 games as the Blue Jays rallied to win the AL East. In Borders’ only postseason at-bat, he stroked an RBI single, but Toronto lost the ALCS to the Athletics in five games. Four weeks later, Pat married Kathy Sellers, a former college softball and basketball recruit whom he’d first met at a Knoxville Pizza Hut. “Kathy understood me and understood sport,” he said.38

The Blue Jays traded Whitt before the 1990 season. “I like Ernie; he helped me a lot, personally,” Borders said.39 Third baseman Kelly Gruber said Borders deserved to start: “There’s no question in my mind that Pat can play every day.”40 Gaston, however, planned for the lefty-hitting Myers to take over the busier side of the catching platoon. “Greg and I are friends and it’s fine with me,” Borders insisted.41 Borders enjoyed his only career four-hit game on April 30 and started 20 consecutive contests when Myers went on the disabled list in May. On September 2 in Cleveland, he caught Dave Stieb’s no-hitter. By season’s end Borders had started more than half of Toronto’s games and batted .286 in 125 contests. His 15 home runs were his most ever as a professional.

“[Borders] is getting to where he’s an above-average catcher,” remarked Sullivan. “He’s one of the best throwing catchers in the league.”42 Through his first three seasons, Borders had nabbed 41.2 percent of attempted basestealers and gained confidence handling pitchers. “We came up at the same time and we roomed together, so Pat never had a problem coming to me and saying do this or do that,” observed Todd Stottlemyre. “But I think it took a little longer for him to go to [veterans] Jimmy Key or Dave Stieb and tell them what they should be doing.”43 In 1991, however, Borders began the season 0-for-21 at the plate and cost Toronto a game on April 17 with a 10th-inning throwing error and passed ball. He also missed time after being steamrolled by Robin Ventura in a home-plate collision and entered the All-Star break batting .213 without a home run.44 Borders rebounded to finish at .244 in 105 games and claimed the full-time job with a strong second half. Four of his five homers came in the final month, including a three-run shot off California’s Jim Abbott to snap a scoreless tie in the 10th inning on September 24. The Blue Jays won their division and Borders started all five games of their ALCS loss to the Twins.

Borders made his first Opening Day start in 1992 and went deep in Detroit. In Toronto’s home opener, he blasted a game-tying homer off Baltimore closer Gregg Olson in the bottom of the ninth. Nevertheless, for the second straight season, his name was mentioned in trade rumors involving the Padres Gold Glove catcher Benito Santiago. “Last year, it bothered me a lot,” Borders confessed in the summer of ’92. “But his year, it kind of helped me, knowing that someone else might want me. I learned not to let that stuff bother me.”45 In 138 games, he batted .242 with 13 homers and 53 RBIs as the Blue Jays repeated as division champs.

In October Borders caught every postseason inning for Toronto. He hit .318 in the six-game ALCS as the Blue Jays bested the Athletics to claim the franchise’s first pennant. With the pivotal Game Three tied, 2-2, in the fourth inning, Borders leaped to corral right fielder Joe Carter’s throw and complete a momentum-shifting double play by holding onto the ball when 6-foot-5 Mark McGwire crashed into him attempting to score. “That was really the difference in the ballgame,” Carter said.46 In the World Series against the Braves, Borders batted .450 (9-for-20), including a homer off Tom Glavine in Toronto’s 2-1 victory in Game Four, and a game-tying RBI double against John Smoltz in Game Five. Although Atlanta baserunners swiped 15 bases in 18 tries, Borders cut down pinch-runner Brian Hunter with Game Three deadlocked in the ninth inning and threw out the fleet Otis Nixon with Toronto protecting a one-run advantage in Game Six. Borders was voted the Most Valuable Player after the Blue Jays prevailed in six games.

Lake Wales erected “Home of Pat Borders” signs around town, but the catcher nixed the idea of a welcome-home parade in his honor, agreeing to a ceremony to have a youth field named after him instead. “He hasn’t changed a bit,” remarked Bridges, his high-school coach. “He’s a very soft-spoken and withdrawn type.”47 Borders lived next to his parents and drove the same 1980 Ford Bronco that he’d owned since high school. He donated the van that he received for his MVP performance to his local YMCA.48 “Winning the MVP goes way beyond anything I ever thought I’d accomplish,” he said.49 In January the Blue Jays rewarded him with a two-year contract for $5 million.50

By appearing in 138 games, Borders was the AL’s busiest catcher for the second straight season in 1993, and he hit .254 with career highs in RBIs (55) and doubles (30). In the ALCS against the White Sox, he extended his record postseason hitting streak for catchers to 16 games.51 The Blue Jays repeated as champions, with Borders batting .304 (7-for-23) in six World Series games against the Phillies. “The best thing about Pat is that when you have a runner on third and the score tied in the ninth inning, he will call for a pitch in the dirt, because he has confidence he can block it,” Stottlemyre observed. “A catcher like that gives a pitcher confidence that he can throw any pitch at any time.”52 Borders insisted, “I’m average. If I don’t block pitches, they’ll find someone else who can. It’s more like I’d better do it.”53

Toronto had younger, cheaper options available – including power-hitting backup Randy Knorr, lefty slugger Carlos Delgado, and defensive specialist Sandy Martínez – and assistant GM Gord Ash acknowledged, “We believe that catching is a position we can trade.”54 Borders retained his job in 1994, but the Blue Jays finished under .500 for the first time in a dozen years. He was batting .247 with 3 homers in 85 games when the season ended prematurely in August because of a players strike. That offseason, although it meant they would not receive any compensation when Borders left, Toronto declined to offer him a contract because, Ash explained, they knew he would accept anything to remain with the Blue Jays. “I was very happy here,” Borders confirmed.55

When the strike was finally settled in April 1995, Borders signed a one-year, $310,000 deal with the Royals on the first day that camps opened to returning regulars to platoon with lefty-hitting Brent Mayne.56 In 52 games for a poor Kansas City club, he hit .231 with four homers before he was traded to the contending Astros on August 11. With Houston, Borders hit .114 in 35 at-bats, but he appeared only once in the last 23 contests after lefty-hitting Rick Wilkins joined the team in September.

A free agent again, Borders signed with the Cardinals for 1996 and started on Opening Day. He’d slipped to third string behind Tom Pagnozzi and Danny Sheaffer by June 15, however, when he was traded to the Angels. On June 29 Borders enjoyed his only two-homer game in the majors, but he was traded again on July 27 – to the White Sox to replace injured catcher Chad Kreuter. Overall, Borders appeared in 76 games for three teams in ’96 and batted .277 with 5 home runs. He said that his bat speed and arm strength had finally recovered from his heavy workload of 1992 and 1993. As for playing for five teams in two years, he remarked, “It’s educational. You learn a lot. It helps you as a player.”57

Borders joined the Indians in 1997, a strong club that already had All-Star backstop Sandy Alomar. “I knew what my role was going to be,” Borders said. “I’ll take anything I can get.”58 Cleveland advanced to the seventh game of the World Series before falling to the Marlins, but Borders didn’t see any postseason action after batting .296 with 4 homers in 55 regular-season contests.

He returned to Cleveland in 1998 and appeared in 54 more games, including both ends of a July 21 doubleheader when Alomar was hurting. “I don’t think it even crossed his mind that he would be playing 18 innings, but that’s his mentality,” observed Indians second baseman Jeff Branson.59 Cleveland made the playoffs again, but Borders was left off the postseason roster in favor of rookie Einar Díaz. When manager Mike Hargrove asked him to remain with the team anyway, Borders agreed.60

Once a devoted weightlifter, Borders stopped in his mid-30s. “It was starting to hurt me,” he explained. “I think it was slowing me down, slowing down my arm and my swing.”61 To extend his career, Borders retuned to the minors for the first time in 11 years, spending most of 1999 with the Buffalo Bisons of the Triple-A International League, other than a half-dozen July appearances for the Indians. After he was released on August 31, he signed with the Blue Jays and started at DH the following night in Toronto. Borders homered off the Twins’ Eric Milton in the seventh inning, prompting the fans at SkyDome to demand a curtain call. “It’s really not my style,” he said after tipping his cap. “I’m embarrassed about it.” In six games for the Blue Jays, he went 3-for-14.62

Borders considered retirement, but his family encouraged him to keep playing. “It’s a game you can never master or conquer,” he reflected. “Every situation presents a different challenge. You’re always making adjustments either as a hitter or calling a game as a catcher. That’s what makes it so interesting.” Although he didn’t appear in the majors for the first time in 13 years in 2000, the 81 games he caught for Tampa Bay’s Triple-A Durham Bulls affiliate were his most since his first stint with Toronto. Bulls outfielder Jim Buccheri observed, “He’s 37 going on 19.”63 Devil Rays minor-league director Tom Foley said, “Having Pat Borders is like having an extra coach.”64

When Borders was invited to try out for the United States Olympic baseball team that summer, he recalled, “I wasn’t gonna go, but Kathy kicked my butt and said I should just go do it. And she was right.”65 Professionals were allowed to play in the Summer Games in Sydney, Australia, but with the big-league season ongoing, clubs were reluctant to send stars or top prospects. Other than manager Tom Lasorda, Borders was one of the United States’ more recognizable names. In the Americans’ only loss, to the favored Cubans, Borders was hammered in a thunderous home plate collision.66 He batted .429 (6-for-14) in the Olympics, including 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI in the Gold Medal game, when the USA defeated Cuba, 4-0.67 “I’ve never had more fun than that time,” Borders said. “It really was not like anything else I had ever been a part of.”68

Borders could have retired to his farm home with orange groves, 200 cattle, and 100 acres of strawberries and vegetables.69 He and Kathy already had five children: Lindsay, Levi, Luke, Laura Beth, and Leah. (By 2021, their brood would grow to nine with the additions of Lance, Lily, Livia, and Landy Kate).70 Every winter the family voted whether or not Pat should keep playing, and every year the consensus was yes. He spent most of 2001 in Durham but was sold to the Mariners on August 27 and appeared in five games for Seattle in September. From 2002 to 2004, Borders mostly played for Seattle’s Tacoma Rainiers affiliate in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. He could still hit, as evidenced by a 6-for-6 performance against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox on May 8, 2003.71 Occasionally the Mariners summoned him to the majors: four games in 2002, a dozen the next year and 19 in 2004. On August 31, 2004, Borders was dealt to the Twins at the trading deadline. In 19 September contests, he batted .286 to help Minnesota win the AL Central. He went 0-for-2 in the Twins four-game ALDS loss to the Yankees to finish his 32-game postseason career with a .315 average.

Borders began 2005 with the Brewers’ PCL Nashville Sounds affiliate but the Mariners purchased his contract on May 19 – five days after his 42nd birthday – after losing former All-Star catcher Dan Wilson to a torn ACL and backup Wiki González to a hamstring injury. Mariners skipper Mike Hargrove had managed Borders in Cleveland and was happy to have him back. “Pat just absolutely loves the game, that’s what I think is cool about him,” said Hargrove. “You get someone like him, with such a positive attitude, and he’s so willing to teach. You talk to him, and he’s willing to give all the information he has. He’s a great presence to have around.”72

When Borders caught Jamie Moyer on May 25 in Baltimore, it marked the first time in major-league history that a team started a battery of 42-year-olds. It would not be the last. Seattle went 8-3 when the ancient Mariners teamed up. In a little more than two months with the team, Borders started 37 games, though Hargrove insisted, “He can’t and won’t play every day. That’s from me. Pat would go out there every day on bloody stumps.”73 On July 27 Borders played his 1,099th and final big-league contest, catching Moyer’s 9-3 victory over the Tigers at Safeco Field. He was released two days later when González returned from the DL. Borders finished his career with a .253 batting average and 69 home runs, and threw out 35 percent of opposing basestealers. “Had it not been for catching, I’d have never made it as far as Double A,” he reflected.74

The Dodgers invited Borders to spring training in 2006, but when he didn’t want to leave home, he realized that he no longer had the desire to play.75 At Los Angeles’s request, he filled in for a few weeks: 20 games with Vero Beach in the Class-A Florida State League and six with the Triple-A PCL’s Las Vegas 51s before retiring on May 26.

Borders assumed full-time father duties, including coaching the baseball team at Lake Wales High School during his son Luke’s senior season. He was inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2015 Borders became the manager of the Phillies’ Williamsport (Pennsylvania) Crosscutters affiliate in the short-season New York-Pennsylvania League. He led the Crosscutters to 186 victories over the next five seasons, more than any other skipper in team history. When Borders announced that he would leave to manage the full-season Class-A Clearwater Threshers in 2020, Williamsport surprised him by retiring his number 10. “I’m speechless,” he said.76 Clearwater, merely 85 miles west of Lake Wales, was a welcome destination for Borders, but the Threshers’ 2020 season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, Borders was part of the inaugural Highlander Athletic Hall of Fame induction class organized by the community of Lake Wales. That fall, he left the Phillies’ organization after serving as the bench coach for Philadelphia’s Triple-A Lehigh Valley (Pennsylvania) IronPigs farm club for one season.  

Sources

In addition to sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted www.ancestry.com, www.baseball-reference.com, and www.retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 Baseball was a demonstration sport at both the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics, so official medals were not awarded. As of 2021, Doug Mientkiewicz (2000 Olympics; 2004 Red Sox) is the only other American to win both an Olympic gold medal and a World Series ring. Three Cubans —Orlando Hernández (1992 Olympics; 1998-2000 Yankees), José Contreras (1996 Olympics; 2005 White Sox) and Yuli Gurriel (2004 Olympics; 2017 Astros) – have also achieved the feat.

2 Godfrey Jordan, “Thanks, Dad,” Toronto Star, June 19, 1993: F1.

3 Pat Borders, 1993 Donruss Studio Baseball Card.

4 Russ White, “Borders Avoids Celebrity Status,” Orlando Sentinel, January 24, 1993: C10.

5 Jordan, “Thanks, Dad.”

6 “Borders Has Proven He’s Jays’ Top Catcher,” Toronto Star, March 27, 1991: C4.

7 Russ White, “Rising Star: Pat Borders,” Orlando Sentinel, April 2, 1989: C9.

8 Gare Joyce, “The Lifer,” August 2018, https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/pat-borders-blue-jays-williamsport-crosscutters-profile/ (last accessed March 5, 2021).

9 Tom Weir, “Borders, Nearly 42, Awaits Another Big-League Shot,” USA Today, April 12, 2005: C6.

10 Pat Borders, 1988 Topps Traded Baseball Card.

11 In 1986 St. Cloud’s Bruce Kiser hit 34 home runs to establish a new mark. Paula J. Finocchio, “St. Cloud’s Kiser Smashes HR Mark,” Orlando Sentinel, March 25, 1986: B4.

12 Mel Antonen, “Catchers Give GM Hart Coaching Flashback,” USA Today, February 16, 1998: 6C.

13 Joyce, “The Lifer.”

14 Brian Schmitz, “Borders Is Crossing from Obscure to Hero,” Orlando Sentinel, October 24, 1992: B1.

15 “Reds Say Goodnight to Day,” The Sporting News, July 30, 1984: 38.

16 Paul Patton, “Losing Record with Syracuse Prompts Firing,” Globe and Mail (Toronto), September 6, 1984: M10.

17 Milt Dunnell, “Catching Switch Saved Borders from Early Firing,” Toronto Star, August 11, 1990: B3.

18 Larry Millson, “Borders Relaxed More with Each At-Bat,” Globe and Mail, April 8, 1988: A18.

19 Schmitz, “Borders Is Crossing from Obscure to Hero.”

20 Dunnell, “Catching Switch Saved Borders from Early Firing.”

21 Neil MacCarl, “Switch to Catcher Could Put Borders on Fringes of Jays,” Toronto Star, February 16, 1988: B10.

22 White, “Borders Avoids Celebrity Status.”

23 John Lott, “Mariners’ Crash Davis,” National Post (Don Mills, Ontario), August 29, 2001: B13.

24 Bob Elliott, “An Unforgettable Journey,” Toronto Sun, March 22, 2012: S10.

25 Millson, “Borders Relaxed More with Each At-Bat.”

26 “Young Hurler Making Headlines,” Toronto Star, April 21, 1987: F4.

27 Larry Millson, “Borders Bids for Backup Job,” Globe and Mail, February 22, 1988: E8.

28 Campbell, “In Only Three Seasons, Pat Borders Has Progressed.”

29 Pat Borders’ Dominican League Statistics from https://stats.winterballdata.com/players?key=436 (Subscription service. Last accessed March 17, 2021).

30 Neil MacCarl, “Jays Need Major Graduate from Class for Catcher,” Toronto Star, March 2,1988: B2.

31 Neil MacCarl, “Big Test Tonight for Pat Borders,” Toronto Star, April 6, 1988: G2.

32 Millson, “Borders Relaxed More with Each At-Bat.”

33 Frank Orr, “Pat Borders Proves He Belongs in the Big Leagues,” Toronto Star, June 23, 1988: C1.

34 Larry Millson, “Borders Adjusted to Stint in Minors,” Globe and Mail, September 7, 1988: A18.

35 Neil MacCarl, “Winter Ball Helps Jays’ Pat Borders,” Toronto Star, January 24, 1989: C4.

36 Pat Borders’ Venezuelan Statistics from http://www.pelotabinaria.com.ve/beisbol/mostrar.php?ID=bordpat001 (last accessed March 17, 2021).

37 Dave Perkins, “Borders is Armed with All the Tools Except Confidence,” Toronto Star, June 8, 1989: B3.

38 Joyce, “The Lifer.”

39 Neil MacCarl, “Blue Jays’ Borders Looks Out for No. 1,” Toronto Star, January 4, 1990: B4.

40 Marty York, “New Looks for Jays Tailored to Skydome’s Vast Expanse,” Globe and Mail, March 26, 1990: C1.

41 Larry Millson, “Jays Crush Birds for Best Season Start,” Globe and Mail, April 18, 1990: A13.

42 Neil A. Campbell, “In Only Three Seasons, Pat Borders Has Progressed,” Globe and Mail, March 5, 1991: D10.

43 Campbell, “In Only Three Seasons, Pat Borders Has Progressed.”

44 Dave Perkins, “Cheap Shot Adds to Jays’ Injury Woes,” Toronto Star, May 21, 1991: D1.

45 “Blue Jays’ Borders Emerges as Majors’ Ironman Catcher,” Ottawa Citizen, September 5, 1992: H6.

46 Larry Millson, “Borders Helps the Jays Hold On,” Globe and Mail, October 12, 1992: D4.

47 Marc Topkin, “Blue Jays’ Borderline Hero,” Ottawa Citizen, April 1, 1993: D2.

48 Bob Elliott, “An Unforgettable Journey,” Toronto Sun, March 22, 2012: S10.

49 Pat Borders, 1993 Stadium Club Murphy Baseball Card.

50 “Borders Gets $5 Million,” Globe and Mail, January 20, 1993: C8.

51 Allan Ryan, “Borders Huge Hit in Series Showdown and Gets MVP Nod,” Toronto Star, October 25, 1992: E5.

52 Bill Jauss, “Borders’ Hit String Cut Short,” Chicago Tribune, October 9, 1993: 5.

53 Jack Curry, “Border’s Bat Is Doing the Talking,” New York Times, October 25, 1992: S3.

54 “Borders is Expendable, Blue Jays Say,” Kitchener-Waterloo (Ontario) Record, December 2, 1993: C6.

