Dick Egan

Willie Mays ripped Dick Egan’s “best spitter”1 out of blustery Candlestick Park on August 29, 1967. That solo home run in the seventh inning gave the San Francisco Giants a 7-1 advantage over the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers. (The Giants went on to win 11-1.)

Baseball’s legendary “Say Hey Kid” knew all about Egan’s habit of tossing wet pitches. Mays shouted as he rounded the bases that he hit the ball “on the dry side.”2

Egan told that story to a newspaper reporter in 1991. By then, his playing career was long over, and he was working in the Florida Marlins front office. Later, he worked for the Detroit Tigers, the team that signed him decades earlier as a 6-foot-4-inch left-hander out of Northern California.

Yes, Egan confessed, he sometimes threw spitballs. “I had a good one until they changed the rule and disallowed going to your mouth,” he said. “I never did learn to throw a Vaseline ball.”3

Egan appeared in 74 games with three teams over parts of four seasons and won just one time, in a mop-up role in his final campaign. He lost two games and had a 5.15 ERA in 101⅓ career innings. Egan made all of his appearances in relief. Looking back, with a nod to his modest stats and to an instance of bad luck against maybe the greatest player ever, he said, “The one time I got Willie Mays out, I struck him out, but the catcher missed the ball.”4

Richard Wallis Egan was born on March 24, 1937, in Berkeley, California, near Oakland. His parents were Massachusetts native David J. Egan and Barbara (Kierulff) Egan of California. In 1939, a daughter, Patricia Egan, was added to the family. According to the 1950 US census, David Egan worked as a wire threader in the steel industry, while Barbara was a housekeeper. The family lived in Contra Costa County, California.5

Young Richard earned plenty of headlines as an all-around star athlete at Pleasant Hill (California) High School. In May 1954 he threw a no-hitter against the Alhambra High School Bulldogs from nearby Martinez, a city best known as the birthplace of New York Yankees great Joe DiMaggio. Egan “baffled, bewildered, and bamboozled the Bulldogs for seven straight stanzas,”6 according to a local newspaper. Later that season, he took home a trophy as the team’s most valuable player.7 He also played basketball and started at quarterback for the Pleasant Hill Rams football team.

After high school, Egan enrolled at nearby East Contra Costa Junior College. As a sophomore first baseman, he led the Vikings with a .357 batting average and 17 runs scored in 26 games. On the mound, he went 3-2 with 50 strikeouts in 41⅔ innings. The team finished 15-11.

Egan signed a professional contract in June 1957 with the Stockton Ports of the Class-C California League.  “I decided to get into professional ball now, make the most of this chance and hope for the best,” he said.8

Egan struggled in his 15 appearances and 60 innings, in large part due to the 53 walks he allowed. He posted a 1-3 record with a sky-high 8.25 ERA. The club released him soon after the season ended.

The Tigers signed Egan to a minor-league deal in February 1958 and sent him to the Erie (Pennsylvania) Sailors of the Class-D New York-Pennsylvania League. He had a 10-14 record and a 3.68 ERA. The following season, this time with the Montgomery (Alabama) Rebels of the Class-D Alabama-Florida League, Egan went 14-8 with a 2.70 ERA. He topped the league with 201 strikeouts.

And what did Egan recall decades later about his time with the Rebels, besides all the heat and humidity? “We had an old bus with room for three-four guys to sleep in back,” he said. “Just a flat area for a bed but the starting pitcher the next day got a spot!” Also, “Fort Walton Beach (Florida) had a family-style all-you-can-eat restaurant. We would stop to eat and wipe them out of food.”9

In evaluating his pitching style, Egan said, “I threw left-handed and had plus velocity and a sweepy curveball. I probably exceeded today’s pitch counts often. Never hurt – we threw a lot – no weights, no drugs. Just baseball.”10

Egan spent 1960 with the Knoxville Smokies of the Class-A South Atlantic League and the Portland Beavers of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. He went 6-5 as both a starter and reliever and posted a 3.63 ERA. Egan pitched in 1961 for the Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association and the Denver Bears of the American Association, where he won a combined five games, mostly as a reliever, with a 4.19 ERA.

