July 22, 1984: Doug Frobel’s 11th-inning double gives Pirates a split with first-place Padres

Minor-league power hitting, solid play as an injury fill-in, and Dave Parker’s departure in free agency thrust Doug Frobel into right field for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Opening Day 1984. Frobel’s struggles – beginning with an ignominious encounter with Hall of Fame-bound San Diego Padres reliever Rich Gossage in the season opener – soon reduced him to a part-time role, but he occasionally displayed the potential that made him a prospect. In the second game of a July 22 doubleheader against the National League West Division-leading Padres, Frobel struck out four times, then drove in Tony Peña with an 11th-inning double off Gossage to give the Pirates a 3-2 win at Three Rivers Stadium.

The 6-foot-4, lefty-swinging Frobel grew up in Ottawa, Canada, and signed with Pittsburgh after impressing scouts with 400-foot home runs and sub-6.8-second 60-yard sprints at a Utica, New York, tryout camp in 1977.1 He emerged as a prospect with 20 home runs at Class A in 1980.2 Climbing the organizational ladder to Double A and Triple A in the next two seasons, Frobel moved from first base to right field,3 hit a combined 51 homers, and debuted with Pittsburgh in September 1982 as just the third-ever Ottawa Valley area native to reach the big leagues.4

Heavy with veteran outfielders, the Pirates returned Frobel to Triple A in 1983.5 He was batting .304 with 24 home runs in August when a thumb injury sidelined left fielder Mike Easler.6 With Pittsburgh in a four-team NL East Division race, Frobel started regularly against right-handed pitching during Easler’s three-week absence. He hit .283 with a .533 slugging percentage in 60 late-season at-bats.7

The Pirates had a distinguished lineage in right field. Hall of Famer Paul Waner had played there for 15 seasons, Cooperstown-bound Roberto Clemente for 18 more. Parker was a four-time All-Star, two-time batting champ, and the 1978 NL MVP in 11 seasons as a Pirate. But he signed with the Cincinnati Reds in December 1983,8 creating an opening for Frobel, who joined Saskatchewan-born Houston Astros outfielder Terry Puhl as the only two Canadians on major-league rosters in 1984.9

In all but three of the previous 28 seasons, Clemente or Parker had been Pittsburgh’s Opening Day right fielder,10 and Frobel was there on April 3 in San Diego.11 He went 0-for-3 in the Padres’ 5-1 win.12

One particular at-bat drew outsized attention. When Gossage – a high-profile free agent signing after six seasons with the New York Yankees and one of the game’s elite firemen13 – entered in the eighth inning, the first batter was Frobel, who swung late on two fastballs, then took strike three.14 Newspapers around the league pitilessly described Gossage’s dominance.15 “It was like a high school running back being fed to the Pittsburgh Steelers,” a columnist scoffed.16

Frobel hit a grand slam two days later, but the Opening Day strikeout more accurately foreshadowed the season. By May 19 Frobel, who had started nearly every game against right-handers, was batting just .136. His minor-league options had expired, and the Pirates did not want to risk losing him on waivers.17 He became an infrequent presence, making scattered starts or appearing as a defensive replacement.18

Widespread offensive shortcomings buried the Pirates – perennial contenders from 1970 through 1983 – in last place in the division and 21 games under .500 by July 7.19 During a July homestand, however, Pittsburgh rallied for nine wins in 10 games, while the 25-year-old Frobel made the most of his opportunities: a 425-foot homer against the San Francisco Giants,20 praiseworthy defense against the Los Angeles Dodgers,21 and a home run that provided the margin of victory in the first game of a Friday night doubleheader against the Padres.22

Pittsburgh and San Diego wrapped up their six-game weekend series – swelled by two May rainouts23 – with a Sunday afternoon twin bill. The Padres were in first place in the NL West and seeking the first title in their 16-season history. In the doubleheader’s opener, Frobel homered against Ed Whitson, his eighth of the season, but made a fielding error that let in an unearned run. It was one of several Pirate stumbles in a 5-1 loss, and manager Chuck Tanner held a team meeting between games.24