55 Steve Milton, “Borders Says He’s Ready to Adapt to a Life After the Blue Jays,” Hamilton (Ontario) Spectator, January 16, 1995: C3.

56 Ben Walker, “Borders Goes to KC in Major Scramble,” Globe and Mail, April 8, 1995: A19.

57 Larry Millson, “Borders’ Crossings Take Him to Cleveland,” Globe and Mail, March 18, 1997: D13.

58 “Borders Fills In, Indians Roll On,” Washington Post, July 6, 1997: D6.

59 Liz Robbins, “Borders Steps Up to Double Duty,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 22, 1998: 5D.

60 Paul Hoynes, “Borders Will Stay for Postseason,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 24, 1998: 2D.

61 Tom Weir, “Borders, Nearly 42, Awaits Another Big-League Shot,” USA Today, April 12, 2005: C6.

62 Geoff Baker, “New and Old Lead Way,” Toronto Star, September 2, 1999: 1.

63 Tom Casey, “Having a Blast: Borders Shows How Game Is Played,” Ottawa Citizen, May 24, 2000: C6.

64 Rodney Page, “Coaching May Be in the Future for Borders,” St. Petersburg (Florida) Times, May 31, 2000: 5C.

65 Joyce, “The Lifer.”

66 Bill Glauber, “Cubans Snap Back at Lasorda, US, 6-1,” Baltimore Sun, September 2, 2000: 22D.

67 Mel Antonen, “Play’s Still the Thing for Borders,” USA Today, May 30, 2001: C8.

68 Joyce, “The Lifer.”

69 Lott, “Mariners’ Crash Davis.”

70 Vinnie Portell, “A Bond Between Brothers,” Oracle (University of South Florida), April 27, 2017, http://www.usforacle.com/2017/04/27/a-bond-between-brothers/ (last accessed March 5, 2021).

71 “Borders Perfect in Rainiers’ Win,” Seattle Times, May 9, 2003: D7.

72 Nick Daschel, “Catcher Knows No Borders,” Vancouver (Washington) Columbian, May 24, 2005: C5.

73 Phil Rogers, “Borders, Moyer: Battery for the Aged,” Chicago Tribune, May 29, 2005: 3-2.

74 Campbell, “In Only Three Seasons, Pat Borders Has Progressed.”

75 Lisa Coffey, “Lake Wales, Family Now Borders for Ex-Catcher,” Lakeland (Florida) Ledger, April 30, 2007, https://www.theledger.com/article/LK/20070430/News/608141511/LL (last accessed March 5, 2021).

76 “Cutters Manager Borders Has Jersey Retired,” Williamsport (Pennsylvania) Sun-Gazette, January 16, 2020, https://www.sungazette.com/sports/local-sports/2020/01/cutters-manager-borders-has-jersey-retired/ (last accessed March 18, 2021).

Last revised: March 9, 2022

Tom Cheek was the voice of baseball and the narrator of summer for Blue Jays fans throughout Canada and beyond for almost three decades. Starting with the team’s first regular-season game on April 7, 1977, he shared the game with fans from February through October. He shared some of his favorite baseball moments and told stories about the people he knew and met. He shared his raw emotion when something good or bad happened during a game. He shared all that he knew about the game he loved so much. He shared it until a brain tumor made it impossible for him to continue in 2004. And then the sharing was gone.

When Cheek’s voice disappeared from the airwaves, it shook the very foundations of Blue Jays nation. Club President Paul Godfrey said as much in 2005: “When Tom suddenly stopped, it was like the whole organization stopped. That’s how much he means to the club.”1 It was as if a close friend had been taken away very suddenly, never to be heard from again. “I can’t tell you anyone who more epitomizes the heart and soul of the Toronto Blue Jays than Tom Cheek,” said Godfrey. “His voice has touched millions of fans over the years.”2

Thomas Fred Cheek was born on June 13, 1939, in Pensacola, Florida. His father, also named Tom, served as a World War II fighter pilot in the Battle of Midway in 1942. Following in his father’s footsteps, Cheek himself joined the military and served in the US Air Force from 1957 to 1960. While he was in the service he met broadcaster Red Barber.3 He met his future wife, Shirley, a native of Hemmingford, Quebec, while stationed in Plattsburgh, New York. They married in 1959 and soon had three children, Lisa, Jeffrey, and Tom.

Cheek knew from a young age that he wanted to be in broadcasting. After his discharge he went to school at SUNY Plattsburgh and then the Cambridge School of Broadcasting in Boston. He began his career in broadcasting as a disc jockey in Plattsburgh. His next job was in Burlington, Vermont, where he worked as a corporate sales manager and as sports director for a group of three radio stations including WBMT, which carried Montreal Expos baseball. He also called University of Vermont sports and was almost hired to take over as the full-time play-by-play announcer for the expansion Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association.4

While in Burlington, Cheek found occasional work as a fill-in broadcaster for the Expos, Cheek said in an 1985 interview that broadcasting games for the Expos put him on the path to become the future Toronto Blue Jays radio play-by-play announcer. He made the 99-mile trip to broadcast games usually on Wednesdays in 1974 through 1976.5 His work with the Expos did not go unnoticed. According to John Lott, “His work convinced Len Bramson, a Toronto broadcast executive who was developing a coast-to-coast radio network for the expansion Blue Jays, to make Cheek the lead man in the radio booth.”6

The expansion Toronto Blue Jays announced in December 1976 that Tom Cheek would become the play-by-play announcer for the new club. Hewpex Sports Enterprises announced that the radio broadcast borders for the new club would cover a 14-city area across the province of Ontario with the possibility of adding more stations before the club began spring training for its first season. The network would extend to “Kingston in the East to Sarnia in the West, in Tiger Territory, and Timmins in the North,”7 With a 14-city network in place, and a radio announcer ready to go, all that was left for Tom Cheek to fulfill a lifelong dream was call his first game with his new club.

On a snowy April 7, 1977, with the temperature right around freezing, Bill Singer threw out the first pitch for the expansion Blue Jays against the Chicago White Sox at Exhibition Stadium. Upward of 44,649 fans including a young Wayne Gretzky, packed the ballpark to see Toronto’s first major-league baseball game. Trailing 2-0 in the first inning, Doug Ault hit the first home run in franchise history, which started the team’s comeback that day. The Blue Jays rallied and won, 9-5. Cheek said the win that day ranked as his top Blue Jays memory.8 There would not be much more for Cheek to cheer for the rest of the season or for a few years to come. The Blue Jays finished their inaugural season with a 54-107 record, 45½ games behind the New York Yankees. For the first six years of its existence, the team did not have a winning record. That started to change in the mid-1980s.

Fans tuning in to hear Cheek’s baritone voice over the years also heard the voices of his radio partners. From 1977 through 1980 former major-league pitcher Early Wynn called games alongside Cheek. Jerry Howarth replaced Wynn in 1981.

Cheek and Howarth constituted the play-by-play tandem of Blue Jays baseball for over two decades. The partnership covered the evolution of the franchise from an American League East bottom feeder to its rise to prominence starting in the 1980s, and then to its rise to the top of the baseball world with back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993. The duo stayed together for the duration of Cheek’s career.9

From the start, Cheek remained a constant in the radio booth, never missing a game until 2004. The Blue Jays’ fortunes started to turn in the mid-1980s and into the 1990s, and they won their first division title in 1985. A year before his death, Cheek recalled how he felt when that happened: “When George Bell dropped to his knees on the turf at Exhibition Stadium in 1985 as the Blue Jays won their first division title, I started thinking about all the guys who’d contributed over the years to get them there – and I choked up,” said Cheek. “You could hear the catch in my throat. I promised I’d never do anything like that again.”10

The Blue Jays were not yet in a position to go far in the playoffs. They lost the American League Championship Series to the Royals in 1985, the Athletics in 1989, and the Twins in 1991. They finally captured the pennant in 1992, becoming Canada’s first team to make it to the World Series. Members of the press seemed to be relieved by the club’s first pennant. “The next step for the Blue Jays, who have been carrying enough guilt for an entire country because of their three previous playoff failures, is the World Series, in which they will take on the Atlanta Braves beginning Saturday in Atlanta.”11

The Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves in six games to become the first team outside of the United States to win the championship. The Series was noteworthy when it came to Cheek and the broadcast. During Game Two of the series, the US Marine Corps accidentally displayed the Canadian flag upside down during the national anthem. This outraged Blue Jays fans but did not seem to bother pinch-hitter Ed Sprague, who hit a game-winning home run off Jeff Reardon, at the time baseball’s saves leader. The round-tripper was the first pinch-hit home run for the Blue Jays all season. And probably more prophetic than odd, before Sprague hit the home run, Cheek commented on the air, “Watch him hit a homer.”12

In Game Six, Cheek and Howarth went outside their normal broadcasting rotation once the Blue Jays took the lead in the top of the 11th inning. Normally, Cheek would call the first two innings of a game then turn the play-by-play over to Howarth for the next two innings and they would continue this pattern for the remainder of a game. Howarth called the top of the 11th as usual but after the mid-inning commercial break, Howarth turned the broadcasting call over to Cheek for the bottom of the inning. Howarth, in a grand gesture, was hoping to have Cheek call the Jays’ first-ever World Series win.

With two outs in the 11th, Cheek made the call that gladdened Blue Jays fans: “Timlin to the belt. … Pitch on the way. … There’s a bunted ball, first-base side. … Timlin to Carter and the Blue Jays win it! The Blue Jays win it! The Blue Jays are World Series champions!” As fans across Canada began to celebrate, Cheek went on: “The Blue Jays have won the World Series so Canada, let it all out, it’s party time! It was a long time coming but it’s here.”13 Canadians across the nation celebrated alongside Cheek well into the night.14

The Blue Jays won the pennant again in 1993, and one of the most dramatic endings to a World Series occurred in Game Six. With Toronto leading three victories to two, the Philadelphia Phillies led 6-5 going into the bottom of the ninth inning. Phillies closer Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams was on the mound hoping to send the World Series to a decisive Game Seven. The Blue Jays’ Rickey Henderson started the inning with a walk. Devon White flied out to deep left field. Paul Molitor singled.

With two on and the count 2-and-2, Joe Carter cemented his legacy as a Blue Jays legend by driving Williams’s next pitch over the left-field wall to win the Series in a walk-off. Fans over the years have pointed to Cheek’s call of Carter’s home run as perhaps his best-known call.

Cheek reflected on the call at spring training camp in Florida in 2005. “I was looking for something to say, and Joe gave it to me because he was jumping up and down. I was merely mentioning to him through the airwaves that you’ve got to touch all the bases.” Those listening heard that call live with the type of raw emotion that often engulfs someone who has seen something almost magical. “Touch ’em all Joe, you’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life!”15 It has become one of the most famous lines in baseball broadcasting history.

Over the seasons Cheek acquired a unique insider’s view of the club that very few in the organization had achieved. So he decided to share some of his knowledge about the team and in 1993 he and co-author Howard Berger released Road to Glory: Sixteen Years of Blue Jays Fever, which chronicled the first 16 years of Blue Jays baseball. Jim Proudfoot of the Toronto Star opined that “Cheek, who’s witnessed every inning the team has played, is perceived as the ultimate insider,” and added, “His viewpoint was bound to be uniquely revealing.”16 Cheek wrote of why Peter Bavasi abandoned the club presidency in 1981 and why Tony Fernandez, in Cheek’s view, abandoned the team in 1987. Baseball fans loved the book and made it a best-seller. Bookstores all across Canada had a hard time keeping the book on their shelves.17

After the dramatic World Series win in 1993, the Blue Jays began to slide. For the rest of Cheek’s time with the team, it didn’t finish any higher in the standings than third.

On Thursday, June 3, 2004, the Blue Jays lost to the Oakland Athletics, 2-1, in 11 innings but the game itself took a back seat to what happened in the Blue Jays radio booth that night. Cheek’s father, Tom Sr., had suffered a fatal heart attack the previous night and so Tom rushed home to be with his family. After 4,306 regular-season games and 41 postseason contests without missing a broadcast, Cheek was not in the booth that night. Howarth handled the game with color commentary for a few innings provided by injured Jays outfielder Frank Catalanotto.

Howarth took a moment to reflect on the now-broken broadcasting streak of his longtime partner. “Having sat here for 23 years, it’s incredible because of all of the factors that go into broadcasting a game,” Howarth said. “It’s a testament to his professionalism, to his commitment to fans. It takes a lot to keep a streak like that alive. There are several factors, like health, graduation, funerals, that can intrude.”18 Blue Jays President Paul Godfrey weighed in: “A feat of this magnitude does not occur without a great deal of sacrifice and perseverance from the Cheek family. Tom’s dedication and contributions to the Toronto Blue Jays organization are immeasurable.”19

Former major-league pitcher Tom Candiotti compared Cheek’s streak to that of another baseball ironman, Cal Ripken Jr. So did former Blue Jays general manager Pat Gillick, who said, “He was sort of like Cal Ripken, in that you knew he was going to show up every day, you knew he was going to be there with the same pride, the same dedication to excellence. You could always count on Tom to bring his very best every day.”20 Cheek accepted the kind words but would not accept the comparison of his streak with Ripken’s. “There will only ever be one streak in baseball,” Cheek said. “That would be the one that Cal Ripken put together. He was out on the field doing it every night while I was just up there watching.”21 Cheek returned to the booth soon after the funeral and tried to get back to doing what he loved. His return did not last long. Cheek soon found himself in the biggest battle for his own life.

Cheek felt ill a week after returning to the booth. Tests at a Toronto hospital indicated a brain tumor. On June 13, his 65th birthday, Cheek underwent surgery to remove the tumor. “Everyone at the Toronto Blue Jays wishes Tom a speedy recovery,” club President Paul Godfrey said. “Our thoughts are with the entire Cheek family, and we hope to see Tom back in the broadcast booth very soon.”22 And Cheek returned to broadcasting six weeks later despite chemotherapy treatments that impaired his short-term memory. On July 23, 2004, he called two innings of the Blue Jays game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.23 Cheek was able to return and broadcast home games on a limited basis while undergoing treatments, but he was replaced by guest announcers when the team was on the road. His popularity with the fans never wavered during his absence. Thousands sent him best wishes and wished the longtime broadcaster a speedy recovery.

The Blue Jays invited Cheek for an on-field presentation at SkyDome on August 29, 2004. Mike Wilner served as one of the replacements for Cheek as he recovered from surgery. Cheek and Wilner sat in the dugout looking out onto the field and talking before the ceremony. Cheek soon noticed that a portion of the 400 level was covered with a blue tarp. “It was amazing to see the look of recognition, and then of genuine embarrassment move across his face,” Wilner remembered. “He kept saying ‘You have GOT to be kidding me,’ because he honestly didn’t believe that just showing up to work every day deserved such major praise.”24

An emotional crowd of 44,072 was there to honor Cheek. The Blue Jays had played the Yankees that weekend and had not performed well so the team and its fans were eager to have something to cheer about. Cheek sat with his wife and watched as the Blue Jays removed the blue tarp to officially add him as the newest member of the team’s Level of Excellence.

Geoff Baker of the Toronto Star described the scene: “They sat through a video montage on the SkyDome’s JumboTron, one that replayed Cheek’s greatest calls, including Toronto’s first division title clinch in 1985, Dave Stieb’s no-hitter in 1990, and Joe Carter’s decisive home run in the 1993 World Series. Eyes throughout the stadium turned moist as photos from Cheek’s younger days flashed on the screen, accompanied by the strains of Frank Sinatra’s “It Was a Very Good Year.”25

Cheek made his way to the podium and addressed the crowd. After making a crack about the Yankees, he addressed his medical condition. “I’ve been fighting a situation now for over a month, almost two months now,” he said. “We’re doing the best we can to stay ahead of it. A brain tumor. We’re dealing with it.”26 Even Yankees radio announcer John Sterling had to take a moment to compose himself. Cheek, the consummate professional, went back to the Blue Jays radio booth after the ceremony to take his place and get ready for the game.

Tom’s wife, Shirley, told a reporter almost a decade later how that day changed his life. Cheek had told her that he had never imagined the connection he had forged with the fans and how important that connection was to them. “I never could really get the point until somebody said, and a lot of others followed, ‘Since I was a little kid, you’ve been giving the sound of summer.”27 It finally clicked for him. “He had so many people that would say he was the voice of summer,” she said. “‘I listen to you on the lake. I listen to you on the tractor out in Saskatoon, or, you know, wherever. But I think it really hit home when he saw that his name was going up on the wall and how much he had meant to the fans listening on radio.”28

Cheek wanted to bounce back and try to return to the booth for good in 2005. He was nominated for the National Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Award for the first time before the 2005 season. He was honored to be nominated and even though he didn’t win it (San Diego Padres announcer Jerry Coleman did), he looked forward to getting back into the booth to call Blue Jays games in the coming season. “I can’t wait to get out here and get back on the field and get back in the booth,” he said.29

Early in spring training, Rogers Media announced that Cheek would be back in the booth for Opening Day with Jerry Howarth. But Cheek suffered a setback when in March an MRI revealed that the cancer had returned and another tumor had formed. Rogers Media canceled his return pending the results of his surgery. Cheek, determined to beat the odds and do his job, made one more appearance in the radio booth for the Blue Jays on Opening Day.

“The last time Cheek was in the booth was Opening Day 2005,” Mike Wilner wrote, “when he joined Howarth and Warren Sawkiw at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, close to his home in Oldsmar, and Jerry insisted he get on the mic and call a few pitches. Reluctantly he agreed, and took over as Orlando Hudson came to the plate in the top of the third. Hudson homered, and so did Vernon Wells behind him, and that was enough for Cheek.”30 Cheek’s career as a broadcaster essentially ended that day.

On October 14, 2005, with his wife; his three children, Jeff, Lisa, and Tom; and his seven grandchildren present, Cheek died at the age of 66 at his Florida home. “It’s difficult to put into words the overwhelming sense of grief and loss shared today by the Blue Jays family, the city of Toronto, the extended community of Major League Baseball and its many fans,” Blue Jays President Paul Godfrey said. “He was a great goodwill ambassador for baseball in Canada.”31

Cheek did not believe that he deserved a lot of praise for just showing up to work every day. He seemed genuinely embarrassed that the Blue Jays added him to their Level of Excellence in 2004. Despite his resistance, others sought to reward Cheek for his efforts in promoting baseball. The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame honored Cheek with the Jack Graney Award for his contributions to baseball in Canada in 2001. The Canadian Sports Hall of Fame established an annual Tom Cheek Media Leadership Award, with Cheek being honored with the first award in 2005. The award was established to recognize media members who help promote Canadian sports “in an extraordinary and enduring way.” A website was created that sold wristbands to help fund cancer research. The year after Cheek died, the Blue Jays wore a white circular badge with the letters “TC” and a microphone in black on their left sleeve.32 And in 2013 Cheek was honored with the Ford C. Frick Award and earned enshrinement into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Baseball over the radio serves as the preferred way of catching baseball games for countless numbers of baseball fans all over the world. Even though television broadcasts have long replaced the radio as the most used communication device for watching baseball, there are still many who will turn their television volume down and listen to their favorite radio announcer call the game. The best of the baseball radio talent through the years: Mel Allen, Vin Scully, Gene Elston, and Ernie Harwell have become the voice of baseball for many. “Tom Cheek was the voice of summer for generations of baseball fans in Canada and beyond,” said Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson in a press release announcing the Ford C. Frick Award for Cheek. “He helped a nation understand the elements of the game and swoon for the summer excitement that the expansion franchise brought a hockey-crazed nation starting in the late 1970s.”33

Tom Cheek “was more than just a broadcaster,” said Len Bramson, the one-time talent-hunting guru who lured him to Toronto from Vermont hoping he’d establish an identity for the newly awarded Jays franchise. “He was big, had the voice. He was cordial with everybody, he could talk to anybody. In front of a crowd, he was outstanding. He did it with no notes. He just loved to talk about baseball.”34 Baseball fans all over Canada and beyond loved to hear him talk about baseball.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

1 Shi Davidi, “Cheek Up for Honour,” Toronto Star, February 22, 2005: E06.

2 Davidi.

3 Tom Cheek, Road to Glory (Toronto: Warwick Publishing, 1993), 7-30.

4 Cheek, Road to Glory; Canadian Press, “Tom Cheek, Voice of Toronto Blue Jays, Dies.” http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/tomcheekmemoriam.html.

