Dave Eiland

Dave Eiland holds a unique baseball record: He is the only major-league player to give up a home run to the first batter he faced, and to hit a home run off the first pitcher he faced.

But his contributions to the game go beyond that unusual historical footnote. A “pitch to contact”1 right-handed pitcher for 10 major-league seasons, after his playing days he served as a pitching coach for three major-league teams. His star pupils included Ian Kennedy, Jacob deGrom, and Yordano Ventura. He also was a “body double” for Kevin Costner in the 1999 baseball film For Love of the Game.

David William Eiland was born on July 5, 1966, in Dade City, Florida, the son of Bill and June Eiland. Bill Eiland was the Zephyrhills chief of police from 1961 to 1996.2

David attended Zephyrhills High School,3 also the alma mater of current (as of 2024) relief pitcher Austin Adams4 and former big-league catcher and then longtime minor-league manager Dave Huppert.5 The Bulldogs’ baseball coach said Eiland “was special – the kind of kid you don’t see too often. He could do it all. And he did.”6

After high school, Eiland attended the University of Florida in 1985 on a football scholarship, but he hurt his shoulder playing football as a freshman.7 He focused on baseball after that, transferring to the University of South Florida for the 1986 and 1987 seasons. In the summer of 1986, he played for the Falmouth Commodores in the Cape Cod Baseball League.

The New York Yankees drafted the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Eiland in the seventh round (number 185 overall) in 1987. He shot through the Yankees’ farm system, going all the way from Low-A to Yankee Stadium in less than two seasons. After a strong debut in 1987 with the Oneonta Yankees in the Low-A New York Penn League (4-0, 1.84 ERA, 0.784 WHIP in 29⅓ innings), Eiland was promoted to Fort Lauderdale in the Florida State League, where he was 5-3 with a 1.88 ERA and 1.043 WHIP in 62⅓ innings of A-ball. He opened the 1988 season with Double-A Albany-Colonie in the Eastern League, where he went 9-5 with a 2.56 ERA and 0.980 WHIP in 119⅓ innings and was named to the Eastern League All-Star team.8 He made one Triple-A start in Columbus before being called up on August 3 to the pitching-starved Yankees, who had just lost Ron Guidry to a pulled left hamstring.9

Eiland’s major-league debut that night – 29 days after his 22nd birthday – was an impressive one. Pitching in County Stadium against a Milwaukee Brewers lineup that included future Hall of Famers Paul Molitor and Robin Yount, Eiland allowed just one run on three hits and two walks in seven innings.

“To me, it felt just like any game I’d pitched in the minors,” Eiland was quoted as saying in The Sporting News. “You can’t let all the emotion affect you.”10

One of those three hits was a home run by Molitor to lead off the bottom of the first inning. It was a hanging slider on a 1-and-2 pitch that Molitor drove over the left-center-field wall. “It was the first batter,” Eiland told the New York Times. “It only counts for one run.”11

Eiland threw just 89 pitches, 56 for strikes, but in the sixth inning developed a leg cramp that warranted a mound visit from manager Lou Piniella and trainer Gene Monahan. Still feeling the effects an inning later, Eiland was pulled after the seventh and Piniella summoned closer Dave Righetti to pitch the eighth inning. After the game, Piniella said Eiland would have stayed in if not for the cramping.12

Righetti gave up three consecutive singles to open the inning before striking out Jim Gantner. A double by Yount then knocked in two runs, and Greg Brock followed with a two-run single to tie the score at 5-5. Cecilio Guante came in to relieve Righetti, and he gave up a single and a double to plate the go-ahead run before finally getting the final two outs of the inning. The Yankees went down in order in the top of the ninth against Dan Plesac to give the Brewers a 6-5 win.