(In a questionnaire given to players in the PCL and other leagues out west and stamped May 6, 1961, Egan wrote that he had two children, Corinne Anne, 3 years old, and Richard Lee, 21 months. He listed his offseason occupation as “salesman” and his hobbies as fishing and golf.11 Egan had married Lois Lieber on October 25, 1957.12)

Egan’s minor-league journey took him to Hawaii in 1962, and he put together a splendid season with the Islanders, a Los Angeles Angels affiliate in the Pacific Coast League. The team finished a middling 77-76, but Egan won a team-high 17 games against 11 losses. He had a 3.45 ERA and led the league in strikeouts, once again punching out 201 batters. PCL baseball writers voted him the league’s Pitcher of the Year. During an interview in late May, Egan said he had made a few changes in his delivery, “but,” he added, “basically I’m the same guy who’s been trying to make the big time before.” He said, “I think I’ve just gotten to the point of where it is now or never. If not this year, I may shop around for another job or go back to college. I know I’ve got the stuff to make the majors and I just want the chance to prove it to myself.”13

The Tigers, coming off an 85-76 season, took a close look at Egan during spring training in 1963, and the pitcher enjoyed a solid few weeks. Over his first six appearances, he gave up just nine hits, two walks, and four runs in 16 innings. “That’s enough for me,” Detroit manager Bob Scheffing said. “We’re keeping him to be a short reliever, one that I can bring in early or in the middle of a game.”14

Scheffing called Egan one of the team’s two surprises. The skipper also liked a talented young catcher named Bill Freehan, who went on to a sensational 15-year career in Detroit. Freehan played on 11 All-Star teams and earned five Gold Gloves. “They really came along fast for us,” Scheffing said. “Frankly, I had my doubts about both of them, but now I’d have to say that they look like they’re ready.”15 Scheffing added, “This kid (Egan) knows how to pitch. I don’t mean the stuff he has, but the way he uses it. He knows what it’s all about.”16

Egan sounded confident that he could do the job, in part because he gained 15 pounds over the offseason. He ate avocados and bananas and helped himself to double scoops of ice cream after meals. “I’ve never felt stronger in my life,” he said. “I haven’t gotten tired once this spring.”17

He also added a changeup to his repertoire. Egan picked up the pitch during winter ball in Venezuela. George Brunet from the Houston Colt .45s offered a few pointers one warm afternoon. “I’ve been using it ever since,” Egan said.18

Of note, Egan did not seem as angry as in past years. Tigers pitching coach Tom Ferrick said, “Before a pitcher can control the ball, he must learn to control himself. Egan has done both. He’s matured.”19 Egan was ready for any role the Tigers had in mind. Scheffing said, “He told me this spring, ‘I want to pitch in the big leagues, and I don’t care how, start or relief.’”20

The 1963 Tigers pitching staff featured 19-game winner and future Hall of Famer Jim Bunning and 16-game winner Hank Aguirre (2.21 ERA). Terry Fox (3-1, 16 saves) anchored the bullpen. Detroit also had high hopes for a 23-year-old left-hander named Mickey Lolich. A trio of heavy hitters led the offense. First baseman Norm Cash belted 39 home runs the previous season, one year after hitting 41 and leading the American League with a .361 batting average (.487 on-base percentage) and driving home 132 runs. Rocky Colavito, the former Cleveland Indians star, hit 37 home runs and had 112 RBIs, while right fielder Al Kaline ripped 29 homers and led Detroit with a .304 batting average and a .593 slugging percentage.

Egan made his big-league debut on Opening Day, April 9, against the Chicago White Sox at Tiger Stadium. The White Sox won, 7-5, thanks in large part to a four-run seventh inning. Scheffing sent Egan into the game in relief of Bunning with two outs in the top of the eighth and runners on first and second. Egan struck out the only batter he faced, Nellie Fox, an infielder famous for the plug of tobacco that he kept firmly in his check. “They got me up, brought me in, and I struck out Nellie Fox with three straight sliders,” said Egan. “Bob Scheffing, our manager, told me he’s never seen Fox look that bad. Unfortunately, it didn’t carry over to the rest of my career.”21 Bob Dustal pitched a scoreless ninth inning for Detroit.

Despite Scheffing’s high hopes, Egan never settled into his role as a short reliever. He took the loss April 22 against the Kansas City Athletics after entering the game in the ninth inning with the score tied, 5-5. He retired the first two batters but then surrendered back-to-back singles. Scheffing brought in Ed Charles, who allowed the Athletics’ third straight base hit, this one a game-winner. Egan had a 10.13 ERA over his first four appearances.

The Tigers demoted him to Triple-A Syracuse in mid-June. The Detroit Free Press lamented, “Egan was still another player who disappointed the Tigers.”22 Egan started and relieved for Syracuse. He posted a 5-8 won-lost record with a 3.53 ERA.