For the second game, Padres manager Dick Williams rolled out a reserve-laden lineup against Pittsburgh lefty Larry McWilliams, who had lost 1-0 on an unearned run in San Diego two weeks earlier.25 McWilliams was nearly spotless the first time through the order, with a double play negating NL batting leader Tony Gwynn’s first-inning single.26 But with two outs in the third, starting pitcher Eric Show homered over the left-field fence – his second round-tripper of the season – to put San Diego ahead, 1-0.

The Padres’ backup corps generated another run in the fifth inning through savvy baserunning. Righty-batting platoon third baseman Luis Salazar walked with one out and raced to third on backup catcher Bruce Bochy’s hit-and-run single.27 Shortstop Mario Ramírez, giving regular Garry Templeton a game off, executed a suicide squeeze for a single. Salazar scored standing up for a 2-0 lead.28

Show, San Diego’s winning pitcher on Opening Day, dismissed a handful of early scoring chances to preserve the lead. Pirates were stranded in scoring position in three of the first five innings. Frobel struck out twice, in the second and fifth.

The Pirates methodically broke the shutout in the sixth. The inning began with another out: veteran utilityman Kurt Bevacqua, at first base while nine-time All-Star Steve Garvey rested, made a diving catch of Lee Mazzilli’s line drive.29 Singles by Bill Madlock, Jason Thompson, and Johnny Ray then loaded the bases. Milt May hit into a force at second, and Madlock scored. Frobel came up with runners at the corners, but Show struck him out again.

It was a 2-1 game when San Diego’s Carmelo Martínez walked to lead off the seventh. Bobby Brown – in center because Kevin McReynolds had developed back spasms in the first game30 – sacrificed Martínez to second. With the .226-batting Bochy and .182-batting Ramírez following, the Pirates intentionally walked the .274-batting Salazar. Bochy flied out, but Ramírez walked to load the bases.

The pitcher’s spot was up, and Williams called on Garvey for what would have been just his 10th pinch-hit appearance in 11 seasons.31

But he never saw a pitch. Tanner replaced McWilliams with right-hander Don Robinson. Williams countered by swapping out Garvey for another veteran slugger, 39-year-old lefty-swinging Graig Nettles, whose 345 career home runs ranked fifth among active players.32 Nettles drove a high fly ball to right that Frobel hauled in, on the warning track.33

Williams summoned Gossage in the seventh. The 33-year-old right-hander, an All-Star for the eighth time in 1984, had saved Padres’ wins on each of the two previous days and 18 times so far in the season. He had 20 saves of three innings or more in his career but none more recently than August 1980. Pittsburgh shortstop Dale Berra – Gossage’s teammate during the reliever’s superlative single-season tour with the Pirates in 1977 – led off with a single but was stranded at second.

A two-out walk to Bevacqua and Martínez’s double gave the Padres a scoring opportunity in the eighth against left-hander Rod Scurry. Gossage, double-switched into the fifth spot of San Diego’s batting order, was due. Tanner brought in relief ace Kent Tekulve, like Gossage a member of Pittsburgh’s 1977 bullpen. Williams let Gossage bat, and he grounded to short for the third out.

The Pirates evened it up in the eighth when Thompson hit Gossage’s high fastball over the right-field fence for his 11th homer of the season. Later in the inning, May drew a two-out walk in front of Frobel, whose only at-bat against Gossage since Opening Day was a strikeout in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader. Frobel struck out again, and the game remained tied.

Tekulve and Gossage exchanged perfect innings in the ninth, then the 10th.34 In the 11th, Tanner switched to right-hander Jim Winn,35 who retired the first two Padres he faced.