Back on the mound eight days later, Eiland made his Yankee Stadium debut on August 11 against the Toronto Blue Jays. This time he retired the first batter he faced – Tony Fernández on a bunt scooped up by catcher Don Slaught – but that was followed by back-to-back home runs from Ernie Whitt and Rance Mulliniks to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead. The Yankees answered in the home half of the first on Don Mattingly’s RBI single, but Whitt’s two-out solo home run in the second inning sent Eiland to the clubhouse early. Eiland also hit two batters, Kelly Gruber on the left hand and Fernández on the helmet. Fernández left the game with dizziness but returned the next night; Gruber, although he played all 11 innings in what was an eventual 6-5 Toronto victory, did not start in the following three games.13

Eiland was given one more start, on August 17, again at Yankee Stadium, this time against the California Angels. Staked to a first-inning 4-0 lead courtesy of an RBI single by Jack Clark and back-to-back home runs by Dave Winfield and Mike Pagliarulo, Eiland surrendered a second-inning solo home run to Jack Howell and a third-inning solo home run to Wally Joyner. The Yankees added three runs in the fourth, including an RBI double by Rickey Henderson, but Eiland gave up three consecutive singles to open the fifth and was pulled for Steve Shields. The Yankees hung on to win the game, 11-7, but it was Eiland’s final start in the majors that season. He returned to Columbus, replaced on the Yankees’ roster by Hal Morris. He made three more starts in Triple A that year.

All told, Eiland’s eventful 1988 season included a 9-5, 2.56 ERA in 18 starts in Double A; 1-1, 2.59 in four starts in Triple A; and no decisions in three starts, with a 6.39 ERA and six home runs allowed in 12⅔ innings, in the majors. 

In 1989 he started in Triple A again, but was called up on June 16 and started the following day against the Texas Rangers. He held the Rangers to three runs over seven innings to record his first major-league win. But he didn’t fare as well in his next five starts, going 0-3 with a 6.26 ERA in 27⅓ innings, and was once again returned to Triple A. 

Eiland opened the 1990 season in Columbus, and the 23-year-old dominated the competition. He was 16-5 with a 2.87 ERA in 175⅓ innings, and he was named the International League Pitcher of the Year.14 The Yankees called him up in September, and he went 2-1 with a 3.56 ERA in 30⅓ innings. That offseason, Yankees general manager Gene Michael said Eiland had likely made the Yankees rotation.15

And in 1991, for the first time, Eiland was on the Opening Day roster. His first start, on April 11 against the Tigers in Detroit, was a shaky one. He gave up four runs on four hits, a walk, and a hit batter in four innings. Five days later, in Yankee Stadium against the Chicago White Sox, he had a no-decision in a 4-3 defeat after giving up three runs on six hits and two walks in 5⅓ innings. In his third start, again facing Detroit, Eiland got his first win of the season with seven shutout innings on April 23.

Inconsistent results continued, leaving Eiland 1-3 with a 4.34 ERA on May 27 for a start in the Bronx against the Red Sox. He gave up five runs (four earned) in 4⅓ innings, and then went on the disabled list with a heel injury16 that was followed by a lengthy rehab in Columbus. He returned August 7, gave up 11 earned runs in 8⅔ innings in his first two starts back, and then was moved to the bullpen for six weeks. He returned to the rotation for the final week of the season, making two starts and giving up just three runs in 12 innings. All told, Eiland was 2-5 with a 5.33 ERA in 72⅔ innings in 1991.

That offseason, the Yankees overhauled the roster, trading Steve Sax to the Chicago White Sox for Mélido Pérez, Bob Wickman, and Domingo Jean, and signing free agents Danny Tartabull and Mike Gallego. They also traded pitching prospect Darrin Chapin to the Philadelphia Phillies for third baseman Charlie Hayes. Needing to clear a spot on the 40-man roster, the club designated Eiland for assignment on January 19, 1992.