The next spring Egan brought another new pitch to Florida. Charlie Dressen, who took over as Tigers manager on June 18, had asked Egan to add a screwball “because I thought he needed another pitch. Every time he threw it – I guess he tried it about a half-dozen times – no one even came close to it.”23

Once again Egan won a spot in the Detroit bullpen. This time he was mostly effective. He appeared in 23 games and had an ERA of 4.46, which is a bit deceptive. He gave up 17 earned runs in 34⅓ innings, but 10 of those runs came in two outings. Other than those, his ERA was 1.89.

On June 16 of that year, the Athletics’ Jim Gentile crushed a home run off Egan in the eighth inning. The ball slammed onto the roof at Tiger Stadium, bounced back toward the field and headed straight to Kaline, who brought it back to the dugout. He later slipped the ball into Egan’s hand. “You might want to keep this as a souvenir,” Kaline said. “It’s flat on one side.”24

The Tigers demoted Egan in late July to make room for 25-year-old right-handed pitcher Jack Hamilton. Egan struggled in his return trip to Syracuse. He had a 4-4 won-lost record but with a 6.19 ERA in 48 innings.

In mid-September, with the Tigers stuck in fourth place, an Associated Press writer asked Dressen about the Tigers’ plans for 1965. “A left-handed pitcher for the bullpen – and another left-handed starter if we can find one.” Detroit had two lefties on the big-league squad, Aguirre and Lolich. Might Egan be a candidate for one of the roles, at least in the bullpen? The reporter, citing the pitcher’s struggles in Syracuse, doubted it. “Egan’s value is questionable,” the scribe decided.25

Detroit traded Egan to the St. Louis Cardinals on January 2, 1965, for pitcher Glen Hobbie and catcher Bob Lipski. St. Louis assigned him to the team’s Jacksonville affiliate in the International League, where he made 15 appearances, all but one in relief, with a 2-2 won-lost record and a 2.63 ERA.

The Cincinnati Reds purchased Egan’s contract in June and sent him to the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League. There, he won seven games, lost nine and had a 3.14 ERA in 129 innings. On June 27 the Chula Vista (California) Star-News praised Egan for “firing a brilliant two-hit shutout” against the Vancouver Mounties, a Kansas City Athletics affiliate.26 Cincinnati sold Egan’s rights to the California Angels on October 15.

His career with the Angels lasted 11 games and 14⅓ innings. On May 27 he was dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitcher Howie Reed and a player to be named later. (California completed the trade in December by sending infielder John Butler to Los Angeles.)

Now 29 years old, Egan reported to the Spokane Indians, the Dodgers’ Triple-A farm team in the Pacific Coast League, and put up impressive numbers. In 35 games, he had an 8-1 record and a 1.92 ERA. Even so, he sounded discouraged about his big-league future. “Heck, when you’re cut from the Angel roster, you’ve got to feel you’re in trouble,” he said. “I didn’t like my chances in the Dodgers organization, either.”27

That pessimism notwithstanding, Dodgers general manager Buzzie Bavasi said “[A]ll (Egan) has to do is work hard.” He added, “Egan has a good chance to make this club. We’re looking for another lefthander in the bullpen and Egan is the type that can help us.” Manager Walter Aston complimented the pitcher’s side-arm sinker. “He’s been around a little and has a pretty good idea of what he’s doing,” Alston said. “It looks like he has good control, and the ball moves pretty well. I like what I’ve seen so far.”28

Over the winter, Egan had once again pitched in Venezuela. That was one reason for the early zip on his fastball. “Normally, I don’t believe in winter ball, but this year it was a financial necessity,” Egan said. “I’m usually a fast starter, maybe more so this year because this is do or die. I don’t figure to have many more chances.”29

As he did so often, Egan impressed observers during spring training. Maxwell Stiles from the Valley Times wrote in mid-March that “Egan delivers the ball with one of the smoothest sweeping swings of his left arm you’re likely to see. His easy grace in delivery reminds me of the golf swings of Sam Snead and Julius Boros.”30 Maybe to Egan’s surprise, Alston named him to the Dodgers’ staff.

He joined a ballclub that was minus a superstar. Future Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, the winner of three Cy Young Awards and the 1963 National League Most Valuable Player, retired after the 1966 season due to an arthritic left elbow. The author of four no-hitters, including a perfect game, was just 30 years old. The Dodgers still boasted a strong starting staff with Don Drysdale, Claude Osteen, Don Sutton, and promising prospect Bill Singer, plus a bullpen that featured Ron Perranoski, Jim Brewer, and Phil Regan.

