****Remember, try this without research. Release your inner James Joyce and show us your stream of consciousness as you decipher the answer. Add to that the teachings of Myagi: patience. If you don’t get the answer right away, give your brain a chance to work if for no other reason than to stay in the discussion. You may not have THE answer, but you might prompt another reader by asking the right question.
By Chas
I was one of the inaugural winners of the Rolaids Relief Man Award. The year before that, I finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. Both seasons, I pitched 90 or more innings and recorded over 20 saves. For the remainder of my career that followed, I pitched a total of only 310 innings and notched just 18 more saves, playing my final game before turning 31.
In my fairly brief career, I did get to do something most folks only dream about, though. In fact, my two best years both coincide with my teams’ trips to the World Series. I won two games and saved a third in the first, but I also gave up a pretty famous home run (although not as famous as one that occurred later in the game) in a pretty famous Game 6. My team went on to win that Series, but that home run was probably the reason I didn’t win MVP. Or, maybe it’s because the voters didn’t think I hustled as much as one of my teammates.
We repeated our success the following year, but I didn’t make a single appearance in that World Series, despite winning the aforementioned award that year. Why didn’t I appear in the World Series, you ask? Well, my team didn’t really need me, but to be honest, I didn’t pitch very well in the league championship series that preceded it.
The next year I blasted my team’s management while in a contract dispute. The local paper quoted me as saying “(They) smile in your face and, at the same time, stick a knife in your back.” That statement was printed on June 14. On June 15, I was traded for another pitcher whose career didn’t amount to much: 12 career wins, one complete game, zero saves.
For some reason, I was never able to produce similar results elsewhere, playing for five different teams in the several years that followed and barely surviving in the league past my 30th birthday. It kind of makes you wonder what might have been.
Who Am I?
Reliever for the Big Red Machine of the mid ’70s. Yielded the late game homerun to the Red Sox Bernie Carbo (photo) to tie Game 6 in ’75 (before Fisk hit the dramatic walk-off “wave-it-fair shot” later). It must be Rawley Eastwick.
Wally, what kind of memory files do you have to remember that flash-in-the-pan? While I remember his name I would remember NOTHING else about him!
Pete —
Although many of the players on those teams back then had less than memorable careers, the fact they played on the big stage in the World Series makes them memorable. The Reds had 3 relievers who pitched a lot … Eastwick, Will McEnaney and Clay “the Hawk” Carroll. Hall of Famers not, but i remember them because I was 11 and they played in one of the most exciting World Series of all time. This one was right in the ol’ wheelhouse 🙂
This is another one that I thought might be too difficult, so I added the photo and the reference to the teammate who “hustled” more (Pete Rose). It sounds like it didn’t matter. Wally knows his ’70s dynasties.
Rawly Eastwick it is.
What; just the relievers? I’m looking for the whole rotation! LOL; Wally has that drew down cold I am sure!