5 Home Town Cable Network, “Toronto Broadcaster Tom Cheek – 1985,” YouTube, October 3, 2016. https://youtu.be/htU0td0aavA.

6 John Lott, “Voice of Summer; Tom Cheek, Who Brought His ‘Folksy, Intimate’ Style to Jays Broadcasts For 27½ Years, Is Finally Headed to Cooperstown,” National Post, Toronto, December 6, 2012: B5.

7 Neil MacCarl, “Blue Jays Polish Skills in Winter Loops,” The Sporting News, December 18, 1976: 54.

8 Sam Jarden, “April 7, 1977: Blue Jays Play Their First Ever Game,” The Sporting News, April 7, 2020. https://www.sportingnews.com/ca/mlb/news/april-7-1977-toronto-blue-jays-play-their-first-ever-game/17if403ulmlq418soqp71hx20t. “Tom Cheek, Voice of Toronto Blue Jays, Dies.” http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/tomcheekmemoriam.html.

9 CatchTheTaste, “1991: Behind the Scenes with Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth,” YouTube, July 6, 2019. https://youtu.be/ILDzMImogvc.

10 “2013 Ford C. Frick Award Winner Tom Cheek,” National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/awards/frick/tom-cheek.

11 David Bush, “O, Canada! A’s Fall, 9-2, Blue Jays win A.L. pennant, finally reach their 1st World Series,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 15, 1992: C1.

12 “Jays: Memories of ’92 and ’93 Series,” Toronto Star, August 11, 2018: S4.

13 Eye Flow, “Toronto Blue Jays World Series 1992 Tom Cheek,” YouTube, October 21, 2014. https://youtu.be/xODky9oDqMI.

14 Canadian Press and Herald Staff, “Blue Jays Fever: Canada Gets World Series,” Calgary Herald, October 15, 1992: A1.

15 Jeremy Sandler, “Blue Jays Broadcaster Misses Out on Hall of Fame Award,” National Post, February 23, 2005: B10.

16 Jim Proudfoot, “Cheek’s Book on Blue Jays a Treasure Hunt,” Toronto Star, July 6, 1993: D4.

17 Proudfoot.

18 Geoff Baker, “Sadly, Cheek Finally Misses a Jays Game,” Toronto Star, June 4, 2004: C04.

19 Geoff Baker, “Sadly, Cheek Finally Misses a Jays Game.”

20 Geoff Baker, “Tom Cheek: Ironman of the Airwaves,” Kitchener-Waterloo (Ontario) Record, October 11, 2005: D2.

21 Geoff Baker, “Blue Jays Honor Emotional Cheek,” Toronto Star, August 30, 2004: E07.

22 “Jays Announce Cheek Has Brain Tumor Removed,” Detroit Free Press, June 15, 2004: 8E.

23 “Touching All the Bases,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 24, 2004.

24 Mike Wilner, “Wilner on Jays: Remembering the Great Tom Cheek,” Sportsnet Canada, July 3, 2013, https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/wilner-on-jays-remembering-the-great-tom-cheek/.

25 Geoff Baker, “Blue Jays Honor Emotional Cheek.”

26 Geoff Baker, “Blue Jays Honor Emotional Cheek.”

27 John Lott, “Voice of Summer; Tom Cheek, Who Brought His ‘Folksy, Intimate’ Style to Jays Broadcasts For 27½ Years, Is Finally Headed to Cooperstown.”

28 Lott.

29 Jeremy Sandler, “Blue Jays Broadcaster Misses Out on Hall of Fame Award,” National Post, February 23, 2005: B10.

30 Mike Wilner, “Memories of Cheek, Who Touched So Many Lives,” Toronto Star, March 20, 2021: S1.

31 Associated Press, “Tom Cheek, 66; Announcer Called Blue Jay Games for 27½ Seasons,” Los Angeles Times, October 11, 2005, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-oct-11-me-cheek11-story.html; CBC Sports, “Tom Cheek, Longtime Voice of Blue Jays, Dead,” October 9, 2005, https://www.cbc.ca/sports/tom-cheek-longtime-voice-of-blue-jays-dead-1.528332.

32 “Voice of the Blue Jays Tom Cheek Dies,” Pittsburgh Tribune Review, October 9, 2005.

33 “Tom Cheek: Late Blue Jays Announcer Wins Top Hall of Fame honor,” Sherman Report, December 5, 2012. http://www.shermanreport.com/tom-cheek-late-blue-jays-announcer-wins-top-hall-fame-honor/.

34 Geoff Baker, “Tom Cheek: Ironman of the Airwaves,” Kitchener-Waterloo Record.

And he was there for the next 20 years, too. He would have stayed even longer but the broadcasting contracts were moved as deftly as Roberto Alomar could turn a double play and, voila, “Chevy” was gone.

“I have some other opportunities in baseball and I guess I’d better pursue them,” he told a reporter from the Globe and Mail in 1992. “I would have loved to stay with the Blue Jays, but it’s not possible. The package has been diluted and I can’t build around 30 games as my main base of income.”1

What happened is that Chevrier did continue broadcasting some Jays games on CTV each season until 1997. Here’s how that happened: Baton Broadcasting Inc. held the telecast rights for Jays games and worked primarily with CTV. In 1992, Baton negotiated a new contract to broadcast at least 60 games per year for five years for $60 million.2 At the time it cost about $48,000 per game to produce a Jays telecast and speculation was that Baton wanted to cut about $3,000 per game from that figure. One of the ways it did that was by letting producer Tom McKee go as others took pay cuts. In another belt-tightening move, Baton then resold the rights for some games in that five-year period to CTV and CBC.3 Then, in 1997, Baton, the Jays and CTV failed to reach an agreement.4

“I never imagined 25 or 30 games not being done,” Chevrier said at the time. “I’m out a lot of money and have no means of recovering it. Calling Jays games was the centerpiece of my work. If I’d seen it coming, I would have diligently pursued other avenues in the offseason. I’m very disappointed.”5

It was late March 1997 when Chevrier lamented his financial plight, a time when other baseball broadcasting jobs were filled.

“I’m sorry Don feels that way, but you can’t make those arrangements unless they’re predicated on a justifiable business case,” said Tom Curzon, Baton’s director of communications at the time.6 

But here’s how the Chevrier story begins: Donald Barry (sometimes spelled Barrie on some government forms) Chevrier was born in Toronto on December 29, 1937, but the family moved to Edmonton when he was 6. His father, Romain, was born in Winnipeg and is listed as an insurance salesman when he moved to the United States in 1928. His mother, Orva Heal, was born in Saskatchewan and listed her occupation as stenographer on a government form when she briefly moved to the United States in 1928. That seems to have set a pattern for the pair as they moved between the two countries. Both listed their residence as Detroit when they married in that city on May 16, 1929. Romain was 23 and Orva 24.

In 1953, when he was 16, he began a career in sports reporting/broadcasting that lasted in one form or another right up until his death in Palm Harbor, Florida, near Tampa, on December 17, 2007.

The late singer Robert Goulet, who worked in radio in Edmonton as a teenager at the time, gave Chevrier his first broadcasting job at radio station CKUA (Edmonton), where Chevrier covered high-school sports.7 Chevrier also worked with Goulet on a on a children’s drama program that year.8

From there it was on to CJCA to do daily sports reports. An ad in the Edmonton Journal on November 25, 1955, asked listeners to tune in to Teen Sport Review at 5:05 P.M. on CJCA. By age 20 Chevrier was announcing Edmonton Eskimos home games. Sticking with football, he did play-by-play for CFL teams when he moved to CFRA in Ottawa and then CJAD in Montreal. He called his first Grey Cup game for CBC/CTV in 1969 and then again from 1971 to 1980. In recognition of all that, he was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in November 2016.9    

In 1966 Chevrier joined CBC in Toronto, working first in radio and then television. Then, in the 1980s and ’90s, he was working at CTV. He also covered the Olympics for the CBC, ABC, and NBC television and radio networks handling everything from curling to synchronized swimming. The Olympics portion of his résumé began with him covering team handball and boxing at the Summer Games in 1976; hockey during the Winter Games in 1980 (including the US-Soviet game for ABC Radio); badminton, table tennis, and synchronized swimming in the 2004 Summer Games; and curling at the Winter Games in 2002 and 2006

“Synchronized swimming – he’d never done that in his life,” said Don Duguid, who worked alongside Chevrier on Olympic curling broadcasts for NBC. “We had a lot of fun with that. … I said, ‘What do you know about swimming?’ he said, ‘It’s just one hand in front of the other.’”10 

He called the 1980 Winter Olympics hockey game between the Soviets and the US men’s teams for ABC radio. Even after he was supposedly retired in Florida, he still wanted to keep announcing by trying to land a job with the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL. That didn’t pan out but he did hook up with the Ottawa Senators and broadcast games from the 1992-93 through 1997-98 seasons for CHRO-TV.11 If there was a regret, Chevrier said, it was that he never got to broadcast a “Hockey Night in Canada” game.12

Given all that – his résumé included broadcasting 21 different sports13 – his career basically could be centered on three main themes: Blue Jays, curling, and the Olympics. His obituary in the Toronto Star noted, “If there was a sport Don Chevrier couldn’t call, it was probably only because he hadn’t been asked.”14 His success derived from thinking of what the viewer needed to know. Rick Brace, who was president of CBC when Chevrier died in 2007, said about his colleague: “He kind of brought us into the age of the viewer demanding more information and more insight, and not just straight commentary. Don pioneered that.”15

Let us look at some of the accomplishments on Chevrier’s résumé:

• He won an Association of Canadian Television and Radio Artists (“Nellie”) award in 1975 as Canada’s best sportscaster.
• He won the Canadian Sports Media Achievement Award and was inducted into the Canadian Media Hall of Fame in October 2004.
• And, as mentioned earlier, he was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in November 2016.
• Away from the world of sports, his voice was also used in a 1988 episode of the TV show The Twilight Zone and in the 2005 movie Brokeback Mountain.

Hockey broadcaster and former NHL goalie Greg Millen summed up Chevrier’s impact: “He will go down as one of those Canadian icons in broadcasting.”16

Clearly, Chevrier had a long and varied résumé, but he is clearly best remembered as being the voice of the Jays (And in the World Series of 1992 he worked alongside color commentator Tommy Hutton and field reporter Ken Daniels.) The fictional Terence Mann tells Ray Kinsella in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams that “People will come, Ray. … The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball.” And so it was with Chevrier, the one constant through all the boxing, curling, Olympic, and all the other broadcasts was baseball, and it was largely defined by the Blue Jays.

Just before that snowy first game in Exhibition Stadium in 1977, Chevrier had already been on the air for an hour doing the pregame show. Then the snow cleared and the game was on. For three hours he called the balls and strikes, the innings and outs, and the sturm und drang of a typical early-season game. It’s 5:18 in the afternoon and the game is already an official W for the hometown good guys, the postgame show is wrapped up … and then they realize they have to fill the time for the next 12 minutes until 5:30. Chevrier handled it with seeming ease because he was ready for emergencies.

“In broadcasting, preparation is everything,” he told a reporter a few days after the game.17

“You just can’t go in and fake it,” he told another reporter. “Baseball, for example, is a game where you can get caught very easily if you don’t prepare lots of material in advance.”18

What also helps is a deep knowledge of the game and its personalities. When told Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck would be a guest during part of a game, Chevrier had precious little time to prepare. But he hit a metaphorical home run with the interview.

“Afterward, Veeck told me how impressed he was with how much Don knew about baseball,” said producer Ralph Mellanby.19  

Preparation is important, but a sense of self-effacing humor and comedic timing also helps from time to time when needed. Chevrier wouldn’t hesitate to tell stories about those “oops!” moments that are inevitable in any live production. Like this one: Once, during a game against the Boston Red Sox, his color commentator, Tony Kubek, said that relief pitcher Greg Harris was ambidextrous. Chevrier replied that that “would be a manager’s dream come true because it would save him having to go to the bullpen again because Greg Harris, being ambidextrous, could relieve himself on the mound.” As Chevrier told it, there was 15 seconds of silence before he spoke again. Whether the quip was a mistake or intentional isn’t the point, but know this: Chevrier was a storyteller nonpareil.20

When the Jays won the World Series in 1992 the humor was more confident and intentional, but in those early years it had to be more pronounced to keep the customers satisfied.

Paul Godfrey, who was Jays president from September 2000 to September 2008, said Chevrier was essential during the team’s early, struggling years because his broadcasts at least made the games sound interesting.  

“When the team loses 100 games in its first year, the TV broadcast has to make sure the fans keep coming back, even though they were outclassed by most of the opposition,” Godfrey told a reporter.21 

Chevrier endured, along with the fans, and saw the team’s glory years when the Jays won back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993. Chevrier was living in Florida when he died at age 69.

“I knew the voice before I knew the person,” Gord Ash, former Jays general manager, told a reporter. “The voice was so dramatic and authoritative and you just felt whatever he was trying to convey, no matter what sport he was doing at the time. It sent a powerful message.

“You don’t see that much anymore, there’s such specialty now. You don’t see a guy cross over as much as he did.”22   

Notes

1 Neil Campbell, “Chevrier Quitting as Jay Announcer,” Globe and Mail (Toronto), October 14, 1992:  C7.

2 Unless noted otherwise, all financial transactions are in Canadian dollars.

3 James Christie and John Partridge, “Jays’ Broadcaster from Early Days Out in Squeeze Play,” Globe and Mail, March 17, 1992: D18.

4 However, CBC picked up 35 games on weekends and TSN had 80 games on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. “MAKING THE PITCH: CTV Ends 15 Years of Covering the Blue Jays, but CBC and TSN Have Picked Up the Ball,” Globe and Mail, April 5, 1997: F19.

5  William Houston, “Truth & Rumours: William Houston’s World of Sport – Chevrier Slams Baton,” Globe and Mail, March 18, 1997: D13.

6 Houston.

7 Goulet was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1933. His mother, Jeannette, moved the family to Edmonton after the death of her husband in 1949.

8 John Krobank, “’Voice of God’ Broadcaster Returns to His Maker,” Edmonton Journal, December 24, 2007: B-7.

9 “Don Chevrier, Class of 2016,” at https://cfhof.ca/members/don-chevrier/.

10 Peter James, CanWest News Service at https://www.cfl.ca/2007/12/19/don_chevrier_remembered/.

11 F.F. Langan, “He Was the Voice of the Blue Jays and ‘a Producer’s Dream’,” Globe and Mail, December 20, 2007: S-8.

12 Langan.

13 “First Blue Jays broadcaster Chevrier found dead at 69,” ESPN.com, December 18, 2007, at https://www.espn.com/espn/print?id=3160666

14  Chris Zelkovich, “Mellow tones silenced,” Toronto Star, December 19, 2007: S4.

15 William Houston, “‘Voice of God’ silenced,” Globe and Mail, December 19, 2007: S1.  

16 “Legendary sports broadcaster Don Chevrier passes away,” CBC Sports at https://www.cbc.ca/sports/legendary-sports-broadcaster-don-chevrier-passes-away-1.664796

17 Bryan Johnson, “The golden throat of the Blue Jays,” Globe and Mail, April 9, 1977: 28.

18 “Chevrier career spans 22 years,” Winnipeg Free Press, October 15, 1977.

19 Zelkovich. Also in that same article American sportscaster Howard Cosell, who broadcast boxing with Chevrier, rhetorically asked, “Are all Canadian sportscasters as good as Don Chevrier?”

20 Zelkovich. Also, “Call him Hopeful Harry,” Toronto Star, October 15, 2004: C9. There is a discrepancy in the anecdote. The Zelkovich story has Harris playing for the Red Sox, the earlier anonymous story says Harris was playing for the Texas Rangers. What is known is that Harris pitched for the Rangers from 1985-87, and for the Red Sox from 1989-93 and for part of 1994. 

21 Langan.

22 ESPN.com.

Galen Bernard Cisco was born on March 7, 1936, to Beryl and Esther Cisco in St. Marys, Ohio, a town of about 8,000 near the Indiana border, halfway between Dayton, Ohio, and Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Ciscos owned a farm, and Galen and his three brothers and one sister spent hours working in the family business. “We kind of had a really great family life,” Cisco recalled. “We were brought up on the farm. … Everyone had their chore and we all did the things that we needed to do growing up on the farm.”1

When young Galen wasn’t taking care of livestock, he squeezed in time playing sports, namely football and baseball. At Memorial High School in St. Marys, he played both sports. His football coach was Jack Bickel, who had been a running back at Miami (Ohio) University for Woody Hayes. Cisco recalled that many of the plays in the Memorial playbook were the same ones Hayes later ran at Ohio State.

Like most young Buckeyes, Cisco dreamed of playing for The Ohio State University. After graduating from high school in 1954, he enrolled at Ohio State with a major in education. Freshmen were not allowed to play on varsity teams in that era, so the pride of St. Marys spent a year practicing with the varsity. Once Cisco got the chance to play, he excelled in both sports. He sported a 12-2 collegiate pitching record and was named a third-team All-American in 1956. But he gained greater acclaim in football, as a running back and linebacker.

In his senior year Ohio State went to the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day 1958. Before a big game, many athletes focus strictly on the showdown, but that wasn’t true for Cisco. Preparing for the biggest (and final) gridiron game of his college career, he made a life-changing decision. Coach Hayes told his players that anyone who was married could bring their wives free to Pasadena to attend the Rose Bowl game. Cisco was engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Martha. With this Rose Bowl-colored carrot dangling over their heads, Galen and Martha decided there was no reason to wait until after the football season to tie the knot. “She married me and got a free trip to the Rose Bowl,” Cisco recalled.

The 8-1 Buckeyes were a 21-point favorite over 7-3 Oregon, Cisco recounted, but the Ohio State offense just couldn’t get started that day. Oregon gained more yards and collected more first downs than the favorites. Ohio State still prevailed, 10-7, thanks to a 34-yard field goal by Don Sutherin in the fourth quarter.

While some players suffered under Hayes’ rough nature, Cisco enjoyed playing for him. “He was a very, very fundamentally-minded coach. He didn’t get too fancy. He didn’t pass a lot. He seemed to think that if you take a few plays and play them better than anyone else, you’re going to be successful,” said Cisco. “He was a no-nonsense guy. He probably was one of the most prepared people I have ever been around.”