Egan won his only big-league game on April 24. The Dodgers, off to just a 3-6 start, were playing at home against the St. Louis Cardinals, who had a 7-2 mark. LA took an early 4-2 lead but gave it back and the game went into extra innings. St. Louis jumped ahead 5-4 on a Curt Flood RBI single with one out in the top of the 13th. Dodgers skipper Walter Alston lifted Joe Moeller and replaced him with Egan, who was making his second appearance that season. Baserunners took their leads off second and third.

Roger Maris popped out, and Egan gave Orlando Cepeda a free pass. The next batter, Phil Gagliano, grounded out to end the inning. The Dodgers scored twice in the bottom half of the frame, thus giving Egan a victory. In the Long Beach Press-Telegram, writer Jack Lederer joked that Egan “got a large charge” out of his first big-league win. It seems that when Egan tried to start his car afterward, the battery was dead, and he was forced to call for help.31

As in other years, Egan searched to find any consistency in 1967. He pitched several scoreless outings but got hit hard in others. In that final big-league season, Egan appeared in 20 games and threw 31⅔ innings. He had a 1-1 record and a career-high 6.25 ERA. (Egan took the loss on May 4 against the Pirates when he allowed three earned runs and did not record an out. The Dodgers lost 9-3.) In his last appearance, on September 4, against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, he gave up an earned run in two-thirds of an inning. That ended Egan’s playing career. He retired with 85 wins in professional baseball, 84 as a minor leaguer.

In need of work, Egan spent a few years dealing craps at Harrah’s casino in Lake Tahoe and later switched to blackjack. Egan saw little future, though, in the late-night hours and neon-lit world of professional gambling. “Too boring,” he said. He already had spent a few offseasons as a security guard at Harrah’s. That job required some heavy lifting. “They told us the doors were unbreakable glass,” he explained. “Sometimes, you get your point across by opening the door with a guy’s head. The first time I tried it, the guy went right through the door.”32

Egan left Harrah’s and took a job with the Major League Scouting Bureau. He wrote reports on, among other players, a young pitcher named Jack Morris. “He was just like he is now,” Egan said in 1991. “Same bulldog make-up. Grunt and groan.”33 The right-hander went on to win 254 games, with the Tigers and other teams. Writers voted Morris into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018.

After 14 years at the Scouting Bureau, Egan joined the Texas Rangers organization. In 1991 he managed the Rangers’ team in the rookie-level Pioneer League, the Butte Copper Kings, who finished in third place (out of four teams) with a 29-41 record. “Never had so much fun in my life,” Egan said. “Kids were eager to learn.”34

Egan spent five years with Texas and later filled scouting roles with the Marlins. He revealed one of the truisms of scouting. “Sign a kid to pro ball, and some fold like a wet pile in the rain. Others are so hungry, and they get better and better.”35

Dave Dombrowski offered high praise for Egan in an article from 2021. At that time, Dombrowski was leading the baseball operations department with the Philadelphia Phillies and looking back on a World Series championship run in 1997 when he ran the Florida Marlins front office.

On July 27 of that year, Dombroski traded for Craig Counsell of the Colorado Rockies in exchange for relief pitcher Mark Hutton. Counsell, who was 26, replaced Luis Castillo and hit .299 with a .376 on-base percentage in 51 games for the Marlins and .293 with a .423 on-base percentage in the postseason. Dombrowski acquired Counsell on Egan’s recommendation. “(Egan) calls me and says, ‘I think we have the answer for our second-base situation. This guy is really good and fundamentally sound.’” Dombrowski said, “I don’t think we win without Craig Counsell because he did so much. … He recommends Craig Counsell out of Triple A for a world championship club. What kind of scouting is that?”36

Egan joined the Tigers in 2002 as a major-league scout and was named a special assistant to general manager Dombrowski in 2007.37 Egan offered pointers to Detroit pitchers, of course, but also to Texas Rangers left-hander Kenny Rogers, who knew Egan from his time years earlier in the instructional league. “I get information from everybody, and I use everybody,” Rogers said in 2005. “(Egan’s) got a history with me that other people don’t have. He has a way of getting through to me. He’s had that from Day 1.” 38 Rogers joined the Detroit staff in 2006 and made the last of his four All-Star appearances. He won 219 career games.