Pinch-hit candidates Templeton and Champ Summers loosened up,36 but Gossage batted again. A .135 career hitter in 52 at-bats, he lined a single to center. Salazar also singled. Regular catcher Terry Kennedy hit for Bochy but grounded to second for the third out.

Gossage returned for his fifth inning of the game. He had gone five or more innings in relief 14 times in his career, but only once since 1979.37

“I pitch when I want,” Gossage said afterward. “That’s why I stayed out there. And if I didn’t want to be out there, I wouldn’t have been.”38

“If I was the manager I’d have [kept Gossage in the game],” said Tanner, who had managed Gossage with the Pirates and Chicago White Sox. “If you want to win, you go with your best.39

Peña walked with one out, bringing up Frobel. Gossage threw two strikes,40 and the extension of Frobel’s strikeout streaks – three straight at-bats against Gossage, four in a row in the game, and five consecutive since the doubleheader’s opener – appeared imminent.

But Frobel sliced an opposite-field liner to left. Peña scored on the double, and the Pirates had a 3-2 win.41

“I had to persevere after all of the strikeouts,” Frobel said. “I fell into bad habits again. I was swinging at bad pitches. I’m just glad I got a chance to win the game.”42

He finished 1984 with 12 home runs in 276 at-bats, but he struck out 84 times and had a .203 batting average. Pittsburgh came in last in the NL East at 75-87, despite allowing the fewest runs of any major-league team.43

Frobel dropped on the depth chart when the Pirates, aiming to boost their offense, acquired three veteran outfielders during the 1984-85 offseason.44 An injury to newcomer Steve Kemp led to Frobel starting in left field on Opening Day 1985,45 but his playing time diminished once Kemp returned from the disabled list in April. The Pirates sold Frobel to the Montreal Expos in August, and he wrapped up his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1987.46

Author’s Note

The author attended this doubleheader with his family. Six days later, on his 10th birthday, he was photographed with Doug Frobel during a Camera Day event at Three Rivers Stadium.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Doug Frobel, Trading Card Database.

Sources 

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play. The author also reviewed game coverage in the Los Angeles Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Press, San Diego Union, and San Diego Tribune newspapers.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT198407222.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1984/B07222PIT1984.htm

Notes

1 Branch Rickey III, who oversaw the tryout camp for the Pirates, indicated that two attendees ran the 60-yard dash in less than 6.8 seconds: Frobel and New York high-schooler Andy Van Slyke, later a five-time Gold Glove outfielder during a 13-season major-league career that included eight seasons in center field for Pittsburgh. Bob Elliott, “From Nepean to Pittsburgh on Memories And a Big Bat,” Ottawa Citizen, January 17, 1981: 17; Dan Turner, “Still Living The Dream: Unlike Roy Hobbs, Frobel Works for Everything,” Ottawa Citizen, August 14, 1987: B1.

2 Dan Donovan, “Here’s Rundown on Young Bucs,” Pittsburgh Press, March 10, 1981: C-1.

3 “Pirates Must Make Move in Drive for Division Title,” Pittsburgh Press, September 3, 1982: C-1.

4 Catcher Jack Humphries appeared in 98 games with the National League’s New York franchise (later the Giants) and American Association’s Washington Nationals in 1883 and 1884, and George Korince pitched in 11 games with the Detroit Tigers in 1966 and 1967..

5 Russ Franke, “Bucs Deep in Vets, Somebody Must Go,” Pittsburgh Press, March 6, 1983: D-2.

6 “Easler ‘Disabled,’ Frobel Called Up,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 11, 1983: 22.

7 The Pirates finished second in the NL East, six games behind the Philadelphia Phillies.

8 Bob Hertzel, “Parker Makes His Move, Signs 2-Year, $1.6 Million Deal with Reds,” Pittsburgh Press, December 8, 1983: D-4.

9 Bob Hertzel, “Frobel Has His Mind Set on Replacing Parker,” Pittsburgh Press, February 17, 1984: C3; Bob Elliott, “Crashing an Exclusive Club,” Windsor (Ontario) Star, April 21, 1984: B3. Through 2023, the most Canadian-born ever players to appear in a major-league season was 32, in 1884. The most after 1901 was 2011, when 25 Canadians played in the big leagues.