Cisco’s collegiate career was coming to an end in 1958, but he didn’t need any help choosing which sport to pursue. He recalled that a few professional football teams called Hayes about the two-way star, but were told he was interested in throwing baseballs – not throwing tackles. “The closer I got to the latter years in college, I thought baseball would have more longevity than football. I had an opportunity to sign so I did,” said Cisco.

Signed in 1958 by Red Sox scout Denny Galehouse, Cisco wasted no time hurling the horsehide in the minors. He pitched in 32 games for Corning of the Class-D New York-Pennsylvania League and Raleigh of the Class-B Carolina League that summer, with a composite record of 6-12.

Since he still was two quarters short of receiving his bachelor’s degree, Cisco spent the 1958-59 offseason back in Columbus to finish his schooling, and Hayes hired him as the backfield coach for the freshman football team. He stayed in that position for four offseasons, coaching future NFL stars Paul Warfield and Matt Snell, among others.

While teaching young running backs how to find holes each autumn, Cisco spent his springs and summers becoming a more accomplished pitcher. Along with brief 1959 stops in Raleigh and Allentown (Eastern), he won 15 games with a Midwest League-leading 2.23 ERA for Waterloo. The next year he finished 3-7, but with a fine 2.93 ERA, for Minneapolis in the American Association, and joined the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League in 1961.

Along with teammates Dick Radatz and Don Schwall, Cisco pitched for manager Johnny Pesky in Seattle. In his nine games with the Rainiers that year, Cisco finished 6-1, compiled a 1.54 ERA, and completed five of his starts. Cisco was clearly ready for the call, and he quickly followed his teammate Schwall to Boston.

The Red Sox team Cisco joined had suffered through a decade of mediocrity, and in 1961 Ted Williams no longer patrolled left field for the team. If fans hadn’t attended games at the ballpark with the great Williams in the lineup, they surely stayed away from a team made up of unproven players like Carl Yastrzemski. “The product we put on the field was not that great,” said Cisco. “It was a tough place to play. The writers there were tough.”

Cisco’s first game was a Fenway Park start on June 11, and he allowed five hits and five runs in 2 1/3 innings against the Minnesota Twins. Six days later he won a start against the Washington Senators, but by mid-July he was out of the rotation. Cisco struggled with the second-division team (2-4, 6.71), but the Red Sox were excited about the future of their rotation with Schwall, Tracy Stallard, Bill Monbouquette, and Cisco. His former manager, Pesky, predicted that Cisco was “another Schwall,” who won the Rookie of the Year in 1961.2

Schwall himself said that the Galen Cisco who pitched in Boston was not the same guy who was his teammate in the minors. “When he came up here, he got off to a bad start. Then he began to press. He wasn’t pitching normally and as a result he didn’t look like the pitcher he was when I was with him in Minneapolis and Seattle,” Schwall told The Sporting News after the 1961 season.3

But Cisco showed great improvement in spring training before the 1962 season. In 28 innings he allowed only three earned runs for an 0.86 ERA, while scattering 23 hits. Shortly before Opening Day, Red Sox manager Pinky Higgins told the press, “Nobody can believe Cisco is the same guy who was with us for the last half of 1961.”4

But Cisco’s 1962 season with the Red Sox mirrored his struggles of the previous year. On July 27 Higgins even left him on the mound to allow 16 hits and 13 runs against the Senators, finally taking him out of the game in the sixth inning. Two relief appearances later, the Red Sox placed Cisco on waivers, and he was claimed by the New York Mets.

The right-handed pitcher went from a mediocre team to one of the worst in the history of baseball. “We had guys who couldn’t hit the ball and didn’t catch it,” Cisco recalled. Cisco now played for Casey Stengel, a learning experience for the young pitcher. After splitting two decisions in September 1962, Cisco was 7-15, 4.34, in 51 games in 1963.

While in New York, “Ohio State” (Stengel’s name for Cisco) started and relieved. Despite the team’s futility, he was able to discuss the art of pitching with teammates Roger Craig, Al Jackson, Don Rowe, Bob Miller, and Larry Bearnarth, all of whom later became pitching coaches in the major leagues. “I think everybody used to talk more [then] about the game than they did later. I’m talking about in the 1990s on. I think they talked about the game much more then,” said Cisco.

While the team did not perform well, Cisco was likely the best pitcher on the 1964 Mets’ staff. Pitching in the new Shea Stadium, the right-hander finished with a 3.62 ERA while going 6-19 for the still-hapless team. In that season Cisco’s pitching forced a future Hall of Famer to try a new pitch.

Cisco came in in the 14th inning of the second game of a doubleheader against the San Francisco and proceeded to shut down the Giants. His mound opponent late in the game was Gaylord Perry, who was struggling to stay in the major leagues, but who would ultimately win 314 games and a plaque in Cooperstown. Perry was called into the game in the 13th inning, and he later acknowledged throwing his first spitball in this game. Cisco and Perry traded scoreless innings until Jimmy Davenport tripled in the winning run for the Giants in the 23rd inning.

Undeterred, Cisco came back in his next start and four-hit the world champion Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-0, in front of 55,000 fans at Shea. Cisco’s performances made an impression on his manager. During the 1964 season, Stengel acknowledged that the Mets had debated in the spring whether to even keep Cisco on the roster. “Then he got a little bit better and a little bit better and a little bit better. Now he’s about as good as anyone we have,” Stengel told The Sporting News.5

The Cisco followed this fine season by limping to a 4-8 record and a 4.49 ERA in 1965. After the season, Cisco was sent to the minors, finishing his four-year Mets career with an 18-43 record and 4.04 ERA.

After starting the 1966 season with the Mets’ Triple-A Jacksonville affiliate, in June Cisco was sold back to the Red Sox, and he finished the season with their Toronto club. Dick Williams, the Toronto manager, knew Cisco was only about 60 days of service time away from his pension, and wanted to help the soft-spoken Ohioan. For the season, Cisco finished 11-6 in 157 innings in his two International League stops.

Williams, who was named manager of the 1967 Red Sox, told Cisco he would try to get him his pension. “He told me if he had a chance he would give me a look or maybe bring me up even for two years the last 30 days when teams could expand the club,” Cisco recalled. If he’d been hurting the team, Williams would have sent him down, but Williams stuck to his word in 1967 and gave him a shot. Cisco started the year with the Red Sox as a reliever. Looking back 40 years later, Cisco said the team didn’t seem special at the start.

“I think we thought we had a pretty good club. What it boiled down to was what kind of pitching staff you had,” said Cisco. “I don’t think anybody expected us to do anything like (the 1967 Red Sox eventually) did.” Cisco was used mostly in mop-up work. He pitched in 11 games and threw 22 1/3 innings for the Impossible Dream team. But shortly after the All-Star break, the Red Sox saw an opportunity to improve their bench by picking up Norm Siebern, and sent Cisco to the minors to free up the roster spot.

A number of players chafed under the pressure of playing for Dick Williams, but not Cisco. “I learned a lot of baseball as a player from Dick,” he said. “He was a no-nonsense guy. You didn’t have to wonder what he was thinking about.” In this regard, Cisco added, Williams was much like Woody Hayes. “He was honest with me always. I got along with him just fine.”

For the remainder of the 1967 season, Cisco pitched for Pittsfield (0.82 ERA in 11 innings) and Toronto (2.08 ERA in 65 innings). He enjoyed a renaissance in 1968 for Louisville, the Red Sox’ new International League affiliate. He led the league with a 2.21 ERA while winning 11 games for the Colonels, at one point throwing 22 consecutive scoreless innings.

After the season, Cisco was sold to the expansion Kansas City Royals, who would begin play the following spring. Unlike the Mets in 1962, though, the Royals were more mediocre than atrocious. “The Royals I think had a little bit better draft. The way the draft was set up I think the Royals had a little bit better advantage than the Mets,” Cisco said, comparing the two expansion clubs.

Despite struggling with Omaha in the early season (5.00 ERA in 10 games), Cisco was called up by Kansas City in June and the Buckeye finished the season in the Royals’ bullpen. Cisco finished with a 3.63 ERA, in what would be the last 22 1/3 innings of his major-league playing career. He was 33 years old.

The following year Omaha hired Cisco as a player-coach. The plan was to work as the pitching coach, but to take to the mound if there were injuries or if the team was in dire need of an arm. He threw 76 innings and finished his final year as a player with a 2.49 ERA. Cisco also won his final six decisions, the longest winning streak in his pro career.

Just 35 years old, Cisco became the pitching coach for Bob Lemon in Kansas City in 1971. During his tenure with the Royals, he worked with such top-notch starters as Dennis Leonard, Steve Busby, and Paul Splittorff. All three credited Cisco for their successes. “I had been dropping too much on my slider and Galen got on me about throwing more over the top,” Busby told The Sporting News in 1973, after the publication named him the American League Rookie Pitcher of the Year and a year before he won 20 games with the Royals. “I guess I was doing the same thing with my fastball. I know I felt better and threw better when I went back to the old way.”6

Mound ace Leonard told The Sporting News in 1976, “When I struggled last season, Galen worked with me. He told me I was dropping down too much and everything I was throwing was flattening out. He worked with me for hours and hours.”7

When Splittorff contemplated quitting in the minors, Cisco talked him out of it.

“I told him you’re left-handed and your time will come when you’re going to get a shot at the big leagues. You have spent three full years playing this game and you should give it one or two more years before retiring,” Cisco told the young pitcher, who won 166 games in 15 major-league seasons.

Cisco was the pitching coach for the Royals’ division championship teams in 1976-1978 before being let go when Whitey Herzog was fired after the 1979 season. The experienced pitching coach quickly found work; his old friend Dick Williams hired him to lead the pitchers in Montreal.

A few years later Cisco worked with Williams in San Diego. In 1987 the Toronto Blue Jays hired Cisco as their pitching coach, and within four years his staff included Jimmy Key, Dave Stieb, Todd Stottlemyre, and David Wells. Wells, not known for his love of management, appreciated Cisco’s assistance. “Galen Cisco helped me a lot. He would help me correct little things if he saw me doing something wrong, and we would talk pitching,” Wells said in 1990.8

Cisco led the Jays’ pitchers during their world championship years of 1992-1993, the first team to win back-to-back World Series in 15 years. In addition to Key, Stieb, Stottlemyre, and Wells, pitchers who threw for him during those two years included Jack Morris, David Cone, Dave Stewart, Tom Henke, Duane Ward, and Mike Timlin. “I have to give (Pat) Gillick a lot of credit, and the scouting department,” Cisco said. “After the first (championship), most teams would have stayed pretty much pat, but they brought in two or three key players. … Without those players, I wonder if we would have won it back to back.”

Toronto did not re-sign Cisco after the 1995 season, but the year wasn’t all bad for the Ohio State graduate. He was inducted into OSU’s Varsity Hall of Fame.

Two years later, Cisco accepted his final major-league job – pitching coach of the Philadelphia Phillies under new manager Terry Francona, who later led the Red Sox to their first World Series championship in 86 years in 2004. After being let go by the Phillies, Cisco worked in the Blue Jays’ minor-league system before retiring after 45 years in pro baseball.

Looking back on his successful career as a pitching coach, Cisco said he didn’t have one favorite hurler. “I think that two starters had as good stuff as anybody: One was Dave Stieb and one was Steve Rogers,” he said. The smartest pitcher? Busby. “He studied (hitters’) weaknesses and was a student of pitching. If this guy stayed healthy, he would have been something,” Cisco said of his former pupil, whose career was cut short by injuries.

Cisco pointed to Willie Blair as a pitcher of borderline talent stuck in Toronto’s Triple-A farm club who really worked hard on his game. Blair won 60 games in the major leagues, including 16 for Detroit in 1997. “I don’t know if I had a lot to do with it or not, but he went on and had some pretty good years,” said Cisco modestly.

In 2006 he was enjoying retirement in Celina, Ohio, only a few miles from his hometown of St. Marys. St. Marys inaugurated the Galen Cisco Award to the Little League MVP. The award has been given since 1965 and was won by Galen’s nephew, Ty, in 1980. The Cisco baseball legacy carried on. His sons, Galen Jr. and Jeff, both played minor-league ball, and his grandson, Mike Cisco, was a pitcher at South Carolina in 2006.

Last revised: January 1, 2017

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted:

Cataneo, David. Casey Stengel: Baseball’s “Old Professor” (Nashville: Cumberland House, 2003).

Koppett, Leonard. The New York Mets: The Whole Story (New York: Macmillan, 1974).

Perry, Gaylord, and Bob Sudyk, Me and the Spitter (New York: Signet Books, 1974).

Editors of Total Baseball. Total Mets (Kingston, New York: Total Sports, 2000).

ohiostatebuckeyes.cstv.com/ (Ohio State University Athletic Department website).

ridertown.com (virtual St. Marys Ohio website).

Notes

1 Author interview with Galen Cisco, April 25, 2006. Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations from Cisco come from this interview.

2 Hy Hurwitz, “Hub Hose Peg Kid Mound Comers to Pace ’62 Climb,” The Sporting News, January 24, 1962: 21.

3 Hy Hurwitz, “Schwall and Schilling Speed Big Rebuilding Program by Red Sox,” The Sporting News, November 29, 1961: 45.

4 Hy Hurwitz, “Cisco Kid Rides to Rescue – Fills Bill on Hub Hill,” The Sporting News, April 18, 1962: 24.

5 Barney Kremenko, “Cisco Kid Rides to Rescue; Hero of Met Mound Corps,” The Sporting News, June 20, 1964: 18.

6 Sid Bordman, “Steve’s Buzz Bomb Act Captures Tigers Again,” The Sporting News, May 12, 1973: 12.

7 Sid Bordman, “‘I Plan to Win 20,’ Says Royals’ Ace Leonard,” The Sporting News, July 31, 1976: 13.

8 Neil McCarl, “In Role As Starter, All Is Well for Wells,” The Sporting News, July 20, 1990: 9.

“I like to think of the world’s greatest athlete coming up to bat against me – Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, I don’t care who it is – and I’m looking at him thinking, ‘You have no chance.’ “1

There was a moment in the third game of the 1996 World Series that felt eerily familiar for David Cone. Bases loaded, no gas in the tank. He had been burned in that situation a year before.

Game Five, American League Division Series, Seattle, 1995: On his 147th pitch, Cone had walked pinch-hitter Doug Strange in the eighth inning to allow the tying run in the Yankees’ eventual 11th-inning postseason exit.

No doubt he had replayed that moment all season. But 1996 had brought its own trials – a life-threatening aneurysm that had sidelined him for four months, so that now his stamina was the equivalent of coming out of spring training.2 The defending champion Atlanta Braves had embarrassed the Yankees at home in the first two World Series games, and now 24 million pairs of eyes were on Cone in Atlanta.3

On the winning side of a 2-0 duel against future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine, a tiring Cone had loaded the bases with one out in the sixth and cleanup hitter Fred McGriff at bat. Yankees manager Joe Torre jogged to the mound.

“David,” said Torre, his face inches away from his star right-hander’s. “This is really important; I need to know the truth. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Cone said, “I can get McGriff.”

Torre asked if he was sure.

“I’m losing my splitter a bit, but it’s more mechanical than anything.”

“I wanted to hear him say it,” Torre said afterward. “If he had hesitated, I would have taken him out. But he didn’t.”4

“I lied,” Cone said. “But I had to make him believe my lie.”5

McGriff popped up to short, and Cone eventually escaped with a one-run lead. The Yankees ultimately took Game Three, and the next three games, for their first championship in 18 years.

Typical Cone to believe the improbable – he was often at his best when the odds were stacked against him. Despite developing a reputation as a free spirit in his early years with the Mets, and then in midcareer as a hired gun after jumping multiple teams in time for their playoff push, Cone’s candor facing the New York media had turned him into a sort of elder spokesman. He was a player representative when team owners threatened to shut the MLB Players Association down. When his fastball began to slow as he hit his 30s, he became, as he often said, “a finesse pitcher without the finesse,” adopting new arm angles and sometimes inventing pitches on the spot to compensate for any flaws in his abilities.6

In some ways, David Cone’s place among the pitching elite seems improbable – he doesn’t look like a prototypical athlete. His baseball cards claim he is 6-feet-1 and 180 pounds,7 but standing next to teammates he often resembled the runt younger brother, what with his slight hunch and a face that sportswriters ad nauseam likened to a “choirboy.”8 And his high school didn’t have a baseball team.

In fact, ask a teenage Cone where he saw himself as an adult, and he figured he’d follow his fictional hero, Oscar Madison of The Odd Couple, into journalism, complete with the greasy, wrinkled sweatshirt and half-eaten bologna sandwich behind the couch. That was as good a dream as any for a kid growing up in the blue-collar Northeast district of Kansas City.

And yet, in other ways, the youngest of four children – a girl followed by three boys – born to Joan Sylvia Curran, a secretary and travel agent, and Edwin Mack Cone seemed intended to be an athlete from his birth on January 2, 1963. He was almost named Theodore Samuel Cone; Theodore after Ted Williams, Samuel after New York Giants linebacker Sam Huff.9 Instead, he was David Brian Cone.

Ed Cone once had professional dreams as a side-armer, or perhaps going into business like his father and namesake, who managed a hotel chain and knew the local political bosses. Instead, Ed Cone worked as a mechanic, first at a steel plant, then at a meat-packing factory. He rose long before the sun to repair large hunks of metal for over 60 hours a week, often in rooms kept at freezing temperatures.

“There was never a suggestion that my success in sports, if it came along, would be some kind of avenue to financial success for him,” David Cone said. “He wasn’t proving anything through me. With him, sports was an avenue for his kids to get a better education. We were sports-crazy in my family, but the real obsession was always school. You might say it didn’t work out that way with me.”10

Fierce Wiffle-Ball games would take place in the Cones’ backyard under the floodlights Ed and Joan Cone had installed for evening baseball. The family affectionately called it Conedlestick Park or Coneway Park. Pitching came naturally as soon as David realized the Wiffle Ball could bend and dive depending on his grip.11 Ed Cone helped him fine-tune his mechanics.

Frequently playing alongside boys his older brothers’ ages, David got used to fighting for what was his. He was cut from his first little league team at age 7, because he was too small. He made it the next year, with Ed Cone as the new coach. David was also the star shooting guard on Ed Cone’s junior-high basketball team.12 Friends recalled the legendary squabbles between father and son – at least one particular temper tantrum ended with David being sent home.13

“He commanded respect, but there was a fear factor, too,” David said of his father’s coaching style.14

Cone described his parents as “tough, hard-nosed, blue-collar people. They went by the sort of kick-the-bird-out-of-the-nest type of theory. You had to fly or fall to the ground. In some ways, I really appreciate that. In other ways, maybe we both regret that we haven’t fostered that close, affectionate relationship that some families have. Part of my resiliency and so-called toughness, emotionally, is due to that background. Part of the problems I have emotionally, too, are due to that background.”15

However, the tight-knit Cone clan knew family first. When David’s older brother Danny got into a fistfight with a neighbor on their front porch, Joan Cone wrestled her son away from the larger man’s blows. The neighbor’s ire escalated into weapon-wielding16 death threats, so Ed Cone grabbed a .22 and shot him. (The wound was superficial.) David, 14, learned that day not to “be bullied by anybody. The worst thing you could be called in this world is someone who didn’t stand up for his family.”17

Such attitude translated to sports. He played basketball with such intensity that he once struck an opponent who had caused him to foul out with a metal protector he had been wearing over an injured finger.18 Another opponent who violently slammed a ball at his chest received it back in the face.19

This isn’t to paint Cone as the belligerent sort – he just hated getting beat. At Rockhurst High School,20 the all-boys Jesuit prep he attended as an alternative to the subpar Kansas City public-education system, he was generally an above-average student, charming and well-liked. His senior year, he led the football team, as its starting quarterback, and the basketball team, as a guard, to the district finals.