“As far as I’m concerned, it was a stupid move on the part of the Yankees and I’m looking forward to leaving,” Eiland told the Tampa Bay Times. “I’ve done a lot more for them than some of the people they have kept. I guess I didn’t fit into their plans. It doesn’t make sense.”17

Eiland was claimed on waivers by the San Diego Padres, who invited him to spring training as a nonroster invitee. An impressive spring training – three runs and eight hits allowed with 12 strikeouts in 14 innings – earned him the fifth spot in the rotation, beating out Mark Knudson, Mike York, and Frank Seminara.18

Facing the Dodgers in the fifth game of the Padres’ season on April 10, 1992, Eiland gave up a Darryl Strawberry RBI double in the top of the first inning, and the Padres tied it up in the bottom half of the frame on Gary Sheffield’s RBI triple. Eiland set down the Dodgers in order in the top of the second, and in the bottom of the inning he walked up to the plate with Jerald Clark on second base and two out. After four years in the American League, this was not just Eiland’s first plate appearance in the major leagues, but in professional baseball – Eiland hadn’t batted in the minors either. He later said it was his first at-bat since he played for the University of Southern Florida.19

Eiland turned around Bob Ojeda’s 2-and-2 offering, hitting a line drive over the 370-foot marker in left field and several rows deep into the bleachers.

“It was a fluke,” Eiland said of the home run. (It was the only home run of his career.) “I wish people would talk about my pitching instead of my hitting.”20

Eiland pitched only four innings in that game. He had a second plate appearance, striking out before being lifted because of a pulled rib cage muscle after the first batter reached in the fifth inning.21 That season he made seven starts for the Padres, going 0-2 with a 5.67 ERA in 27 innings, while battling back spasms.22 He spent most of the season with Triple-A Las Vegas, going 4-5 with a 5.23 ERA in 63⅔ innings.

The next season he was back with the Padres, but after going 0-3 with a 5.21 ERA in 48⅓ innings was released on May 27, 1993. Two days later he signed with the Cleveland Indians, who assigned him to their Triple-A team in Charlotte. After two months there, going 1-3 with a 5.30 ERA in 35⅔ innings, Eiland was traded to the Texas Rangers for Gerald Alexander and Allan Anderson. The Rangers assigned him to the Oklahoma City 89ers, where he was 3-1 with a 4.29 ERA in 35⅔ innings.

A free agent again, Eiland returned to the Yankees in 1994 and spent the next two seasons with the Columbus Clippers. He was 9-6 with a 3.58 ERA in 1994 and 8-7 with a 3.14 ERA in 1995. He returned briefly to the majors that season, with one start and three relief appearances. He was 1-1 with a 6.30 ERA in 10 innings.

Eiland signed a minor-league deal with the St. Louis Cardinals, but after a 0-1 mark with a 5.55 ERA in six starts and two relief appearances, was released on June 15, 1996. Three days later he returned to the Yankees organization for a third time, going 8-4 with a 2.92 ERA in 15 starts in Columbus. He spent the final week of the 1996 season on the Yankees’ expanded September roster, but did not get into a game.23

Eiland returned to the Yankees in 1997 for an injury-plagued season in the minors, battling elbow tendinitis,24 and went 5-3 with a 6.42 ERA in 81⅓ innings across three levels.

A free agent again, Eiland returned home to Florida in 1998 on a minor-league deal for the inaugural season of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. A nonroster invitee to spring training, he allowed just one run in seven innings but was sent to Triple A.25 He had an impressive season with the Durham Bulls, 13-5, 2.99 ERA in 171⅔ innings, and was a September call-up when rosters expanded. He had one appearance, a start on September 25 against the Yankees. In the third-to-last game of the season, Eiland was rocked for six runs on six hits and three walks in 2⅔ innings.

Also in 1998, Eiland appeared on the mound in another capacity. He was cast as the body double for Kevin Costner in the film For Love of the Game. He gets a credit as “relief pitcher,”26 but Eiland’s primary purpose on the set was to throw major-league-caliber pitches over the plate. In an interview with the podcast Breaking Bats, Eiland said he was asked in October 1998 to appear in the film and was on set at Yankee Stadium for three weeks.