The Professional Baseball Scouting Foundation honored Egan in 2016 with a Legend in Scouting Award, presented at the In Spirit of the Game gala in Beverly Hills, California. The annual event attracts some of the sport’s best-known figures. Dennis Gilbert, a businessman and former player agent, created the gala as a way to help scouts in financial need. “Over the 15 years, we’ve helped more than 100 scouts and their families,” Gilbert said in an mlb.com article in 2018. “That’s what this dinner is about.”39

In December 2020, the Tigers let go of Egan and several other “outstanding scouts.” An article on mlb.com gave a review of Egan’s lengthy career. “I knew I wanted to play baseball forever,” he once said.40 He could never do that, of course. Even so, he made baseball his life.

As of 2023, Egan lived in Garland, Texas, outside Dallas.

Sources

In addition to the sources listed in the Notes, the author also consulted baseball-reference.com.

Notes

1 Gordon Edes, “Egan Has Eye for Talent – And Stories,” South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), November 7, 1991.

2 Edes.

3 Edes.

4 Edes.

5 1950 US Census https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/268853070:62308.

6 Clif Moore, “The Scoreboard,” Concord (California) Transcript, May 11, 1954: 6.

7 “Pleasant Hill High School Athletes Honored at Spring Banquet by Parents,” Concord Transcript, June 8, 1954.

8 Jerry Gandy, “A Gander at Sports,” Contra Costa (California) Gazette, June 5, 1967: 12.

9 “An Interview with Montgomery’s All-Time Strikeout Leader,” drmiraculousblogspot.com, January 13, 2017.

10 “An Interview with Montgomery’s All-Time Strikeout Leader.”

11 https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/7988:61599.

12 California, US, Marriage Index, 1949-1959, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/526460:5186.

13 United Press International, “Tigers Need Pitchers? Dick Egan May Be Real Find,” Traverse City (Michigan) Eagle, May 31, 1962.

14 Jerry Green (Associated Press), “Dick Egan Wins Job in Detroit Club’s Bullpen,” Ironwood (Michigan) Daily Globe, April 1, 1963: 9.

15 Joe Falls, “Egan and Freehan Are Big Surprises,” Detroit Free Press, April 6, 1963:13.

16 Falls, “Egan and Freehan Are Big Surprises.”

17 Falls, “Egan and Freehan Are Big Surprises.”

18 Falls, “Egan and Freehan Are Big Surprises.”

19 Green, “Dick Egan Wins Job in Detroit Club’s Bullpen.”

20 “Fans Keep Eyes on Dick Egan,” Pleasant Hill (California) News, April 11, 1963: 11.

21 David Laurila, FanGraphs Sunday Notes, March 20, 2016. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes-dick-egan-heyward-buxton-padres-indians-more/.

22 Joe Falls, “Tigers Re-Acquire Thomas,” Detroit Free Press, June 17, 1963: 33.

23 Bernie Kennedy, “Hurler Egan Impresses Dressen,” Lansing (Michigan) State Journal, March 7, 1964: 9.

24 Edes, “Egan Has Eye for Talent – And Stories.”

25 Bernie Kennedy, “Dressen Starts Making Plans for Next Year,” Ironwood Daily Globe, September 18, 1964.

26 “Tompkins Dealt 2-0 Setback,” Chula Vista (California) Star-News, June 27, 1965.

27 George Lederer, “Ex-Angel Egan Dodger Delight,” Long Beach (California) Independent, March 6, 1967: 19.

28 Lederer, “Ex-Angel Egan Dodger Delight.”

29 Lederer, “Ex-Angel Egan Dodger Delight.”

30 Maxwell Stiles, “Stiles in Sports,” Valley Times (North Hollywood, California), March 16, 1967: 14.

31 George Lederer, “Egan Gives Dodgers Charge, Then Left Dry,” Long Beach Press Telegram, April 25, 1967: 19.

32 Edes, “Egan Has Eye for Talent – And Stories.”

33 Edes.

34 Edes.

35 Edes.

36 Bob Brookover, “Deal for Dalton Was one of his Best,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 13, 2021.

37 Anthony Fenech, “Tigers’ Dick Egan Honored for Many Years as a Pro Scout,” Detroit Free Press, January 17, 2016.

38 “Time for Phils to Step Up to the Plate,” Philadelphia Daily News, May 13, 2005: 129. 

39 Ken Gurnick, “Scouts Foundation to Host Star-Studded Dinner,” mlb.com, January 11, 2018.

40 Jason Beck, “What Is Tigers’ Mindset for Winter Meetings,” mlb.com, December 4, 2020.