Rockhurst had no baseball team. His junior year, Cone, also a sportswriter for the school newspaper, had gathered over 700 signatures on a petition, as well as a potential field and coaching staff, but it was a no-go.21 Instead, Cone played summer ball in the Ban Johnson League, a gangly adolescent mowing down college-age men interested in going pro.

At 16, he was called to an invitation-only tryout with his hometown Royals, where the scouts gave him a second look from among a couple of hundred talents.22 He also pitched in an open tryout with the Cardinals. At 17, he hit 88 mph on the radar gun23 and was telling his parents – much to his mother’s concern – that he wanted to forgo college for the major leagues.24

Cone was considering a partial scholarship at the University of Missouri (in baseball, with a chance to walk on to the football team). But on June 8, 1981, a Western Union wire announced that the Kansas City Royals selected him in the third round of the free-agent draft.25 It helped that his father and Royals scout Carl Blando had known each other since childhood.

Having grown up idolizing the likes of Dennis Leonard and George Brett, Cone was all too eager to sign on the dotted line for $17,500. Similar draftees were receiving $30,000, but Cone had never seen so much money in his life. He wouldn’t be so cavalier about his worth in future negotiations.

Cone immediately reported to Sarasota for rookie ball, where he had a 2.55 ERA in 67 innings pitched, second most on the team. The next year, 1982, Cone split between Class-A Charleston and Fort Myers, going 16-3 with a 2.08 ERA, including seven complete games.

Then, in an exhibition game against the Pirates in March 1983, he tore the ACL in his left knee in a collision at home plate. If the hip-length cast from surgery didn’t say it emphatically enough, Cone’s season was done. Between the countless hours he spent on an exercise bike rebuilding his strength, he took a minimum-wage job at a conveyor belt company. For four months, he cut and bonded strips of rubber, frequently slicing his hands as an occupational casualty – not the smartest idea for a pitcher. The uncertainty of a comeback plagued him with visions of a future in manual labor, just like his father.26

Cone struggled with his control in 1984 at Double-A Memphis (110 strikeouts, 114 walks), and in 1985 at Triple-A Omaha (115 strikeouts, 93 walks). Such prolonged mediocrity may have prevented a September call-up with the big-league club, which won its first World Series title that fall.

Nor could he manage his money, as notices from the Internal Revenue Service went ignored. His first paycheck in 1985 was for $83; Uncle Sam had taken around 90 percent.27

Moved to the Omaha bullpen to start 1986, Cone rediscovered the strike zone, fanning 63 and walking 25 in 71 innings. The Royals were noticing. On June 8 – five years to the day after his draft – Cone replaced a concussion-suffering Mark Gubicza on the big-league roster. He relieved Bret Saberhagen in the top of the ninth against Minnesota and allowed three singles and a run. Three days later, he was summoned for mop-up work against Seattle (4⅔ innings, five earned runs, four strikeouts). After two more brief, scoreless relief appearances, he was returned to Triple A.

Rejoining the parent club as a September call-up, Cone appeared seven times from the bullpen, including four shutout innings with five strikeouts on September 20. His final line in his first major-league season: no decisions, a 5.56 ERA, 21 strikeouts, and 13 walks in 22⅔ innings.

“David had a fastball and a slider back then,” said Jamie Quirk, an Omaha teammate. “He was almost there but he kept trying to strike everybody out. I wanted to persuade him to be in the strike zone more and set the batters up – let them hit the ball now and then but where you wanted them to hit it. He got the idea some days.”28

Were there any doubts Cone was ready for “The Show,” he spent the offseason helping the Ponce Leones capture the Puerto Rican Winter League pennant and the Caguas Criollos the Caribbean World Series championship.29 Cone went 6-2 in 70 2/3 innings for Ponce, including two shutouts, tied for the league lead in wins, and was second in ERA (2.42) and strikeouts (45).

Cone headed to Royals spring training in 1987 energized with two pitches that would become signatures: a side-arm slider (the “Laredo”), which he learned from Gaylord Perry, and a split-finger fastball. A day after being told he made the team – March 27 – he was traded to the Mets.

Apparently the Royals needed a catcher, and they eyed Ed Hearn. Throw in pitching never-really-weres Rick Anderson and Mauro Gozzo, and Cone was headed to New York with outfield prospect Chris Jelic. Hearn would play a total of 13 more games in his major-league career. It may be the worst trade in Royals history.30

For Cone, the news that he was being ripped from his hometown and sent to some unfamiliar city hit him like a sucker punch to the gut. He had a spot in the Royals rotation, and now he was concerned about starting the season in Triple A if the Mets, the reigning world champions, could not fit him on their roster.

Cone needed not worry about his place in New York. During his first session at the Mets’ spring training facility, his pitches moved so much that catcher Barry Lyons could barely hold onto them – Cone said pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre’s jaw was “literally dropping.”31 Cone would start the season at Shea Stadium.

And players – a roster oozing with as much zany debauchery as raw talent – took swiftly to his congenial, slightly goofy nature. Lyons was lockered next to Cone when he first arrived. “We hit it off,” Lyons said.32 And first baseman Keith Hernandez, according to Cone, “made me feel more welcome in one day than the Royals had in six years.”33

“[T]he Mets were a perfect fit for me,” Cone said. “I’d do anything in the world to fit in with that wild group of guys.”34

Injuries (and Dwight Gooden checking into rehab) forced Cone into the rotation. His first start in blue-and-orange, on April 27, was mortification – 10 runs (7 earned) in five innings. Undeterred, two starts later, on May 12, he went the distance for his first big-league win.

Just as Cone’s place in the rotation seemed secure, a fastball by the Giants’ Atlee Hammaker fractured his pinky as he squared for a bunt on May 27.35 Surgery followed, and Cone would not return until the middle of August, the pinky permanently, grossly misshapen.

Cone finished 5-6 with a 3.71 ERA in 99⅓ innings, as the injury-ravaged Mets, despite the second-best record in the National League, missed the playoffs.

Injuries worked to his advantage – Cone exploded into the rotation permanently in 1988 after Rick Aguilera’s elbow went bad. His first start, on May 3, was a complete-game shutout against Atlanta. Two weeks later, he struck out 12 in seven innings of a 1-0 win at San Diego. In fact, Cone won every one of his starts in May, as well as his final eight starts of the season. He recorded double-digit strikeouts seven times that season, averaging almost 7⅔ innings per start, including eight complete games (four shutouts), and another two he went 10 innings. Former President Nixon was waiting in the Shea Stadium dugout to shake Cone’s hand upon his 20th win.

Cone’s line included a league-best .870 winning percentage (20-3), a 2.22 ERA, 213 strikeouts (both second-best in the NL), a NL All-Star team selection, and third place, behind winner Orel Hershiser and runner-up Danny Jackson, in the NL Cy Young Award voting.

It wasn’t hard to be a David Cone fan in the late 1980s.36 A friend of his, Andrew Levy, with a bunch of college pals, started the “Coneheads” (after the Saturday Night Live sketch),37 who wore pointy rubber head coverings and occupied “Cone’s Co’ner” in the left-field upper deck. For every strikeout, they’d string orange construction cones from the rafters.

“I can tell you that the Coneheads were a motivating factor whenever I took the mound,” Cone said in hindsight. “I didn’t want to let them down.”38

Candid, articulate, and slightly idiosyncratic, Cone embraced the New York media. He chatted with the writers regularly, sometimes showed up at their pickup basketball games,39 and was one of the few starters who didn’t mind being interviewed the day of his turn in the rotation. Reporters lapped up his clubhouse antics, such as when leaving tickets for Wheel of Fortune host Vanna White (a “Total ruse. Just for fun,” he said40) became an ongoing spoof. When the Dodgers’ Pedro Guerrero hurled his bat at Cone and charged the mound after Cone’s slow curve hit him near his head, Cone was readily available after the game to claim the offending pitch was unintentional.

“If I’m going to hit somebody,” Cone said, “it’ll be a 90 mile-per-hour fastball.”41

Another time, after Phillies broadcaster Chris Wheeler lightly criticized his batting average, Cone appeared in the booth in full uniform. “It’s a hard .143,” he defended himself on air.42

The 1988 Mets won the division by 15 games and were the overwhelming favorite against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. Enter Bob Klapisch, writer for the Daily News. Under the guise of Cone realizing his other childhood dream of becoming a sportswriter, Klapisch agreed to turn daily clubhouse interviews into a ghostwritten column.

After the Mets had won the opener with a ninth-inning rally off reliever Jay Howell, Klapisch-as-Cone wrote that Dodgers starter Hershiser “was lucky for eight innings,” and that the Mets knew they’d win when he came out: “Seeing Howell and his curveball reminded us of a high school pitcher.”43

“Bob Klapisch just kind of asked me some questions in the clubhouse, and things got a little crazy in the aftermath of a big win in Game One of the playoffs,” Cone said, “and I never got a chance to read it before it went out, and I got credit for the byline. To this day, I still can’t believe I allowed that to happen, that I wouldn’t at least see the final copy before I put my name on it.”44

The Dodgers passed out copies and pinned it to their bulletin board. And lit up Cone for five runs in two innings that night. He’d only allowed five earned runs once, and he’d never been knocked out of a start before the fourth inning all season.

“It definitely affected how I pitched,” Cone said. “It was the first time I felt physically inhibited by nerves. My legs felt heavy from being so nervous.”45

Cone apologized to Howell the next day and dropped the column soon afterward. In its final iteration – which Cone wrote himself – the contrite righty admitted he’d said every word, a “feeble attempt at humor” which he was “naïve” to think wouldn’t make print.46

“I had a choice to make, either stand up and be honest, or run away and hide,” Cone said, “so that was an early hard lesson to learn.”47 Klapisch later praised Cone for owning his mistake, when he just as easily could have said he’d been misquoted.48

Cone recovered with a perfect ninth inning in relief in the Mets’ Game Three win, and a complete-game victory in Game Six to stave off elimination. But the Mets lost in seven games, and some baseball insiders still believe that Cone’s column cost the Mets the pennant.49

Cone wasn’t as overpowering in 1989, but still tallied formidable numbers, with 190 strikeouts (fourth in the NL) and a 3.52 ERA. A third-year player ineligible for arbitration, he was a bargain at $332,500. But after that year he commanded $1.3 million in front of the arbitrator – and won.

Cone immediately flew to Kansas City and told his father, whose long hours at the plant had hastened arthritis, to quit his job.

“Nothing I’ve done in my life has meant more than that moment,” Cone said.50 A year later, when his salary nearly doubled to $2.35 million, he bought a condominium for his parents in Florida. Another arbitration win in 1992 yielded a $4.25 million salary.

Armed with the splitter, which teammate Ron Darling helped him perfect,51 and the Laredo, which came from the side and broke six inches off the plate,52 in addition to his usual four-seam fastball and curve, Cone topped the NL in strikeouts in both 1990 (233) and 1991 (241). He averaged more than a strikeout per inning both years, and had mastered pitch control, with a league-high 3.585 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 1990, and a second-best 3.301 in 1991. If sabermetrics were general parlance in 1991, Cone would have been ninth in WAR for pitchers (4.4), and would have led the league in Fielding Independent Pitching (2.52).

“My agent, Steve Fehr, was very progressive with numbers, the early sabermetrics movement,” Cone said. “We used some of those numbers in arbitration cases against the Mets in the early ’90s, and we actually won those cases. … A lot of it was based on numbers, trying to look inside the numbers, past won-loss record, and trying to get a better look at what the pitcher really did. So I was an early believer, really.”53

Perhaps the Mets’ sinking fortunes were partially to blame for Cone’s underwhelming 14-8, 14-10, and 14-14 records between 1989 and 1991. Frustrated by a 20-22 start in 1990, general manager Frank Cashen replaced manager Davey Johnson with third-base coach Bud Harrelson. The Mets battled back to first place in early September, but couldn’t stay ahead of the division-winning Pirates. In 1991 the team finished fifth, and Harrelson was dismissed. By late 1992, the Mets, with one of the game’s highest payrolls, were hovering dangerously close to last place. The wild egos that had previously held the team together had given way to infighting, and age and injury had slowly sapped the team of its talent. Daily appearances on Page Six were not as easily ignored.

Cone still loved New York, but was slowly falling from favor with the Mets organization. There were on-field embarrassments, such as on April 30, 1990, when he allowed two Atlanta runs to score while he argued with the umpire over whether he had stepped on first base for the force out. Or on June 4, 1991, when Cone shook off a pitchout from bench coach Doc Edwards, and he and Harrelson erupted in a shouting and poking match in the dugout. The altercation overshadowed a 13-strikeout win in which Cone did not allow an earned run.

Even after these humiliations, Cone was at his locker, answering questions. Fittingly, in 1991 Cone switched his number from 44 to 17, to honor Keith Hernandez, the Mets’ previous press point-man.

Still, his off-the-field behavior was a delicate dance. Cone never had the addiction problems of some of his teammates, but he often ran with them – carousing, staying out late, and frequently not going to bed alone.

In September 1991, three women sued Cone and the Mets for $8.1 million, claiming he had made death threats. According to Cone, at least one had been harassing Sid Fernandez’s wife in the stands, and although he’d “dropped 90,000 F-bombs,” he never threatened their life. “It was a farce of a lawsuit, to get publicity,” he said.54

Three weeks later, the phone rang early in the morning in Cone’s hotel room in Philadelphia, where he was scheduled to pitch that day. It was the final day of the season, and Cone had staggered in at 6:30 A.M. after another all-nighter with his Mets teammates.

Cashen broke the news: A woman who had been with Cone the night before was accusing him of rape, and police were investigating. He could skip his start if he wanted. Cone refused, despite near-hallucinations of a cop interrupting play at Veterans Stadium to arrest him.55

“If anything, it made me stronger,” he says. “It gave me a cause. Either fold or get mentally strong, that’s how I was thinking. I chose to get strong.”56

Cone was at his best – three hits, one walk, no runs, 19 strikeouts (18 of which were swinging). The last tied an NL record, with Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton.57 Within three days, police had concluded the allegations were “unfounded.”58

In February 1992, another woman alleged she was Cone’s girlfriend and she had been gang-raped by teammates Dwight Gooden, Daryl Boston, and Vince Coleman. Cone admitted he had been with the woman a few times, but wasn’t currently seeing her. The police would drop the investigation.59

Not a month went by when perhaps the juiciest scandal hit the tabloids: WEIRD SEX ACT IN THE BULLPEN, famously howled the New York Post back page on March 26, 1992. The three women from the previous fall had amended their lawsuit to add other lurid claims, including that Cone had masturbated in front of them in the Shea Stadium bullpen in 1989. There was nothing to it – the suit never reached trial60 – but the baseless gossip has become part of Cone lore. Angry fans would taunt, “Masturbation!” or make rude gestures from the stands during the season.

“Even though both cases were cleared up, my name was completely cleared, the damage had been done,” Cone reflected years afterward. “I’ve had to live with that. There was part of me that said, at some point, ‘Be more careful, cover your ass a little better, but you can still live, you can still have fun.’ I thought there was a lot of reckless journalism, but I sort of came full circle and said, ‘Now, wait a minute – you did put yourself in a position to be taken advantage of a couple of times.’”61

A few days later, Cone, fed up with the nosy tabloids, initiated a petition to ban all reporters from the clubhouse; his teammates were happy to oblige.62 The Mets’ media boycott lasted until they headed north on April 3.63

“I look back at that, I think we as players probably overreacted during that time,” Cone said. “We should’ve handled that situation better. But we did feel like for the first time we were under attack, and we thought a lot of the stuff that was coming our way was not truthful, it was kind of reckless at times. We all collectively did it, realized we couldn’t go on once we got into it, and looking back, probably would’ve played it differently back then.”64

Eventually, Cone had to take it. He fielded lewd questions from Don Imus and Howard Stern on air. He invited cartoonists who’d depicted his “weird act” to send him autographed copies.

However, as the Mets spiraled, even Cone’s personality couldn’t save him. On August 27, 1992, the Mets, mindful Cone was facing free agency that fall, traded him to Toronto for Jeff Kent and Ryan Thompson. At the time Cone was 13-7 with a 2.88 ERA, and leading the NL in shutouts (5) and strikeouts (214). Had he not been traded to the AL, the Mets’ only All-Star Game representative that year would’ve won his third straight NL strikeout title, as the Braves’ John Smoltz only passed him by one (215) in his final start. Cone’s season strikeout total was 261.

“The trade was a wake-up call for me,” Cone said. “It was time to take a hard look at myself –what am I doing wrong here? Or at least, what are the perceptions of what I’m doing wrong? You’re getting a reputation as a kid with great stuff, some of the best stuff in the big leagues as far as pitching goes, and also one of the biggest flakes. I kind of looked at that and said, ‘Is this how I want to be remembered?’ Not that I had any great revelations or made any great changes in my life, but I certainly looked at it and tried to address it.”65

“Excited” was what he told the press. The Blue Jays were hurtling toward a division title. Cone’s four wins sealed the deal,66 and Toronto beat the Braves in the World Series to bring a championship to Canada for the first time.

“It was like I was hitchhiking on the side of the road and got a ride to the World Series –unbelievable,” Cone told cheering fans at the victory parade.67

It was Cone’s first ring, but he felt “rented, like I was hired long enough to ensure the win.”68

Toronto wasn’t home – rather than find an apartment, Cone stayed in the Skydome Hotel. This impermanence was further emphasized when mere days after the parade, Cone was back in New York, hosting a charity auction and appearing on the David Letterman TV show.

Cone could have returned to New York the next year – he made clear he was interested in signing with the Yankees,69 and he’d maintained his New York apartment. But Cone became disillusioned with the Yankees’ disorganized negotiating tactics – which he later learned were because their first choice had been Greg Maddux. When the Royals stepped in with an “unbelievable” three-year, $18 million offer, including a $9 million bonus, the choice was clear. Cone was going home to Kansas City as baseball’s highest-paid pitcher.70

According to Cone, Ewing Kauffman, the Royals owner, who was dying of bone cancer, “made the offer with the caveat of, not ‘take it or leave it,’ but ‘you need to decide pretty soon,’ especially considering the uneven structure of the contract, the way he presented it. It was, ‘Take a little bit of time, but not too much. Make your decision.’ He was a good salesman.”71

In 1993 Cone finished in the top 10 in the AL in ERA (3.33), strikeouts (191), innings pitched (254), complete games (6), and hits allowed per nine innings (7.264). What stands out is that he went 11-14 – the Royals’ weak offense72 barely supported Cone, with 2.93 runs per start.73

The next year, Kansas City gave him the support (5.11 runs per start), and Cone went 16-5 with a 2.94 ERA – including three consecutive shutouts in May – and a selection to the AL All-Star team. The Baseball Writers Association of America bestowed upon him the AL Cy Young Award that fall.