“Any time you saw the ball cross the plate, I probably threw that pitch,” Eiland said. He added, “Even though [Costner] says he threw every pitch in that movie, I can tell ya, no he didn’t.”27

Eiland, now 32, returned to the Devil Rays for the 1999 season and again didn’t make the team out of spring training. He was called up May 28, replacing Tony Saunders in the rotation, but after just three starts went on the disabled list with back spasms.28 He returned on June 23 and remained with the Devil Rays the remainder of the season as a swingman, setting career highs in wins, games, starts, and innings, going 4-8 with a 5.60 ERA in 15 starts and six relief appearances. Though he said he had been contemplating retirement since 1997, Eiland returned to the Devil Rays for the 2000 season as a nonroster invitee in spring training. For the first time since 1993, and in his second season with the Padres, he was on the Opening Day roster.29

“In those times between 1993 and 1998 I learned a lot about myself, about what type of pitcher I was and what type of competitor I was,” he said. “I’ve gotten better every year. I think that was kind of hard for the decision makers, but just because you’ve been around for X number of years and just because you get to a certain age doesn’t mean you stop improving.

“I kept working and I kept improving. In this game, when you get a label it’s hard to shake. Fortunately, they gave me a chance last year. I was able to get my foot in the door, and this spring I just walked right through it, and here I am.”30

Eiland’s first three appearances in 2000, all out of the bullpen, were rough. He was rocked for 10 runs on 10 hits and three walks in 5⅔ innings, a 15.88 ERA. But he didn’t give up a run in his next two appearances, and on April 23, he got his first start of the season, against the Anaheim Angels. He threw six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and two walks. He remained in the rotation for four more starts, allowing 13 earned runs in 14 innings, but left his start on May 23 after facing just one batter. Eiland spent the next 10 weeks on the disabled list with a hip injury.31 He returned August 9 and pitched six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits to get a no-decision in a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

On September 10, 2000, Eiland was summoned to try to keep the Devil Rays in a game they were losing 5-0 in the bottom of the fifth against the Oakland A’s. Entering with one out and the bases loaded, Eiland allowed back-to-back hits by Ben Grieve and Adam Piatt to allow two inherited runners to score, but got the final two outs of the inning. In the sixth, he gave up a solo home run to Eric Chávez, and in the seventh, he was pulled after back-to-back walks. No one knew it at the time, but he had thrown his final pitch in the major leagues.

That offseason, Eiland signed a minor-league contract with the Oakland A’s, his seventh organization in his 15th year of professional baseball. But elbow pain – reportedly stemming from “arm exercises in the training room” – ended his spring training before it even began.

“What can you do? It’s kind of a freaky thing,” he said. “I’d like to make an impression, but the most important thing is to get ready for the season, and I’m confident I can do that.”32

Alas, the elbow pain turned out to be a torn elbow tendon, resulting in Tommy John surgery. Eiland spent the next 10 months rehabbing, returning in time for A’s spring training in 2002, only to tear the same tendon after two spring-training games.

“There were no setbacks, no warning signs,” Eiland said. “I was throwing the ball as good as I ever had.”33

At 35 years old, Eiland underwent a second Tommy John surgery, but he didn’t attempt another comeback.34 Instead, he took a position as a pitching coach with the Rookie League Gulf Coast Yankees in 2003, followed by the A-ball Staten Island Yankees in 2004, the Double-A Trenton Thunder from 2005 to 2006, and the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees in 2007. On October 30, 2008, the Yankees hired Joe Girardi as manager, and on November 20, they announced that Eiland had been hired as the team’s pitching coach.35

One reason the Yankees wanted Eiland in the position was that he had shepherded the minor-league development of the team’s trio of young pitching stars – Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and Ian Kennedy – but also was a former teammate of veterans Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera, giving him an unparalleled level of familiarity as well as trust.36

Eiland believed his own struggles as a pitcher helped him be a better coach.

“I didn’t have an arm like Phil or Joba; I worked really hard to be mediocre,” Eiland said. “But I studied. When I lay my head on my pillow, I’m very satisfied, not so much with my record or my numbers, but I know I gave it everything I had every day.”