10 Clemente started in right field on Opening Day every year from 1956 through 1972, except for 1957, when he had a back injury and Román Mejías started in right. Lester J. Biederman, “Bucs Display New Faces: Many Changes Made Since ’56 Inaugural,” Pittsburgh Press, April 16, 1957: 34. Following Clemente’s death in a plane accident on New Year’s Eve 1972, Manny Sanguillén was Pittsburgh’s Opening Day right fielder in 1973 and Richie Zisk in 1974. Parker started in right every year from 1975 through 1983.

11 Bob Hertzel, “Frobel Doesn’t Mind Following Parker’s Tough Act,” Pittsburgh Press, April 3, 1984: D1.

12 Bob Hertzel, “Chicken Crosses Rhoden to Fowl Up Season Opener,” Pittsburgh Press, April 4, 1984: B1.

13 Barry Bloom, “With Gossage, Players Envision Having Some Fun,” San Diego Tribune, January 7, 1984: B-1.

14 Bob Smizik, “Pirates Discover Gossage Can Still Cook Their Goose,” Pittsburgh Press, April 4, 1984: B1; Bud Shaw, “Goose’s Fast Start Heats Things up,” San Diego Tribune, April 4, 1984: C-1.

15 Tracy Ringolsby, “Down-the-Middle Players are up the Creek on 1st and 15th,” Kansas City Star, April 8. 1984: SPORTS, 4; Chris Mortensen, “Goose Having Fun Again,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 1, 1984: 7-D.

16 Don Norcross, “Goose Shows Why He’s a Big Piece of Padres Puzzle,” Escondido (California) Times-Advocate, April 4, 1984: C-1.

17 Charley Feeney, “Harper Has Bucs in a Quandary,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 10, 1984: 10.

18 After starting in 22 of the Pirates’ first 34 games through May 19, Frobel was in the lineup for only 16 of the next 88 games through August 17.

19 Bob Smizik, “Leadership – From Anyone – Might Salvage Pirates,” Pittsburgh Press, July 11, 1984: D6; John Adams, “Paradise to Pits: Poor Play, Trades, Scouting, Fate Run Bucs,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 11, 1984: 15.

20 Charley Feeney, “Pirates Belt Giants for Sixth Straight: 17-Hit Burst Helps Tudor Get 9-3 Win,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 16, 1984: 13.

21 Charley Feeney, “LA Snaps Buc Streak, 5-0: DeLeon’s 1-Hit Stint Is Wasted,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 18, 1984: 19; Bob Hertzel, “McWilliams Escapes a Walk on the Wild Side,” Pittsburgh Press, July 19, 1984: D3.

22 Mike DeCourcy, “Gwynn Didn’t Need a Tutor to Spoil Pirates’ Sweep,” Pittsburgh Press, July 21, 1984: C1.

23 The Pirates and Padres were rained out at Three Rivers Stadium on May 7 and 8. “Rainy Day Story,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 9, 1984: 28.

24 Tom Wheatley, “Tanner Calls Clubhouse Meeting and Gets Some Immediate Results,” Pittsburgh Press, July 23, 1984: C5.

25 Bob Hertzel, “San Diego’s 1-0 Victory Third in Row Over Pirates,” Pittsburgh Press, July 8, 1984: D1.

26 The 24-year-old Gwynn, whose three-run eighth-inning homer against John Tudor had won the second game of Friday’s doubleheader, entered Sunday’s nightcap batting .358. He won his first of eight career batting titles in 1984 with a .351 average. DeCourcy, “Gwynn Didn’t Need a Tutor to Spoil Pirates’ Sweep.”

27 Charley Feeney, “Frobel Cooks Padres Goose: Bucs Win in 11th, Split DH,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 23, 1984: 16.