Outside events overshadowed those accolades. The MLB Players Association went on strike August 12, the World Series canceled for the first time since 1904. Cone, encouraged by Steve Fehr, union executive director Donald Fehr’s brother, was involved as a player representative with the Mets, but his role grew that fall when players chose him as the AL representative. Cone attributed his leadership role in union negotiations to “timing.”

“Sometimes, it’s by default,” he said. “I was one of the more established pitchers at that time. Some of the players, they get involved, they’re worried about angering the owners, or losing their job, or getting labeled. Most of the guys back then, especially, that served on the Players Association boards, they had to be prominent guys or had to be the type of players that felt secure to be able to represent their teams without feeling like they were going to lose their jobs or feeling like there would be repercussions for their involvement.”74

Part of Cone’s role was to boost morale of those concerned players, so that they would not feel pressure to cross picket lines. At his most grandstanding during a rally, he bent over with his rear end to the crowd to remind players that “the owners are trying to stick it up your ass without Vaseline. That’s what this strike is about. This is about your rights, not your money.”75

Baseball’s antiquated antitrust exemption had opened the door for owner collusion to suppress player salaries in recent collective-bargaining agreements. At the height of the strike, the owners unilaterally imposed a salary cap and made plans to bring in replacement players to start the 1995 season if the MLBPA didn’t concede. It threatened the union’s existence. Cone spent the winter in Washington, tirelessly lobbying senators and representatives to repeal the antitrust exemption.76

His efforts ultimately resulted in the Curt Flood Act of 1998, a partial repeal, so that players could bring antitrust lawsuits “involving conduct that directly relates to or affects” their employment.77

Cone also was among those urging the National Labor Relations Board to seek an injunction against the owners beginning the season with replacement players. On March 30, 1995, Federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor granted the injunction, and the players returned to work. Cone returned the favor in 2009 when he testified in favor of now-Justice Sotomayor’s nomination to the US Supreme Court.78

Cone took at least one day off from his strike activities, November 12, 1994, to marry Lynn DiGioia, an interior designer from Connecticut. They met in Puerto Rico in 1987 and had dated on and off since.

The strike had been over but a week when the Royals traded Cone back to the Blue Jays for rookie Chris Stynes and minor leaguers Tony Medrano and Dave Sinnes.

“I don’t blame my union activities for them trading me, but I know it didn’t help,” Cone said, noting that the $5 million price tag in the last year of his contract probably had something to do with it.79

Cone’s second turn in Toronto didn’t last much longer than the first. The last-place Blue Jays sent him to the Yankees near the trade deadline, July 28, for prospects Marty Janzen, Jason Jarvis, and Mike Gordon. The Yankees were languishing in mediocrity, but general manager Gene Michael ardently believed Cone was the missing piece to send them to the postseason for the first time since 1981.80 Which he did, going 9-2 as the Yankees captured the AL wild card. It was the textbook definition of a “hired gun.”

Cone had now mastered the art of appearing both straightforward and rehearsed with the press. During his first homestand in pinstripes, he reviewed his new team’s media guide in full view of reporters, knowing the story would play better than if he had done it privately.81 He also gently alerted a grateful in-game broadcasting team that the clubhouse could hear their between-inning banter, and that they should exercise some discretion before they embarrass themselves.82

Wearing number 36 in honor of Robin Roberts,83 a still-durable Cone led the league with 229 ⅓ innings pitched. He threw 135 pitches in the ALDS opener victory against Seattle. But he blew a 4-2 lead in the eighth inning of Game Five, the tying blow coming on the aforementioned walk to Doug Strange on pitch 147. He still patiently answered reporters’ questions afterward, albeit teary-eyed.

A free agent again, Cone almost didn’t re-sign after the Yankees retracted their initial offer. He and Fehr had all but reached a deal with Baltimore84 when Yankees owner George Steinbrenner allegedly jumped in from a pay phone and reinstated the bid – a three-year, $18 million deal with an additional $1.5 million in options.85 Cone signed.

Now a seasoned New Yorker, Cone embraced his role as a leader by welcoming newer players. When Joe Girardi’s early struggles led to frequent taunting on sports talk radio, Cone advised the first-year Yankees catcher that his critics would “lay off” if Girardi interacted with them rather than hiding from the press.86 Girardi rebounded.

Cone pitched seven shutout innings in the Yankees’ Opening Day victory in Cleveland, but coldness, numbness, and blueness persisted in his pitching hand for weeks after he’d left the 38-degree weather. An angiogram showed blood clots, and Cone was prescribed blood thinners. But a second angiogram on May 7 revealed a potentially life-threatening diagnosis: an aneurysm – the weakening and ballooning of an artery – in his right shoulder.

“I didn’t even know what it was or what it meant,” Cone said. “It was very scary. I just wanted to know if my career was over at that point.”87

Vein-graft surgery was scheduled three days later, as doctors replaced the offending section of artery with a piece from Cone’s left thigh. How long he would be out was anyone’s guess.

The procedure had not left structural damage to his shoulder, and once the graft healed, Cone could throw again. After two rehab starts at Double-A Norwich, Cone boarded a plane to rejoin the Yankees in Oakland on Labor Day.

He walked two batters in the first. Then, no hits for seven innings. But he was being held to a strict pitch count, so manager Joe Torre replaced him with Mariano Rivera after pitch number 85.88

”If they had left the decision up to David, they would have needed a tractor to get him out of there,” said Ed Cone, who had watched the game from behind the first-base dugout at the Oakland Coliseum.89

Cone would pick up two more wins and a loss, finishing 7-2 with a 2.88 ERA in 11 starts. He was shelled for six runs against Texas in the ALDS, and he was wild (five walks, six innings, 133 pitches) against the Orioles in the ALCS. But his gritty performance in the third game of the World Series jump-started the Yankees’ march to their first championship since 1978.

He was no longer a hired gun.

The first half 1997, Cone showed the devastating promise the Yankees had hoped for when they re-signed him. Named to the AL All-Star team, he had 12 wins and a 2.68 ERA by early August. He’d hit double digits in strikeouts in six games, including June 23, when he fanned 16 Tigers, and averaged over 10 strikeouts per nine innings. Then he spent most of September on the disabled list for right-shoulder tendonitis and inflammation. He was chased from his one postseason start in the fourth inning, allowing six Cleveland runs in the ALDS.

The problem was a bone spur that required offseason arthroscopic shoulder surgery. It wasn’t even clear that Cone would be ready to join the Opening Day roster in 1998, but again he flouted expectation. Despite a rocky first two starts, Cone quietly built up his record.

Now 35, Cone was learning to adjust to his own vulnerabilities – in terms of when he could throw (warmer weather suited him), how much he could throw, and the types of pitches he could throw.

“A lot of wear and tear just took its toll and I lost some velocity,” Cone said of his later years, when he relied more on finesse, “so I had to adjust, get more creative, probably throw more breaking stuff, less fastballs, change angles a bit more.”90

He skipped a start in early June when his mother’s Jack Russell terrier, Veronica, nipped at his index finger. It paved the way for Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, a Cuban defector with a peculiar high leg kick, to make his major-league debut. Cone, who joked about being “Wally Pipped,”91 wasn’t slowed in the slightest, striking out 14 Marlins five days later.

A pair of Adidas commercials airing around that time showcased Cone’s self-deprecating humor. In one, the advice that he “rest that arm” led a fan entourage to embarrassingly baby him.92 The other, depicting fans at a club doing “The El Duque,” ended with Cone awkwardly grinding in the men’s room in response to Luis Sojo’s suggestion, “Hey, Coney, why don’t you have a dance?”93

Cone was also the only player bold enough to sidle up to teammate and drinking buddy David Wells as he was in the middle of throwing a perfect game on May 17. “I think it’s time to break out the knuckleball,” he said.94 Wells laughed. Tension released.

Despite arm fatigue toward September, Cone won his 20th game in his final start – the decade gap between 20-win seasons still a major-league record. He chugged through the postseason, winning the rubber games of both the ALDS and the ALCS, and starting Game Three of the World Series in San Diego (a cortisone shot to the shoulder helped), as the Yankees capped their incredible 114-48 season with Cone’s third ring.

On July 18, 1999, against the Montreal Expos, Cone accomplished what only 15 other pitchers had done in major-league history – he threw a perfect game.95 Cone had come close before – aside from the aneurysm comeback game, he’d also taken a no-hitter into the eighth in 1991 – but this was his first no-hitter. The timing almost seemed contrived: The Yankees honored Yogi Berra prior to the game,96 and Don Larsen, the only man with a World Series perfecto, had thrown out the first pitch and watched the feat unfold at Yankee Stadium.

“It makes you stop and think about the Yankee magic and the mystique of this ballpark,” Cone said afterward.97

An All-Star again in 1999, Cone was 10-4 with a 2.65 ERA, averaging 6⅔ innings per start the day he was perfect. Afterward, he was anything but – 2-5 with a 4.82 ERA, averaging 5.46 innings.98 Although he insisted he felt better physically in 1999 than he did the previous season,99 his velocity was down – his fastball topping off in the mid-80s. Nonetheless, Cone‘s big-game mentality kicked in with two October victories – he struck out nine Red Sox in the ALCS and allowed one Braves hit in seven innings in Game Two of the World Series – as the Yankees won their third championship in four years.

Before 1999, Cone had leveraged his option into a one-year, $8 million salary. Now, the Yankees, concerned about Cone’s age, 37, and his tired second half, refused to accommodate his request for a two-year contract before 2000. Instead, the parties agreed to a one-year, $12 million deal.

Then Cone, in his words, “fell on my face,”100 going 4-14 with a 6.91 ERA – or, as fans derided him, $3 million per win. In a Twilight Zonesque twist, the entire debacle was chronicled in Roger Angell’s book, A Pitcher’s Story, on which Cone had agreed to cooperate before his season went south.101

By early August Cone was 1-10.102 After extended mechanical work at the Yankees’ training facility, he won three of five starts. But on September 5, in front of family and friends in Kansas City, he dislocated his left shoulder fielding a bunt. As the injury wasn’t to his pitching arm, Cone returned to the rotation after missing one turn, with disastrous results (23 earned runs, 14⅔ innings) in his final four starts.

Perhaps as a nod to Cone’s team history, Torre put Cone on the postseason roster. With the Yankees clinging to a 3-2 lead in Game Four of the Subway Series against the Mets, Cone was summoned to face Mike Piazza with two outs in the fifth.103 He popped up the future Hall of Famer on five pitches, and the Yankees won their fourth title in five years the following night.

The Yankees couldn’t guarantee Cone a spot in the 2001 rotation, so they parted ways – Cone likened the split to a “divorce.”

“I want to go where I’m needed, and there isn’t a great need for me here with the Yankees,” Cone said then.104

Cone discovered where he was needed when Red Sox pitching coach Joe Kerrigan visited him that offseason and diagnosed flaws in Cone’s motion.105 Cone signed with Boston for $1 million, with another million in deferred payments.

New York newspapers called him a traitor – the Yankees’ $12 million liability had taken the money and run to their bitter rivals.

Cone shrugged it off. “It’s better to be booed than forgotten,” he said.106

A sore shoulder delayed Cone’s Boston debut until May, but the season was somewhat redemptive – 9-7, 4.31 ERA, in spite of him being kept to low pitch counts and often given an extra day of rest. On September 2 the old Cone resurfaced, as he dueled Mike Mussina, his replacement in the Yankees rotation, over eight scoreless innings. He lost on an unearned run in the ninth – as Mussina came within one strike of a perfect game.107

The Red Sox didn’t re-sign him, and Cone spent 2002 as a spectator. He led the Yankee Stadium Bleacher Creatures in their first-inning roll call of the starting lineup on Opening Day (“I’ve always wanted to watch a game from out here.”108) and was pulled into the broadcast booth of the upstart YES Network for a few games.

He claimed he didn’t really throw that year,109 though news outlets kept hinting at a comeback. Before the 2003 season, John Franco and Al Leiter talked him into going to spring training. Cone made the Mets as the fourth starter, at age 40.

And for one “magical” night (his word),110 the Coneheads returned to Shea. Wearing Dwight Gooden’s old number 16, Cone pitched five shutout innings for his 194th career win. Then reality set in.

Cone said he “gave it a good shot, but just physically couldn’t do it anymore. And it wasn’t really my arm at that point, it was more my hip. My hip just gave me a bunch of problems that year. All those years of landing on my left hip, as a right-handed pitcher, kind of took its toll.”111

He announced his retirement on May 30, six wins shy of 200. His 2,668 strikeouts ranked 18th all-time, then.112 When he became eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2009, only 3.9 percent of the BBWAA voted for him – a player needs 5 percent to remain on the ballot.113

“I think one of the problems for me was the way I finished my career,” Cone said. “I didn’t finish off my career and get my numbers up there from a quantitative career perspective, just kind of fell a little short.” The Hall of Fame Braves trio of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz, for instance, “got started a little younger, and they lasted a little longer,” and “they stayed healthy the whole time.”114

After spending his entire adult life gripping a baseball, Cone’s transition game wasn’t seamless. He has always had his charities. His own David Cone Foundation has supported several not-for-profit organizations, including the Ban Johnson League that made him, Joe Torre’s Safe at Home Foundation (domestic violence), and various medical causes, in particular the ALS Association and cancer research. He guest-bartended at Foley’s New York Pub to raise funds for Hurricane Sandy victims.115 He took a pie to the face to promote gastroparesis awareness.116

But finding his career niche took time. Coaching was always in the back of his mind, but “the window closes for opportunities for pitching coaches. To go back on the road full-time would be a big commitment; you have to be ready for that.”117

Cone has two sons now. Brian was born in 2006, though David and Lynn divorced in 2011. Cone and his fiancée, Taja Abitbol, a restaurateur and real estate agent from Queens, have a son, Sammy, born in December 2011. As of 2022, he splits his time between Manhattan and Florida.

Would Cone encourage his boys to follow in his footsteps? “Absolutely – I wouldn’t discourage it,” Cone said. “Certainly if they showed the interest and the promise and that’s what they wanted to try to pursue, I would try to help them in any way I could.” But, he cautioned, “It was something I was always worried about as a father. I didn’t want to push them or have them feel like they had to compete with their father or feel like they had to be as good as their father. I was always more protective in that regard.”118

For a would-be sportswriter-turned-athlete, Cone’s second career should have seemed obvious –media. In 2008 he became a part-time color commentator for the YES Network, among a rotating team of announcers providing in-game and studio analysis. His remarks have not always been the most filtered – asides have included recitations of song lyrics (“Rapper’s Delight,” “Call Me Maybe”), unintentional innuendos (a pitcher asked to warm up but not called upon got “jerked off” in the bullpen), or poking fun at his broadcast colleagues. (“It is high, it is far, it is off my forehead!” he said in John Sterling’s voice when a pop foul got too close for comfort in the adjacent radio booth.). Yet Cone has won praise as a perceptive student of sabermetrics, with observations ranging from complicated statistics to a technical examination of how the ball spins across the plate – attention to detail not often found in an ex-ballplayer behind the microphone.

His analytical aptitude has opened more opportunities. In the fall of 2021, he was recruited by two baseball broadcasters with Yankees connections to co-host Toeing the Slab, a new podcast about (what else?) pitching. In January 2022, ESPN announced Cone would be part of their three-man Sunday Night Baseball broadcast team, alongside Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez.

“Every year it’s become a little easier, knowing what the job entails, when to use sabremetrics and when not to,” said Cone. “I try to be an easy listen. I try to tell you something you don’t know.”119

The easy way out would’ve been to rest on his laurels and regale in tall tales about his days in uniform, as so many ex-players have done. But Cone has always been at his best when challenged to defy conventional expectation.

Last revised: March 9, 2022

Sources

Statistics, unless otherwise noted, are from Baseball-Reference.com or Retrosheet.org. Special thanks to Andrew Levy for putting me in touch with David Cone, and to Thomas Van Hyning for information on the Puerto Rican Winter League.

Notes

1 Roger Angell, A Pitcher’s Story (New York: Warner Books, 2001), 29.

2 Announcer Tim McCarver made such an observation in the World Series Game Three broadcast on Fox, October 22, 1996.

3 The attendance at Fulton County Stadium that night was 51,843; another 23.99 million viewers watched the game on television, according to Nielsen ratings. Cone had lost Game One of the ALDS against Texas; he pitched better in Game Two of the ALCS against the Orioles, which the Yankees also eventually lost.

4 John Harper & Bob Klapisch, Champions! The Saga of the 1996 New York Yankees (New York: Villard Books, 1996), 197-98.

5 Angell, 45. Cone has suggested more recently that he was only joking at the time about having “lied” about his ability to finish the inning, but admits that he was “exhausted” and drained from the “pressure of the moment,” and that it never really occurred to him that he might not be able to pitch out of the inning. Podcast, “30 With Murti: David Cone and the 1996 Yankees,” May 5, 2016, newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/05/05/remembering-the-1996-yankees-david-cone-30-with-murti/.

6 Torre once dubbed Cone “Thomas Edison every day.” Craig Wolff, “Uptown Local: David Cone is the toast of New York, but he’s still a backyard K.C. boy in a pinch,” ESPN the Magazine, October 5, 1998, espn.com/espn/magazine/archives/news/story?page=magazine-19981005-article25.

7 Cone is probably closer to 5-feet-11; he himself has admitted being under 6 feet tall. See, e.g., Bob Klapisch, “Klapisch: Q-and-A with David Cone,” North Jersey.com, February 25, 2017, northjersey.com/story/sports/columnists/bob-klapisch/2017/02/25/klapisch-a-q-and-a-with-david-cone/98423578/.

8 See, e.g., Ian O’Connor, “A Pair of Aces Jack, Cone hold Yank Cards,” New York Daily News, August 3, 1995, nydailynews.com/archives/sports/pair-aces-jack-cone-hold-yank-cards-article-1.696298; Jennifer Frey, “A Grown-Up David Cone Takes to Life as a Leader,” Washington Post, March 24, 1996, washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1996/03/24/a-grown-up-david-cone-takes-to-life-as-a-leader/20719712-5429-4492-bbbc-dc6f5cdb0a7b/?utm_term=.d476711dd8ff; Chris Smith, “Wild Pitcher,” New York Magazine, October 18, 1999, nymag.com/nymetro/news/sports/features/2138/; Angell, 14.

9 Angell, 76.

10 Angell, 80.

11 “I was 12 years old, in 1975, when Luis Tiant was in the World Series with the Red Sox,” Cone said. “I just kind of fell in love with him, started copying him in the backyard. He had that kind of style.” Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

12 Angell, 79.

13 John Ed Bradley, “The Headliner,” Sports Illustrated, April 5, 1993, si.com/vault/1993/04/05/128316/the-headliner-strikeout-king-david-cone-hopes-the-news-he-makes-as-a-kansas-city-royal-will-be-about-baseball-not-off-the-field-shenanigans.

14 Angell, 78.

15 Chris Smith, “Wild Pitcher.”

16 The Cones saw the neighbor brandishing something shiny, which could have been a gun. It turned out to be a knife.

17 John Ed Bradley.

18 Angell, 79.

19 John Ed Bradley.

20 Until 2016, Cone might have been Rockhurst’s most famous graduate – if not for a suddenly prominent politician from Virginia named Tim Kaine.

21 Angell, 116. Rockhurst restored its baseball program in 1989, and a few years later Cone made a large donation toward the school’s athletic programs.