“I didn’t have the God-given ability to get over the hump, so to speak. I kept getting chances because I did my work and I think that helps me in the coaching aspect. I work with guys now who have ability. I can teach them how to work, how to study film, how to read swings, how to attack guys.”37

Eiland served as Yankees coach for three seasons – including for the Yankees’ 27th World Series championship season in 2009 – but his contract was not renewed after the 2010 season. Rumors swirled in the media about why Eiland hadn’t been brought back, with the initial speculation that there was a falling-out between Eiland and Girardi.38 (Eiland said that was “ridiculous and not true.”39 Most of the speculation centered on Eiland’s mysterious three-week hiatus in June,40 as well as his relationship with struggling free-agent signing A.J. Burnett.41

Eiland told ESPN he didn’t know why he wasn’t brought back and he was “pretty shocked” by the decision. After his last conversation with Girardi, he believed he’d be back with the Yankees in spring training, he said. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who had initially called the decision “private and personal,” said in response to Eiland’s comments: “He knows why. He was given conditions that needed to be followed. So he knows why.”42

Longtime sportswriter Murray Chass, on his personal website, wrote: “The matter was serious enough that the Yankees told him he could return to his job as long as he didn’t resume any of the activities that led to his leave of absence. He didn’t adhere to the agreement and was fired. No one has spelled out those activities, and I will refrain from speculating.”43

Whatever the reason, Eiland wasn’t unemployed long. Two months after leaving the Yankees, he was named a special assistant to the Tampa Bay Rays, and then prior to the 2012 season, named pitching coach of the Kansas City Royals. Pitcher Yordano Ventura credited Eiland with helping him improve mechanically as well as psychologically as a pitcher,44 and Ian Kennedy, the former Yankee, praised the existing relationship he had with Eiland when he signed as a free agent with the Royals.45 Eiland won a second World Series ring as a pitching coach when the Royals beat the New York Mets in five games in 2015.

Eiland’s contract with the Royals was not renewed after the 2017 season,46 and once again he was not unemployed long, getting hired a month later by the Mets.47

As a pitching coach, Eiland was credited with turning Jacob deGrom from a very good pitcher into a star, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post. Eiland said he helped deGrom “keep it simple” and focus on his timing. “Get your hand out of your glove, be on time and let your natural abilities take over,” Eiland told the Post. “And then after that you start talking about pitch sequencing and setting hitters up and how you are going to attack your strengths against his weaknesses and all the other stuff.”48 DeGrom won the National League Cy Young Award in 2018 and 2019.49

Eiland also was credited with helping another Mets pitcher, Zack Wheeler, make a change to his mechanics that boosted his velocity as well as his confidence. Lindsey Adler wrote for TheAthletic.com, “The issue Eiland saw was that Wheeler was taking too long getting the ball out of his glove and elongating his windup too much behind him – his ‘backstroke,’ as the longtime pitching coach said. Eiland, pantomiming the issue, drew his right arm behind him in a ballet-like style, somewhat leisurely and in a sweeping motion. Wheeler, from his perspective, could benefit from sweeping his arm up in a quicker motion, and as his arm reached the top of the arc, it was farther out in front from his body, and generally more in line with what Wheeler’s lower half is intended to be doing.”50

Eiland was fired by the Mets on June 20, 2019.51 His next stop was as manager of the Eastern Reyes del Tigre in the four-team Constellation Energy League in Texas. The league played a 56-game schedule between July 10 and August 30, 2020.52 One of his pitchers, 36-year-old Scott Kazmir, went 2-1 with a 4.20 ERA in 15 innings and the following season returned to the major leagues with the San Francisco Giants.53 Another player, 22-year-old Alec Marsh, was a starting pitcher for the Kansas City Royals as of June 2024.

In 2022 and 2023, Eiland was the pitching coach for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, then the Double-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins.54 In 2022 the Blue Wahoos won the Southern League championship.55

As of 2024, Eiland was head of baseball for Grand Central Sports, which provides athletes and coaches representation in contract negotiations and other professional matters.56

Sources

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

Notes

1 Pete Young, “From Bulldog to Devil Ray,” Tampa Bay Times, August 1, 1999. “Eiland relies on multiple pitches and changing speeds to confuse hitters. His tantalizing breaking balls have been clocked at below 70 mph.” Eiland said he was primarily a fastball-slider pitcher early in his career who by the end of it had added a curveball and changeup. 

2 According to the Zephyrhills 100th-anniversary page, Eiland Boulevard is named in Bill Eiland’s honor. http://zephyrhills100.com/2010/02/18/zephyrhills-100th-anniversary-the-naming-of-the-streets.