28 Phil Collier, “Whitson Wins 11th As Padres Split With Pittsburgh,” San Diego Union, July 23, 1984: C-1.

29 “Whitson Wins 11th As Padres Split With Pittsburgh.”

30 Barry Bloom, “A Resting Garvey Becomes Victim of Circumstances,” San Diego Tribune, July 23, 1984: C-10.

31 “A Resting Garvey Becomes Victim of Circumstances.”

32 Nettles, a San Diego native, had come to the Padres in a March 1984 trade with the Yankees after getting selected for five All-Star teams, receiving two Gold Glove Awards, and playing for four pennant winners and two World Series champions in 11 seasons in New York. As of this game, his career home-run total trailed only Reggie Jackson of the California Angels (493), Mike Schmidt of the Phillies (410), and Dave Kingman of the Oakland A’s (370). Barry Bloom, “Nettles Comes Home to Play for Padres,” San Diego Tribune, March 31, 1984: B-1.

33 Feeney, “Frobel Cooks Padres Goose.”

34 Marc Appleman, “Padres Get Split With Pittsburgh,” Los Angeles Times, July 23, 1984: III,1.

35 Winn had made the Pirates’ Opening Day roster in 1983 as a nonroster invitee to spring training, but he was sent to Triple A on May 27 with a 7.36 ERA in seven appearances. He remained in Triple A for the rest of the 1983 season and into 1984, until the Pirates recalled him on July 12. The 24-year-old right-hander had pitched just once since then, a long relief appearance in the previous night’s game.

36 Appleman, “Padres Get Split With Pittsburgh.”

37 Gossage had pitched five scoreless innings in the Padres’ 12-inning win over the Atlanta Braves on June 12. Bob Slocum, “Goose Goes Long and Strong as Padres Hit Best-Ever Mark,” San Diego Tribune, June 13, 1984: E-9.

38 Barry Bloom, “Padres Steal Away from Pittsburgh with Smiles on Their Faces,” San Diego Tribune, July 23, 1984: C-1.

39 “Padres Steal Away from Pittsburgh with Smiles on Their Faces.”

40 Bob Hertzel, “Frobel’s Payback Against Gossage Prevents Sweep,” Pittsburgh Press, July 23, 1984: C5.

41 Winn was credited with his first major-league win. He appeared in 161 big-league games in six seasons with the Pirates, White Sox, and Minnesota Twins.

42 Feeney, “Frobel Cooks Padres Goose.”

43 The Padres went on to win the NL West with a 92-70 record, 12 games ahead of the Braves and Astros. In the NL Championship Series, they defeated the Chicago Cubs, three games to two. They lost the World Series to the Tigers in five games. Gossage finished the season with a 10-6 record, a 2.90 ERA, and 25 saves, fifth-most in the NL. He finished fifth in the NL Cy Young Award voting and 13th in the NL Most Valuable Player voting. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.

44 During the 1984-85 offseason, the Pirates acquired George Hendrick in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals and Steve Kemp in a trade with the Yankees. They also signed Sixto Lezcano, formerly of the Philadelphia Phillies, as a free agent. Bob Hertzel, “Mum’s the Word: Hendrick’s a Pirate,” Pittsburgh Press, December 13, 1984: D1; Bob Hertzel, “Ueberroth Reportedly OKs Kemp-Berra Deal,” Pittsburgh Press, December 20, 1984: D1; Bruce Keidan, “Lezcano Signs With Bucs: Power Hitter Accepts Deal for Two Years,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 23, 1985: 13.

45 Bob Hertzel, “Frobel Won’t Be Left Out,” Pittsburgh Press, April 8, 1985: D2.

46 Charley Feeney, “Pirates Sell Frobel to Expos,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 12, 1985: 9. Frobel appeared in 268 major-league games in five seasons with the Pirates, Expos, and Indians. He retired with a career batting average of .201 and 20 home runs.