22 Angell, 118-19.

23 John Ed Bradley.

24 Angell, 119.

25 Interestingly, four members of the Mets’ 1990 rotation were chosen during that draft: Cone’s future roommate Sid Fernandez (73rd overall pick) was chosen immediately ahead of Cone (74th) by the Dodgers; Ron Darling (9th) was selected by the Rangers in the first round; and Frank Viola (37th) was chosen by the Twins in the second round. Longtime Mets closer John Franco was also part of the 1981 draft, selected by the Dodgers in the fifth round.

26 See Angell, 124.

27 John Ed Bradley.

28 Angell, 147.

29 Ponce had the best record in the regular season. However, Caguas won the playoff round-robin to represent Puerto Rico in the Caribbean World Series, taking along several top Puerto Rican League players with it, regardless of whether they played for Caguas during the regular season. According to Thomas VanHyning, this practice of “reinforcement” was common. Other such reinforcements for Caguas in that Series included Bobby Bonilla, Juan Nieves, Luis DeLeon, and Candy Maldonado. See also Thomas Van Hyning, “Caguas Criollos: Five Caribbean Series Crowns and Cooperstown Connections,” SABR Baseball Research Journal, Spring 2018, https://sabr.org/journal/article/caguas-criollos-five-caribbean-series-crowns-and-cooperstown-connections/.

30 See, e.g., Peter Botte, “Ed Hearn, known for Mets trade that got David Cone, flopped with Royals but finds success in life,” New York Daily News, October 27, 2015, nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/ed-hearn-finds-success-royals-flop-mets-cone-article-1.2412564.

31 Angell, 153.

32 Robert David Jaffee, “Former NY Mets Catcher Barry Lyons Roars Back From Depression,” Huffington Post, January 28, 2014, huffingtonpost.com/robert-david-jaffee/former-ny-mets-catcher-ba_b_4681263.html. Years later, after Hurricane Katrina had destroyed Lyons’ home, Cone and friend Andrew Levy helped bring Lyons out of a spiral of depression and addiction.

33 Angell, 154.

34 Angell, 149.

35 Cone, a left-handed batter, described the pitch hitting “the bottom hand around the [k]nob of the bat. Like cracking a walnut.” Twitter, June 25, 2013, twitter.com/Baldassano/status/349594799944380416.

36 Dashing initial hopes of many New Yorkers, Cone is not Jewish. His last name originates from the Irish “McCone,” not “Cohen.”

37 Cone hasn’t appeared on SNL in a Conehead, but he did show up twice on the late-night sketch comedy. The first time was among a group of players upstaging host Ben Stiller after the Yankees won the World Series in 1998. The second was in drag with pal David Wells and host Derek Jeter in 2001 – he played a “skank” in a leopard-print halter top and metallic black miniskirt who pulled underwear from his bra.

38 Vincent M. Mallozzi, “Live From New York, It’s a Conehead,” New York Times, October 29, 2006, nytimes.com/2006/10/29/sports/baseball/29cheer.html.

39 John Feinstein, Play Ball: The Life and Troubled Times of Major League Baseball (New York: Villard, 1993). Excerpt available at Google Books.

40 Correspondence with author, March 3, 2017.

41 Sam McManis, “HIT, THROW AND RUN: Guerrero Throws Bat at Pitcher; Dodgers Lose, 5-2,” Los Angeles Times, May 23, 1988, articles.latimes.com/1988-05-23/sports/sp-2199_1_dodgers-lose.

42 Paul Hagen, “Now There’s No Way Phils Can Lose 100,” Philadelphia Daily News, September 28, 1988. Cone batted .234 in 1989, the highest average for any pitcher with more than 35 at-bats.

43 David Cone, “It was justice – not luck,” New York Daily News, October 5, 1988.

44 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

45 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

46 Sam McManis, “BASEBALL PLAYOFFS: Cone Winds Up Eating His Words: Met Pitcher Apologizes; Career as a Columnist Is Over,” Los Angeles Times, October 8, 1988, articles.latimes.com/1988-10-08/sports/sp-3095_1_david-cone; Robbie Andreu, “Cone Writes His Wrong. He Quits,” Sun-Sentinel, October 8, 1988, articles.sun-sentinel.com/1988-10-08/sports/8802280502_1_bob-klapisch-column-gag-order (excerpts from column quoted).

47 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

48 Gerard Cosloy, “Klapisch Recalls Controversial Cone Column,” Can’t Stop the Bleeding, September 11, 2006, cantstopthebleeding.com/klapisch-recalls-controversial-cone-column (excerpted from the Bergen Record).

49 See, e.g., Murray Chass, “ON BASEBALL: Yankees Must Beware Fate of the 1988 Mets,” New York Times, June 25, 1996, nytimes.com/1996/06/25/sports/on-baseball-yankees-must-beware-fate-of-the-1988-mets.html (Joe McIlvaine claimed the column “absolutely” contributed to the Mets’ NLCS loss.); Buster Olney, The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty (New York: HarperCollins, 2004), 166. (Mets manager Davey Johnson “would say his greatest regret of that season was ‘David Cone’s literary career.’”)

50 Angell, 90.

51 David Laurila, “Q&A: David Cone, Stat-head All-Star,” FanGraphs, November 20, 2012, fangraphs.com/blogs/qa-david-cone-stat-head-all-star.

52 Joe Sexton, “BASEBALL: Dawson Slaps Laredo Slider and Mets Go South,” New York Times, August 10, 1991, nytimes.com/1991/08/10/sports/baseball-dawson-slaps-laredo-slider-and-mets-go-south.html.

53 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

54 John Ed Bradley.

55 Angell, 175; John Ed Bradley.

56 John Ed Bradley.

57 Kerry Wood (1998) and Max Scherzer (2016) have since surpassed that record, with 20 K’s.

58 Allen Barra, “The New Whitey Ford,” The Village Voice, October 12, 1999, villagevoice.com/news/the-new-whitey-ford-6420696.

59 Barra; Michael Marriott, “BASEBALL; State Attorney Says 3 Mets Will Not Face Criminal Charges,” New York Times, April 10, 1992, nytimes.com/1992/04/10/sports/baseball-state-attorney-says-3-mets-will-not-face-criminal-charges.html.

60 Two of the women dropped out of the suit, and the third woman settled privately over words that were exchanged – the worst thing Cone had apparently done was call her a “groupie.” See Angell, 176-77.

61 Chris Smith, “Wild Pitcher.”

62 Eric Pooley, “Why Are These Guys Laughing?” New York Magazine, April 13, 1992, 58, 60.

63 Bruce Kauffman, “Battered Mets Banish the Messenger,” AJR, May 1992, ajrarchive.org/Article.asp?id=2061.

64 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

65 Chris Smith, “Wild Pitcher.”

66 The Blue Jays won the AL East over Milwaukee by four games.

67 Archived news footage from 1992 Blue Jays victory parade, available at youtube.com/watch?v=F5jxknTz7tI&t=682s (last visited March 11, 2017).

68 Allen Barra, “The New Whitey Ford.”

69 Joe Sexton, “BASEBALL; Royals Make Cone Game’s Highest-Paid Pitcher,” New York Times, December 9, 1992, nytimes.com/1992/12/09/sports/baseball-royals-make-cone-game-s-highest-paid-pitcher.html.

70 Cone clarified that the “highest-paid” label was only “the highest average annual value” – the contract was actually “back-loaded,” in that after the bonus, he was to make $2 million the first two years, and $5 million the third year. At least Greg Maddux, when he signed with the Braves a day after Cone did, was making more from a salary standpoint. Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

71 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

72 Kansas City’s offense was last in the AL in runs scored (675) and team on-base percentage (.320).

73 By comparison, the White Sox’ Jack McDowell, who won the AL Cy Young Award, had similar numbers to Cone – except that he went 22-10.

74 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

75 Angell, 247. Former MLBPA head Marvin Miller praised Cone as “one of the most articulate spokesmen for players’ rights I’ve ever seen.” Allen Barra, “The New Whitey Ford.”

76 Before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, Cone forcefully testified that the negotiation process with the owners was “such a joke.” See “Kansas City Royals Pitcher David Cone on baseball strike – 1995 Senate Judiciary Subcmte Hearing,” C-SPAN.org, February 15, 1995, c-span.org/video/?c4510189/kansas-city-royals-pitcher-david-cone-baseball-strike. Cone has often been asked whether he would consider going into politics. He generally demurs –“too many skeletons.”

77 S.53—Curt Flood Act of 1998, 105th Cong., congress.gov/bill/105th-congress/senate-bill/53.

78 See “Sotomayor Confirmation Hearing, Day 4, Legal Issues Panel,” C-SPAN.org, c-span.org/video/?c1446191/clip-sotomayor-confirmation-hearing-day-4-legal-issues-panel.

79 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

80 Andrew Mearns, “This Day in Yankees History: David Cone, Hired Gun – July 28, 1995,” Pinstripe Alley, July 28, 2012, pinstripealley.com/2012/7/28/3198562/this-day-in-yankees-history-david-cone-hired-gun-july-28-1995.

81 See Ian O’Connor, “A Pair of Aces Jack, Cone Hold Yank, Cards,” New York Daily News, August 3, 1995, nydailynews.com/archives/sports/pair-aces-jack-cone-hold-yank-cards-article-1.696298.

82 George Vecsey, “Sports of the Times; Cone Faces Unfinished Business,” New York Times, December 22, 1995, nytimes.com/1995/12/22/sports/sports-of-the-times-cone-faces-unfinished-business.html.

83 Roberts, a Hall of Fame pitcher, had also been active in the early days of the MLBPA, helping persuade the players to hire Marvin Miller as union head.

84 The Orioles attracted Cone, in part, because he’d worked with new general manager Pat Gillick (with the Blue Jays) and new manager Davey Johnson (Mets) before, and he respected owner Peter Angelos for not hiring replacement players during the strike. Harper & Klapisch, 14-15.

85 The Mets also made a last-minute offer, but the money wasn’t there.

86 Podcast, “30 With Murti: David Cone and the 1996 Yankees.”

87 Podcast, “30 With Murti: David Cone and the 1996 Yankees.”

88 Only a controversial ninth-inning single stood between Rivera completing a combined no-hitter.

89 Jack Curry, “Sensational Comeback for Cone: Seven Innings, No Runs, No Hits,” New York Times, September 3, 1996, nytimes.com/1996/09/03/sports/sensational-comeback-for-cone-seven-innings-no-runs-no-hits.html.

90 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

91 Pipp was the Yankees first baseman whose injury contributed to the rise of his replacement, Lou Gehrig.

92 The commercial was one of a series featuring the “ANSKY” boys – five shirtless men wearing the letters Y, A, N, K, and S. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi7dt4gZu64.

93 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9gGWqVoxvU

94 Buster Olney, “BASEBALL; Rarest Gem for Yankees’ Wells: A Perfect Game,” New York Times, May 18, 1998, nytimes.com/1998/05/18/sports/baseball-rarest-gem-for-yankees-wells-a-perfect-game.html.

95 As of March 2022, 23 pitchers had thrown perfect games – seven since Cone.

96 Berra’s number 8 was emblazoned behind home plate throughout the game, and Cone threw 88 pitches.

97 Murray Chass, “BASEBALL; On Day Made for Legends, Cone Pitches Perfect Game,” New York Times, July 19, 1999, nytimes.com/1999/07/19/sports/baseball-on-day-made-for-legends-cone-pitches-perfect-game.html?ref=davidcone.

98 Cone still finished with the second-lowest ERA in the AL, at 3.44.

99 Jack Curry, “Baseball: Cone’s Velocity Returns, Showing His Arm Is Sound,” New York Times, August 17, 1999, nytimes.com/1999/08/17/sports/baseball-cone-s-velocity-returns-showing-his-arm-is-sound.html.

100 Joe DiLessio, “David Cone on Advanced Stats, the End of His Playing Career, and Riding on David Wells’s Motorcycle,” New York Magazine, May 26, 2011, nymag.com/daily/sports/2011/05/david_cone_on_advanced_stats_t.html. As perceptive triviaheads have indicated, “David Cone” anagrams to “Odd Cave-In.”

101 Before his struggles dominated the narrative, Cone had envisioned Angell’s book would cover “technical things about what pitchers do and how they take care of themselves, and who owns the pitcher’s arm.” Angell, 255. Eighteen years later, Cone got a chance to release such a book himself, collaborating with Jack Curry on Full Count; The Education of a Pitcher (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2019).

102 Cone lasted once beyond the seventh inning all season, in a no-decision on May 9.

103 Cone had pitched a perfect inning of relief against Seattle in the ALCS, and Torre considered starting him in Game Four instead of the struggling Denny Neagle. Cone encouraged Torre to start Neagle over him, because, Cone claimed, he had gotten comfortable coming from the bullpen.

104 Angell, 283.

105 The Mets, Rangers, and Royals (as a closer) also expressed mild interest in Cone that offseason.

106 Joel Sherman, “Cone-Tamination; Is Complete,” New York Post, February 19, 2001, nypost.com/2001/02/19/cone-tamination-is-complete/.

107 Cone is also the answer to the trivia question of who threw the final pitch to Cal Ripken, Jr. The Orioles Iron Man went 0-for-3 as Cone hurled another eight innings without allowing an earned run on October 6.

108 Jack Curry, “ON BASEBALL; That Face In a Crowd Is Cone’s,” New York Times, April 6, 2002, nytimes.com/2002/04/06/sports/on-baseball-that-face-in-a-crowd-is-cone-s.html.

109 News outlets in 2002 claimed that Cone was still throwing regularly. When the author asked Cone if he had been throwing throughout 2002, he replied, “No, not really. I just kind of took the year off.” Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

110 “David Cone Announces Retirement,” UPI Wire, May 30, 2003, upi.com/David-Cone-announces-retirement/76971054333945/.

111 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

112 By the end of the 2021 season, Cone had slipped to 27th all-time, surpassed by Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, John Smoltz, Mike Mussina, CC Sabathia, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke, and Clayton Kershaw.

113 Cone’s career pitching Wins Above Replacement, at 61.6, ranks (after the 2021 season) right between Hall of Famers Juan Marichal and Don Drysdale—57th all-time.

114 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

115 David G. Palacio, “After Sandy: Baseball’s David Cone Serves Beer To Help Victims,” The Midtown Gazette, November 17, 2012, themidtowngazette.com/2012/11/after-sandy-local-ball-player-serves-beer-to-help-hurricane-victims/.

116 The video was posted to social media: https://www.facebook.com/gastroparesispiefacechallenge/videos/466237433765594/

117 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

118 Interview with author, February 24, 2017.

119 Bob Klapisch, “Klapisch: Q-and-A with David Cone,” North Jersey.com, February 25, 2017, northjersey.com/story/sports/columnists/bob-klapisch/2017/02/25/klapisch-a-q-and-a-with-david-cone/98423578/.

Robert Thomas Ducey was born May 24, 1965 in Toronto. His biological parents placed him for adoption, and he was soon adopted by Leo and Anita Ducey of Toronto. Rob was the youngest and only son of the couple’s five children. Leo left the family before Rob was 5 years old, leaving Anita as a single mother.2 To support Rob and her four daughters, Anita worked as an administrative assistant in the Duceys’ hometown of Cambridge, Ontario.3 Rob’s birth mother was English and his birth father Trinidadian, which led Anita to emphasize to Rob the importance of hard work. “She didn’t want me just to settle for anything, because of the fact that she knew I would be a non-Caucasian in a Caucasian world, I had to do better than average.”4

As a young boy Ducey’s favorite sport was fast-pitch softball and he dreamed of one day playing for the Cambridge Gores of the local men’s softball league.5 He excelled in sports, especially wrestling, during his youth in Cambridge.6 A representative from the Cambridge Terriers of the Junior Intercounty Baseball League took notice of the 15-year-old Ducey and invited him to a tryout. He soon made the team and played his first summer of organized baseball, in addition to his first love, softball.7 Ducey initially found baseball boring compared to softball and considered not returning to the Terriers the next season. Convinced of his potential, Terriers general manager Ed Heather encouraged him to give baseball a fair chance. Ducey proceeded to serve as the catcher for the Terriers’ 15-16-year-old team, the center fielder for the 17-21-year-old squad, and the backup catcher for the 21 and over team. “It was a crash course in baseball,” he said. “I played with my age group and playing with the older players helped speed up the process.”8

Ducey’s pursuit of baseball also led Ed Heather to meet Ducey’s mother, Anita. The couple were married when Ducey was 17.9 Known as “Mr. Baseball” throughout Cambridge, Heather was highly regarded for identifying baseball talent.10 One of his many baseball roles included serving as a scout for the Toronto Blue Jays between 1992 and 2003, for which he was recognized as the organization’s Canadian scout of the year in 1997.11 Of his stepson, Heather commented, “Rob had natural ability. He liked to play, and worked hard at it. He had great instincts for the game, something that can’t be taught.”12

As Canadian players were not yet eligible for the major-league draft, after finishing high school Ducey left Cambridge on a baseball scholarship to Seminole Community College in Florida. The increased scouting exposure led Ducey to receive serious interest from three major-league teams, the Blue Jays, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Chicago Cubs.13 He signed with the Blue Jays as an undrafted free agent in May 1984 and soon made his professional debut with the Medicine Hat Blue Jays of the Rookie Pioneer League. He played 63 games for Medicine Hat, batting .302 with 12 home runs and 49 RBIs, good enough to receive the team’s MVP award.14

Ducey’s strong play continued the next year in Class A with the Florence Blue Jays, where he had 13 home runs and 86 RBIs in 134 games. This prompted the Blue Jays to invite Ducey to their instructional league in September 1985.15 His stay at instructional camp was short-lived, however, as minor-league director Bobby Mattick sent Ducey home early after his wrestling skills unintentionally injured fellow prospect Greg David during some clubhouse horseplay.16

Ducey continued to ascend the minor-league ladder and began the 1986 season with the Ventura County Gulls of the Class-A California League, where he hit .337 with 12 home runs and 38 RBIs in 47 games. His hot start earned him the Blue Jays minor-league player of the month for April.17 In June he was promoted to Double-A Knoxville and continued his strong play, leading GM Pat Gillick to comment, “I’d say he’s got the best chance of all our rookies to make the big league club.”18

Ducey’s dominance during the 1986 season also led to his receiving the annual James “Tip” O’Neill Award from the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. The award, named in honor of one of Canada’s first baseball stars, is presented to “the Canadian player judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to baseball’s highest ideals.”19

Ducey’s family baseball connections further deepened when he met his future wife, Yanitza, while playing winter ball in Venezuela in 1986. As pageant queen of the local baseball team, Yanitza was attending the league’s all-star banquet and met Ducey while breaking up an argument between him and her mother over Ducey not making a play in the field the previous game.20 Ducey and Yanitza married in 1987 and have two sons, Thomas and Aaron, and a daughter, Jenaka.