3 Edward Cifelli, “Pitching in with a Job Close to Home,” Tampa Bay Times, March 4, 2011. Zephyrhills High School retired Eiland’s number 14 in 2008.

4 Austin Lance Adams – not to be confused with Austin David Adams – was an eighth-round pick of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the 2012 June Amateur Draft out of the University of South Florida. He made his major-league debut on July 15, 2017, for the Washington Nationals, and has since pitched for the Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, and Arizona Diamondbacks, and as of 2024 the Oakland Athletics. Adams, who set the modern record (since 1920) with 24 hit batsmen in 2021, signed a one-year contract with the New York Mets on November 30, 2023. Randy Mandhawa, “Adams – in Relief – Sets Season HBP Mark,” MLB.com, September 17, 2021. https://www.mlb.com/news/austin-adams-record-for-hit-by-pitches.

5 Dave Huppert appeared in two games as a defensive replacement with the Baltimore Orioles in 1983, but did not bat, and in 15 games with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1985, going 1-for-21. A minor-league player for 10 seasons – including the longest game ever played – Huppert then managed across five minor-league levels for six different organizations between 1986 and 2016. Brian Murphy, “The Longest Baseball Game Took 33 Innings to Win,” MLB.com, June 23, 2023. https://www.mlb.com/news/the-longest-professional-baseball-game-ever-played.

6 Tony Castro, “Eiland Resets a Major Goal,” Tampa Bay Times, July 17, 1997.

7 Natalie Eiland, “Dave Eiland Story,” USF Broadcast News, March 18, 2018. https://usfbroadcastnews.wordpress.com/2018/03/18/dave-eiland-story/.

8 “Around the Minors,” The Sporting News, July 4, 1988: 23.

9 Michael Martinez, “Eiland’s Debut Is Ruined as Righetti Blows Lead,” New York Times, August 4, 1988: 9.

10 “Notebook: A.L. East,” The Sporting News, August 15, 1988: 12.

11 Martinez.

12 Martinez.

13 “Baseball: A.L. East,” The Sporting News, August 29, 1988: 19.

14 Cammy Clark, “Yankees’ Eiland Ready for Return to Big Show,” Tampa Bay Times, March 31, 1991. “Eiland was named the International League Pitcher of the Year and tied the league’s mark for the most victories in a season, 16, set by Bob Kammeyer in 1979. He also was named the ninth-best major-league prospect in the International League by Baseball America.”

15 Moss Klein, “A.L. Beat,” The Sporting News, January 14, 1991: 36.

16 Eiland initially injured his heel May 16 after getting stepped on while covering first base on the first play of the game. He remained in the game for two innings but was on crutches after the game. (Jack Curry, “Sound Heard in the Bronx Was Yanks Going Ker-Plunk,” New York Times, May 17, 1991: 9). He made his next start on May 21, but was placed on the disabled list after the May 27 start.

17 Jim Carson, “Yankees Drop Local Pitcher from Roster,” Tampa Bay Times, January 11, 1992. Eiland said the Yankees had offered him a contract that included a raise earlier that offseason. Instead, he was designated for assignment, meaning they had 10 days to release him, trade him, or send him to the minors. Eiland said that if he wasn’t traded, he would refuse assignment to Columbus: “There’s nothing else for me to do down there — all you have to do is check my record.” He also said his numbers had suffered because he returned from his heel injury too quickly. “You learn by your mistakes,” Eiland said. “I was trying to help the team, but I hurt myself. It was my fault. But I finished strong in my last two starts and I was really looking forward to this season.”

18 Scott Miller, “Padre Notebook: Eiland Nails Down Fifth Spot in Padres’ Starting Rotation,” Los Angeles Times, April 3, 1992.

19 Tim Kurkjian, “Between the Lines,” Sports Illustrated, April 20, 1992.

20 Barry Bloom, “Clearing the Bases,” The Sporting News, April 20, 199: 23.

21 Steve Dilbeck, “Padres Crush Dodgers,” San Bernadino County (California) Sun, April 11, 1992.

22 “San Diego Padres: Fly on the Wall,” The Sporting News, May 4, 1992: 22.

