Bob Welch (baseball)

For other people named Bob Welch, seeBob Welch (disambiguation).

Robert Lynn Welch (November 3, 1956 – June 9, 2014) was an American professionalbaseball starting pitcher. He played inMajor League Baseball (MLB) for theLos Angeles Dodgers (1978–87) andOakland Athletics (1988–94). Prior to his professional career, he attendedEastern Michigan University, where he playedcollege baseball for theEastern Michigan Hurons baseball team.^[1] He helped lead the Hurons, coached by Ron Oestrike, to the1976 College World Series, losing to Arizona in the Championship Game.

Bob Welch

Pitcher
Born: November 3, 1956 Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Died: June 9, 2014(2014-06-09) (aged 57) Seal Beach, California, U.S.
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 20, 1978, for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Last MLB appearance
August 11, 1994, for the Oakland Athletics
MLB statistics
Win–loss record	211–146
Earned run average	3.47
Strikeouts	1,969
Stats atBaseball Reference

Teams
Los Angeles Dodgers (1978–1987) Oakland Athletics (1988–1994)
Career highlights and awards
2×All-Star (1980,1990) 3×World Series champion (1981,1989,2001) AL Cy Young Award (1990) MLB wins leader (1990)

Welch was a two-timeMLB All-Star, and he won theAmerican League Cy Young Award as the league's best pitcher in 1990. He was a three-timeWorld Series champion – twice as a player and once as a coach.

He is the most recent major league pitcher to win at least 25 games in a single season, 27 in 1990,^[1] which is the highest single-season win total since 1968.

Playing career

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In a 17-year career, Welch compiled a 211–146 record with 1,969strikeouts and a 3.47ERA in 3,092innings. His 137 wins during the 1980s ranked third among major league pitchers during that decade, followingJack Morris andDave Stieb. Welch won the American League Cy Young Award in 1990 while pitching for the Oakland Athletics. He threw two complete games in 1990, both of them shutouts. Welch finished in the top 10 voting for the National League Cy Young Award twice (1983 and 1987).^[2]

Los Angeles Dodgers

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Welch gained national fame with the Dodgers during their1978 season, when as a 21-year-old rookie he struck outReggie Jackson of theNew York Yankees with two men on base and two out in the top of the ninth inning of Game 2 of the1978 World Series.

On May 29, 1980, Welch pitched a 3–0 one-hitter against theAtlanta Braves, facing the minimum 27 batters. The only Atlanta base runner wasLarvell Blanks, whosingled in the fourth inning and was retired on adouble play.

Welch won the1981 World Series, his first, as the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in six games.

In 1983, Welch became the sixth pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout and hit a solo home run for his team's only run. This was not accomplished again untilNoah Syndergaard did so in 2019.^[3]

Oakland Athletics

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1990 Oakland Athletics #35 Bob Welch All-Star Game road jersey

Welch was the third starting pitcher in the rotation for the1989 World Series championOakland A's, compiling a regular-season record of 17-8 and recording a win in his only start in theAmerican League Championship Series against theToronto Blue Jays. In an odd twist of fate, however, Welch did not throw a single pitch against theSan Francisco Giants during the World Series itself. Just minutes before Welch was to take the mound in Game 3,Candlestick Park and the Bay Area were struck by theLoma Prieta earthquake, which caused extensive damage in the region and forced the postponement of the game. When the Series was resumed 11 days later, A's managerTony La Russa opted to re-use his Game 1 starter,Dave Stewart, for Game 3 in place of Welch, and his Game 2 starter,Mike Moore, for Game 4 in place of originally scheduled starterStorm Davis. The strategy worked, as the A's swept the Series in four games, giving Welch his second World Series title.

A two-timeAll-Star (1980 and1990), Welch won 14 or more games in eight years, with a career-high 27 in1990. He received theCy Young Award that season, and was considered in theMVP vote. His 27 wins were the most by any pitcher sinceSteve Carlton also won 27 in1972, and as of 2023 stands as the last time a pitcher has won 25 or more games in a season (the closest anyone has come to that mark since is 24, accomplished byJohn Smoltz in 1996,Randy Johnson in 2002, andJustin Verlander in 2011). The last pitcher to win more games in a season wasDenny McLain, with 31 wins in1968.^[4] Nineteen of his wins were saved byDennis Eckersley, which remains a record.^[5]

Welch was the starting pitcher of Game 2 of the1990 World Series against theCincinnati Reds. Welch's personal catcher throughout much of his Oakland Athletics career wasRon Hassey, as opposed toTerry Steinbach, who caught the majority of the Oakland pitching staff.

Autobiography and alcoholism

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In 1981, Welch andThe New York Times sports columnistGeorge Vecsey co-wrote “Five O'Clock Comes Early: A Young Man's Battle With Alcoholism” which was re-released in 1991 as “Five O'Clock Comes Early: A Cy Young Award-Winner Recounts His Greatest Victory”, which chronicled Welch's battle withalcoholism that he said started at the age of sixteen: "I would get a buzz on and I would stop being afraid of girls. I was shy, but with a couple of beers in me, it was all right."^[1]

The book "...marked one of the first times an active professional athlete openly discussed a drinking addiction."^[1] An updated version was published after Welch's retirement, and the book was re-released digitally the year after Welch's death, on November 10, 2015.

Retirement

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Welch was thepitching coach for theArizona Diamondbacks when they won the World Series in2001.^[1] During the2006 World Baseball Classic, Welch served as the pitching coach forThe Netherlands. Welch was a pitching coach in the Oakland Athletics organization at the time of his death.^[6]

His son Riley Welch was a 34th round selection by the Oakland A's in the2008 MLB draft out of Desert Mountain high school in Scottsdale, Arizona but did not sign and went on to play college baseball at theUniversity of Hawaii. Riley then signed as an undrafted free agent with the Dodgers.^[7] He became a pitching coach atPresentation College, anNAIA school inAberdeen, South Dakota in 2014.^[8]

Death

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Welch died of a broken neck resulting from an accidental fall in the bathroom of hisSeal Beach, California, home on June 9, 2014, at the age of 57.^[6] TheOrange County Coroner's Office ruled that Welch suffered a cervical spine fracture "withepidural hemorrhage due to hyperextension of neck" suffered in the fall, negating earlier reports that he had died from a heart attack.^[9]