Ducey arrived at his first big-league spring training in 1987 and quickly received praise from the Blue Jays coaching staff. Hitting coach Cito Gaston commented, “He reminds me a lot of Lou Whitaker. … He’s a gamer and an all-round player right now. I guess the big thing is just how much playing time can manager Jimy Williams give him?”21 Gaston was referring to a possible outfield logjam due to the Blue Jays incumbent outfield trio of George Bell, Lloyd Moseby, and Jesse Barfield, who together formed “the best outfield in Blue Jays history.”22 In what would become a familiar pattern, the Blue Jays believed Ducey was best suited playing every day and assigned him to the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs on the last day of spring training.23 

After spending April in Syracuse, Ducey was called up to the Blue Jays and made his major-league debut on May 1 at home against the Texas Rangers. As circumstances had it, Ducey was already in Toronto to receive his Tip O’Neill Award when news came of his promotion.24 He was the starting left fielder and batted eighth for the Blue Jays in a 3-2 win. He received three standing ovations from the Exhibition Stadium crowd during the game. The first occurred in the third inning when he flied out to center field, and the second and third ovations took place after his RBI single and stolen base in the fifth inning.25 Despite the memorable start to his major-league career, Ducey had only 36 plate appearances in May and was soon sent back to Triple A. He returned to the Blue Jays in September and became part of major-league history by hitting his first big-league home run in an 18-3 rout at home against the Baltimore Orioles on September 14. Ducey’s seventh-inning pinch-hit homer was the eighth of a record 10 home runs for the Blue Jays in the game. He was using a bat borrowed from teammate Jesse Barfield, which was sent to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.26 

The Blue Jays’ 1988 spring training brought a new outfield dynamic and the potential for Ducey to secure a big-league starting job. Shortly before players and catchers reported to camp, GM Gillick announced that George Bell would play the majority of games that season as the designated hitter, with Lloyd Moseby moving from center field to left.27 For the first time in five seasons, the Blue Jays’ Opening Day starting lineup would not feature Bell, Moseby, and Barfield patrolling the outfield. Competition for the starting center-field role was primarily between Ducey and fellow outfield prospect Sil Campusano. Both players performed well in March but Campusano posted better offensive numbers and was named the starting center fielder, while Ducey was sent outright to Syracuse.28

Disappointed with not making the Blue Jays, Ducey initially struggled in Triple A. Further compounding his troubles was instruction from the Blue Jays coaching staff to change his uppercut batting style to one more conducive to making contact.29 In June Blue Jays vice president Bobby Mattick visited Syracuse and informed Ducey that he could return to his former swing.30 His production improved and he went on to bat .256 with 7 home runs and 42 RBIs with the Chiefs before being called up on August 2. He made 63 plate appearances in 27 games for Toronto down the stretch.

Ducey’s development continued to evolve as he posted the best offensive numbers of all Blue Jays outfielders during spring training in 1989.31 His Grapefruit League performance was perhaps best summarized in the Toronto Star: “SUPER DUCEY: He Hits. He Runs. He Fields. He Makes Things Happen. He Should Play Every Day.”32 For the first time in his career, Ducey went north with the team for Opening Day. But he played in only 41 games for the Blue Jays during the season, in large part due to a freak injury he suffered while shagging fly balls in batting practice on June 9 at the newly opened SkyDome. Unbeknownst to Ducey, the door to the right-field visitors’ bullpen was closed but not latched. While leaping against the wall to make a catch, he flew through the bullpen door and landed awkwardly on the concrete floor, hyperextending his right knee, partially tearing a ligament.33 Ducey was placed on the disabled list and was not reactivated until September 2.34 The injury proved to be the turning point of his career, because his knee never recovered to 100 percent. “It was a very, very serious injury. I don’t think people realized what that did to me because I kept quiet about it,” he said. “But it basically turned me into a player with a lot of upside into a journeyman kind of player.”35 Ducey sued the Blue Jays and SkyDome for negligence as a result of the incident and the parties reached an out-of-court settlement in 1997.36

The 1990 major-league lockout resulted in an abbreviated spring training that featured competition for the right-field job between Ducey, Junior Felix, and Glenallen Hill.37 In the end Ducey was the odd man out and was again assigned to Syracuse. He initially met the news with frustration: “Possibly, if I’d got a whole spring in – and there was competition ­– I might’ve made it.”38 Ducey spent nearly the entire season in Triple A but was called up to the Blue Jays in September. He made 62 plate appearances in 19 games, batting .302 with 16 hits and 7 RBIs as the Jays finished two games behind the Boston Red Sox for the East Division title.

The offseason acquisitions of All-Star outfielders Joe Carter and Devon White, combined with a growing list of promising outfield prospects meant that Ducey, about to turn 26, was destined to start the 1991 season in Triple A once again. He was called up to the Jays on June 29 and remained for the rest of the season, appearing in 39 games in a supporting role.39

The 1992 spring training began Ducey’s sixth season with the Blue Jays. He was out of minor-league options, and the Blue Jays had to risk exposing Ducey to waivers should they send him to Syracuse.40 Ducey made the 25-man roster but saw limited game action until his first start on May 27 versus the Milwaukee Brewers. Ducey kept loose between playing time by serving as one of the Jays’ bullpen catchers and also saw game action as the catcher during a May exhibition game in Winnipeg.41 He appeared in only 23 games for the Jays before being traded with Greg Myers to the California Angels on July 30 for reliever Mark Eichhorn. He played in 31 games for the Angels down the stretch, but did not see as much game action as anticipated. “The problem I have here is the same I had in Toronto, which is that they have guys they want to play ahead of me, and I’m caught in the middle again,” he complained.42 In recognition of his efforts with Toronto, the Blue Jays awarded Ducey a World Series ring and his former teammates voted him a percentage of their postseason playoff bonus.43

Now a free agent, Ducey signed a minor-league contract with the Texas Rangers in 1993 and was assigned to the Pacific Coast League Oklahoma City 89ers at the end of spring training. He batted .303 in 105 games and was named to the Triple-A All-Star Game in Albuquerque. He was called up to the Rangers on August 29 and continued his strong play for the remainder of the season. Ducey re-signed with the Rangers on a one-year contract and made the Opening Day roster in 1994. However, following a 5-11 start to the season, the Rangers demoted Ducey and teammate James Hurst to Oklahoma City in what manager Kevin Kennedy conceded was an effort to send a message to his struggling team.44 Ducey made the most of the opportunity to play every day at Triple A, hitting 17 home runs with 65 RBIs for the 89ers, and was named to his second consecutive All-Star Game. The strike-shortened major-league season meant that Ducey did not receive what would likely have been a September call-up with the Rangers. General manager Tom Grieve, however, decided to promote Ducey and teammate David Hulse to the big-league club after the strike began, as this meant Ducey – now on a major-league contract – was not paid the remainder of his salary.45 The Players Association filed a default notice with the league on behalf of Ducey and 17 other players over the move. The owners responded by paying nine players and waiving the remaining ones, including Ducey, which made him a free agent.46

Disappointed with the situation in Texas and determined to seek an opportunity to play every day, Ducey signed a two-year contract with the Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japan Pacific League. He hit a combined 51 home runs and 120 RBIs in 1995 and 1996, in what were the best offensive seasons of his professional career. Ducey hit eight leadoff home runs during the 1996 season, tying the league record.47 He continued to play the game hard and made Canadian sports headlines in 1995 when he was fined after a game against the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks for crashing into the catcher while trying to score, and then punching the catcher after being hit by a pitch in his next at-bat.48

Ducey returned to North America and spent the 1997 and 1998 seasons as a reserve outfielder with the Seattle Mariners. He batted a combined .258 with 10 home runs and 33 RBIs in 401 plate appearances over the two-year span. The local media took an interest in Ducey’s strong reserve play, at one point referring to him as “Ken Griffey’s stunt double”49 and declared him the 1997 Mariners’ Unsung Player of the Year.50 He received praise from his manager, Lou Piniella, who commented, “I like what Rob Ducey brings to the party.”51

After his successful stint with Seattle, Ducey signed a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. He played well in 1999 as the fourth outfielder, batting .261 and posting a career-best 8 home runs and 33 RBIs. Ducey also delivered many clutch hits while pinch-hitting late in games, earning the approval of manager Terry Francona.52 The Phillies rewarded Ducey with a two-year extension, the first multiyear contract of his major-league career.53

The 2000 season could be described as one of the most tumultuous of Ducey’s career. On July 2 at home against the Pirates, he had a career-high five RBIs and two home runs in a 9-1 win. Three weeks later, the Phillies traded Ducey to the Blue Jays to make room on the roster for newcomers they received in the trade of Curt Schilling to the Arizona Diamondbacks.54 Ducey’s return to Toronto was short-lived, however; he played just five games with the Blue Jays before being traded back to the Phillies to complete an earlier trade with Toronto for Mickey Morandini. Manager Jim Fregosi lamented losing Ducey’s versatility off the bench, but explained that a hand injury to second baseman Homer Bush meant that Toronto was forced to look for additional help to support its playoff push.55

Ducey played his final major-league season in 2001. He batted .222 with one home run and four RBIs in 30 games for the Phillies before being released in early June.56 A few days later, he signed as a free agent with the Montreal Expos. Ducey quickly made a positive impression on Expos manager Jeff Torborg: “I didn’t realize he had that kind of power. … We thought of him as a pinch-hitter and part-time outfielder. He’s been outstanding.”57 Despite the strong start as an Expo, Ducey’s season came to an end on July 22 in Atlanta when he attempted to scale the left-field wall at Turner Field to catch a fly off the bat of Brian Jordan. The ball carried over the fence and Ducey’s right spike lodged into the wall’s padding as he went for the catch, fully rupturing his Achilles tendon.58

In 2002 Ducey reported to spring training with the St. Louis Cardinals with his Achilles only 80 percent healed.59 He was cut midway through March and accepted an invitation from longtime friend and former Blue Jays prospect Kash Beauchamp to play independent baseball and serve as hitting coach with the Adirondack Lumberjacks of the Northern League. Ducey played 16 games with the Lumberjacks before knee issues and complications from his Achilles injury led him to retire as a player from professional baseball.60

With his playing career now over, Ducey continued his passion for the game through coaching and scouting. He has coached in three major-league organizations (New York Yankees, Montreal Expos, Philadelphia Phillies), the Mexican League (Delfines de Ciudad Del Carmen), the Chinese Professional Baseball League (Fubon Guardians), and the Dominican Republic (SFX Academy). He was also a scout for the Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays. As of 2022 Ducey was head of the baseball program at Bishop McLaughlin High School in Spring Hill, Florida. 

Since retiring from the majors, Ducey has been an active contributor to the growth of amateur baseball in Canada. He briefly came out of retirement to play for Team Canada in the 2004 Olympics, and also coached for the senior men’s teams at the 2006 World Baseball Classic, the 2008 Olympics, and the inaugural Premier 12 tournament.61 He has also worked extensively with the junior national men’s team at its instructional facility in Dunedin, Florida.62

On June 29, 2013 – 32 years after he took his stepfather’s advice to give baseball a chance – Ducey was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame along with fellow players George Bell and Tim Raines, former Blue Jays broadcaster Tom Cheek, and former minor-league owner Nat Bailey.63 Reflecting upon his career on induction day, Ducey spoke of his decision to remain in baseball. “I do think about it, the ‘what ifs.’ I have to believe that if I would have hung it up, I wouldn’t be … in this position that I am in now.”64

Acknowledgment

The author would like to thank Rob Ducey for taking the time to discuss his career and respond to the author’s questions during telephone conversations on January 6 and February 5, 2022.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball Reference, Retrosheet, and the Rob Ducey National Baseball Hall of Fame media file.

Notes

1 Canadian Baseball Network Podcast, “Episode 17 – Rob Ducey,” https://open.spotify.com/episode/0FS9NInUHxHXf0a0ScvcHK?si=Qn8ZaO7KQY6jVq_sFv2a-Q&utm_source=copy-link&nd=1 (accessed January 16, 2022).

2 George Gamester, “Cookie Lover ‘Hollow Leg’ Hot-Dogged It into Baseball,” Toronto Star, May 7, 1987: A2.

3 Gamester.

4 Ken Berger (Associated Press), “While His Mother Fights for Her Life, Rob Ducey Fights to Make the Phillies,” Hazleton (Pennsylvania) Standard-Speaker, March 5, 1999: 27.

5 Canadian Baseball Network Podcast, “Episode 17 – Rob Ducey.”

6 Author’s telephone conversation with Rob Ducey, February 5, 2022.

7 Canadian Baseball Network Podcast, “Episode 17 – Rob Ducey.”

8 Tony Reid, “Card Back Q&A: Rob Ducey Talks Playing Softball, High School Wrestling and Beauty Pageant Wife,”

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/card-back-qa-rob-ducey-talks-playing-softball-high-school-wrestling-and-beauty-pageant-wife/ (accessed January 12, 2022).

9 Greg Mercer, “As a Canadian, Ducey Had a Snowball’s Chance of Making It in Baseball,” Waterloo Region (Ontario) Record, June 18, 2013, https://www.therecord.com/sports/2013/06/28/as-a-canadian-ducey-had-a-snowball-s-chance-of-making-it-in-baseball.html (accessed January 25, 2022).

10 Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame, “Ed Heather,” http://cambridgeshf.com/inductee/ed-heather/ (accessed January 24, 2022).

11 Terriers Baseball, “Staff – Ed Heather,” https://terriersbaseball.com/Pages/1076/Staff_Ed_Heather/ (accessed January 25, 2022).

12 Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame, “Rob Ducey,” http://cambridgeshf.com/inductee/rob-ducey/ (accessed January 24, 2022).

13 Rob Ducey telephone conversation, January 6, 2022.

14 Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame, “Rob Ducey.”

15 Garth Woolsey, “Lavelle Gets Tips on Screwball from Tiger Master,” Toronto Star, September 12, 1985: H3.

16 Larry Millson, “Ducey’s Attitude Impresses Jay Bosses,” Globe and Mail (Toronto), March 28, 1987: C1.

17 Allan Ryan, “Ducey, Young Stars of April,” Toronto Star, May 6, 1986: B3.

18 John Robertson, “Jays Going to Break Up That Old Gang,” Toronto Star, November 20, 1986: H1.

19 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, “The James ‘Tip’ O’Neill Award,” https://baseballhalloffame.ca/james-tip-oneill-award/ (accessed January 14, 2022).

20 Tony Reid, “Card Back Q&A: Rob Ducey Talks Playing Softball, High School Wrestling and Beauty Pageant Wife.”

21 Allan Ryan, “Confident Ducey Makes Strong Bid as Fifth Outfielder,” Toronto Star, March 22, 1987: G4.

22 Daneil Venn, “Blue Jays Bashers Back Together,” https://www.milb.com/news/blue-jays-bashers-back-together-269801772 (accessed January 14, 2022).

23 Larry Millson, “Best outfield Still Intact; Ducey Gone,” Globe and Mail, April 1, 1987: D2.

24 Larry Millson, “Blue Jays Promote Homebrew Ducey,” Globe and Mail, April 30, 1987: C10.

25 Canadian Baseball Network Podcast, “Episode 17 – Rob Ducey.”

26 Allan Ryan, “Two Blue Jay ‘Home Run’ Bats Going to Baseball Hall of Fame,” Toronto Star, September 16, 1987: B3.

27 Neil MacCarl, “Bell Move May Be Break Rob Ducey Needs,” Toronto Star, February 27, 1988: B9.

28 Allan Ryan, “Ducey Lost in Shuffle as Jays Slash Roster,” Toronto Star, March 31, 1988: C1.

29 Marty York, “Jays Charged with Error in Ducey’s Case,” Globe and Mail, June 3, 1988.

30 York, “Jays Charged with Error in Ducey’s Case.”

31 John Robertson, “Hustling Ducey Deserves a Spot in Daily Lineup,” Toronto Star, March 31, 1989: C2.

32 Robertson, “Hustling Ducey Deserves a Spot in Daily Lineup.”

33 Allan Ryan, “Ducey Hits The Skids and Ends Up DL,” Toronto Star, June 10, 1989: B3.

34 “Ducey rejoins Jays Gimpy Knee and All,” Toronto Star, September 3, 1989: G2.

35 Marty York, “Ducey Settles Lawsuit Against Jays, SkyDome,” Globe and Mail, March 3, 1998: S2.

36 York, “Ducey Settles Lawsuit Against Jays, SkyDome.”

37 Tom Slater, “Ducey Making Case for Roster Spot,” Toronto Star, March 29, 1990: D6.

38 Allan Ryan, “Ducey Gets Chop as Jays Cut Four,” Toronto Star, April 4, 1990: F1.

39 Neil Campbell, “Deal Leaves Jay Outfield with a Familiar Ring to It; Candiotti Makes Debut; Bell, Ducey Get Call from Syracuse,” Globe and Mail, June 29, 1991: A16.

40 Rosie DiManno, “Three Canadian Boys Trying to Live All-American Dream,” Toronto Star, March 6, 1992: B4.

41 Neil Campbell, “Gaston Shuffles Blue Jay Lineup/Alomar, Winfield Rest; Ducey Makes First Start of Season,” Globe and Mail, May 28, 1992: C8.

42 “Ball Clubs Trim Expenses by Cutting Minor Budgets,” Toronto Star, September 23, 1992: D2.

43 Rob Ducey telephone conversation, January 6, 2022.

44 Simon Gonzalez, “Rangers Deliver Message,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 26, 1994: 29.

45 T.R. Sullivan, “Rangers Recall Outfielders Ducey, Hulse from 89ers,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, September 2, 1994: 53.

46 “Baseball talks Expected to Resume: Royals Hire Boone,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram: October 8, 1994: 62.

47 Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame, “Rob Ducey.”

48 Canadian Press, “Baseball – Rob Ducey Fined,” Globe and Mail, September 19, 1995: C6.

49 Mike Digiovanna (Los Angeles Times), “No Griffey Proves No Problem for M’s,” Bellingham (Washington) Herald, June 17, 1997: 13.

50 Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame, “Rob Ducey.”

51 Larry LaRue, “Spring Training Report,” Tacoma News Tribune, March 12, 1998: 28.

52 Jim Salisbury, “Topps Deals Bad Hand to Card-Less Ducey,” National Post (Toronto), March 22, 2000: 40.

53 Jim Salisbury, “Arm Is Tired, but Byrd Says He Won’t Quit,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 21, 1999: 35.

54 Bob Brookover, “In 4-for-1 Swap, Schilling Is Sent West to Arizona,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 27, 2000: 43.

55 Allan Ryan, “Ducey Aced Out by Blue Jays; Outfielder Goes Back to Philadelphia in Deal for Morandini,” Toronto Star, August 8, 2000: C2.

56 Bob Brookover, “Vallant Called Up; Ducey Let Go,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 7, 2001: 57.

57 Stephanie Myles, “Expos Story,” Montreal Gazette, June 27, 2001: 11.

58 Stephanie Myles, “Ducey’s Done for Season,” Montreal Gazette, July 23, 2011: 31.

59 Jim Seip, “Lumberjacks Sign Major League Veteran,” Glens Falls (New York) Post-Star, April 4, 2002: 13.

60 Seip.

61 Baseball Canada, “Baseball Canada Announces Roster for Inaugural Premier12,” https://baseball.ca/baseball-canada-announces-roster-for-inaugural-premier12 (accessed January 26, 2022).

62 Baseball Canada, “Baseball Canada Announces Fall Instructional Camp Invitees,” https://baseball.ca/baseball-canada-announces-fall-instructional-camp-invitees (accessed January 26, 2022).

63 “Ducey Makes Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame,” Waterloo Region (Ontario) Record https://www.therecord.com/sports/baseball/2013/02/07/ducey-makes-canadian-baseball-hall-of-fame.html (accessed January 26, 2022).

64 Canadian Baseball Network Podcast, “Episode 17 – Rob Ducey.”