23 Jason Diamos, “Red Sox and Yankees Wear a Path to Mound,” New York Times, September 22, 1996: 15. On September 21, the Yankees won a wild 12-11 game that took 4 hours and 45 minutes and featured 15 pitchers throwing a total of 405 pitches. “Had Derek Jeter not driven in the winning run – after the Yankee hitters had gone 3 for their first 18 with runners in scoring position – Torre was prepared to send the 30-year-old Dave Eiland into the game. A journeyman right-hander, Eiland had had his contract purchased by the club yesterday morning. His last appearance in a major league game came in 1995.”

24 Rodney Page, “Eiland Makes Most of Minor Moments,” Tampa Bay Times, May 13, 1998.

25 Page.

26 Dave Eiland’s page on the Internet Movie Database: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0251719/.

27 Breaking Bats. “Episode 109 – 2x World Series Champion Pitching Coach Dave Eiland,” February 27, 2024. https://youtu.be/GCd0YVWMkMI?si=8wf7fe4lXRmOY9Qu. According to The Baseball Filmography, 1915 through 2001 (2nd Edition) by Hal Erickson, some “longshots” of the fictional Billy Chapel, played by Kevin Costner, are actually Eiland. Erickson also reported that the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers stipulated that anyone wearing their uniforms either be a professional actor or a current or former major leaguer. As a result, other ballplayers in the film were Ricky Ledee, Donzell McDonald, Juan Nieves, and Scott Pose.

28 Marc Topkin and John Romano, “Eiland Gets Through a Long Two Weeks,” Tampa Bay Times, June 23, 1999.

29 Marc Topkin, “The Once-Lost Eiland Finds Himself on Opening Roster,” Tampa Bay Times, April 4, 2000. Eiland said he had pain in his elbow and had inquired about a pitching coach position in the Yankee minor leagues, but was told no positions were available.

30 Topkin, “The Once-Lost Eiland Finds Himself on Opening Roster.”

31 Bruce Lowitt, “Late for Eiland, but Still a Win,” Tampa Bay Times, August 10, 2000. The injury was described as “a pinched bursa sac in his left hip.”

32 Susan Slusser, “A’s Notebook: Frustrating Spring for Eiland,” SFGATE, March 10, 2001.

33 “Despite Setback, Eiland Not Ready to Retire,” Tampa Bay Times, April 12, 2002.

34 “Dave Eiland Hops Into New Job,” New York Daily News, February 11, 2008. “Eiland says he had the second surgery ‘to have a normal life, have a catch. I had it in the back of my mind I’d get into coaching and figured I’d be throwing batting practice for a while.’”

35 “Eiland Named NY Yankees Pitching Coach,” MILB.com, November 20, 2007.

36 “Dave Eiland Hops Into New Job,” New York Daily News, February 11, 2008.

37 “Dave Eiland Hops Into New Job.”

38 Andrew Marchand, “Source: Dave Eiland Felt De-emphasized,” ESPN.com, October 30, 2010. https://www.espn.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=5744816.

39 George A. King III, “Eiland: I Never Feuded With Girardi,” New York Post, October 31, 2010. “‘Joe and I never had a problem, nor do we now,’ Eiland said. ‘There are no hard feelings in the organization. Joe is a good baseball man, a great manager and one of the best human beings I ever met.’”

40 Mark Viera, “With Eiland Back, a Hope That Burnett Returns to Form,” New York Times, June 29, 2010. “Eiland, who had been away from the team since June 4, declined to answer questions about why he has been absent, calling it ‘a private family matter.’”

41 Steven Marcus, “New and Improved A.J. Burnett?” New York Newsday, March 2, 2011. “Burnett may also have had a bit to do with Dave Eiland’s firing. If Ireland’s [sic] unexplained leave of absence was most of the reason, the pitching coach’s inability to turn around Burnett was probably at least part of the issue.” Burnett signed a five-year, $82.5 million deal with the Yankees on December 12, 2008, but posted a 34-35, 4.79 ERA, 1.447 WHIP in three seasons with the Yankees and was traded before the 2013 season with cash for two minor leaguers. Burnett was 87-76 with a 3.81 ERA and 1.284 WHIP in his 10 seasons before the Yankees and 43-46 with a 3.69 ERA and 1.306 WHIP in his four seasons after.

42 Wallace Matthews, “Dave Eiland ‘Pretty Shocked’ by Firing,” ESPN.com, December 23, 2010. https://www.espn.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=5951358.

43 Murray Chass, “Firing of a Different Sort,” MurrayChass.com, October 31, 2010. https://www.murraychass.com/?p=2553.

44 Elizabeth Merrill, “How Yordano Ventura Tamed His Temper and Harnessed His Fastball,” ESPN.com, October 7, 2015. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/13829748/how-kansas-city-royals-yordano-ventura-tamed-temper-harnessed-fastball.

45 Associated Press, “Kennedy Fitting In with World Series Champion Royals,” Arlington Heights (Illinois) Daily Herald, February 20, 2016. “‘Knowing Dave before for me was nice,’ Kennedy said. ‘It’s nice to have that relationship already built.’”

46 Rustin Dodd and Pete Grathoff, “Royals Part Ways with Pitching Coach Dave Eiland, Bench Coach Don Wakamatsu,” ESPN.com, October 2, 2017. https://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-city-royals/article176519021.html.

47 Associated Press, “Mets Hire Gary DiSarcina, Dave Eiland, Ruben Amaro Jr. as Coaches,” ABC7ny.com, November 15, 2017. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21426295/mets-hire-gary-disarcina-dave-eiland-ruben-amaro-jr-coaches.

48 Mike Puma, “Dave Eiland Tip Led to Jacob deGrom’s Mets Star Turn,” New York Post, March 21, 2021.

49 Jacob deGrom was 45-32 (.584) with a 2.98 ERA (130 ERA+) and 1.122 WHIP before Eiland was hired during the 2017-2018 offseason, and 39-25 (.609) with a 2.08 ERA (191 ERA+) and 0.863 WHIP between 2018 and 2023, though Eiland was fired midway through the 2019 season.

50 Lindsey Adler, “How a Recent Mechanical Change Has Given Zack Wheeler a Significant Jump in His Average Velocity,” The Athletic, June 27, 2018. Wheeler was 21-23 with a 3.90 ERA and 1.396 WHIP from 2013 to 2017, then 66-40, 3.28 ERA, 1.107 WHIP between 2018 and 2023 after working with Eiland in 2018.

51 Russell Dorsey, “Mets Dismiss Eiland, Name Regan in Interim,” MLB.com, June 21, 2019. https://www.mlb.com/news/dave-eiland-dismissed-by-mets. At the time, the Mets ranked 20th in the major leagues with a 4.71 ERA. “The team has finished a season with a higher mark just twice in its history: in 1962, the team’s inaugural season, and 2017.” Eiland and bullpen coach Chuck Hernandez were replaced by Phil Regan as interim pitching coach, Ricky Bones as interim bullpen coach, and Jeremy Accardo in a newly created role, pitching strategist. “Dave is a tremendous pitching coach. The bottom line is that the results weren’t there,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said. “We’ll all continue, at all times, to look ourselves in the mirror, try to improve upon our process, and that’s the reason we brought in three guys to replace two. Our process is going to get a little more in depth and it’s going to take three guys to do it.” The Mets improved to an 11th-best 4.24 ERA by the end of the 2019 season.

52 Ryan Dunsmore, “Summer League Announces Team Names and Logos,” Fort Bend (Texas) Herald, July 5, 2020.

53 Kazmir had been out of professional baseball since his release by the Atlanta Braves on March 24, 2018.

54 “Blue Wahoos Announce 2023 Coaching Staff,” MILB.com, January 31, 2023. https://www.milb.com/pensacola/news/2023-coaching-staff-x9822.

55 Stephanie Sheehan, “Blue Wahoos Rally Once Again to Win SL Crown,” MILB.com, September 29, 2022. https://www.milb.com/news/pensacola-blue-wahoos-win-southern-league-championship.

56 Eiland was listed as head of baseball for Grand Central Sports as of July 25, 2024.