Happy ’80s Birthday to Big Foot! Pete Ladd stepped up in 1982 when the Brewers needed him.
Ladd pitched in the big leagues for six years and saves 25 games in 1983 when Rollie Fingers missed the entire season.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Bobby Thigpen, who made his debut in 1986 and saved 57 games for the White Sox in 1990.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Charley Steiner, who never did come out and get his whoopin.
7/17/82
Andy Hawkins gets roughed up a big in his big league debut, allowing four runs to Montreal in three innings.
He picks up a win in his next start and spends ten years in the major leagues.
7/17/82
Glenn Gulliver goes 1 for 2 against the Mariners in his big league debut for the Orioles.
He hits .200 in limited duty down the stretch including what was a big home run on the final day of the season in a loss to the Brewers.
7/17/83
Steve Jeltz makes his major league debut as a late-inning defensive replacement.
He retires after the 1999 season as the all-time hits leader among big leaguers born in France. So there’s that.
7/17/88
Ricky Jordan homers off Bob Knepper in his first big league at-bat and the Phillies go on to beat Houston, 10 – 4.
Jordan spends eight years in the major leagues and hits 54 more dingers.
7/17/80
The Cardinals drop a 10 spot on the Padres in the bottom of the 3rd with only one extra base hit in a 15-3 win. Bobby Bonds and George Hendrick each record two hits in the inning.
7/17/82
Joe Morgan goes 5 for 6 against the Phillies in a 5-3 loss.
After seeing his batting average dip into the .240s in back-to-back seasons, Morgan bounces back in 1982 and hits .289 with 14 homers, wins a Silver Slugger Award, and finishes 16th in the MVP voting.
7/17/87
Don Mattingly sets an American League record by homering in seven consecutive games.
Thus far during the streak, he’s hitting .455 with 9 homers and 20 RBI.
7/17/87
Dale Sveum goes 3 for 4 with 3 homers and 6 RBI in a 12-2 Brewers win over the Angels.
7/17/89
Carlton Fisk collects his 2,000th career hit in a 7 – 3 win over the Yankees.
He’d finish with 2,356.
7/17/88
Robby Thompson hits the 10,000th home run in Giants history.
The Say Hey Kid & Stretch combined to hit the rest of them.
7/17/80
The Phillies release Lerrin LaGrow and his career is over.
He finishes with 34 wins over ten seasons
7/17/85
The White Sox purchase Bob Owchinko from the A’s.
He spends 1985 in the minor leagues, then resurfaces in the bigs in 1986 with Montreal.
7/17/87
The Giants release Ivan de Jesus.
He signs with the Tigers for 1988 and his career is over.
7/17/89
Kent Tekulve retires as a member of the Reds.
He finishes his career with 1,050 appearances, just 20 shy of Hoyt Wilhelm’s all-time games pitched record.
Powered by BlueHost
From Jack Morris to Len Barker, here are the wins leaders for every major league…
From Robin Yount to Chili Davis, here are the hits leaders for every major league…
From Mike Schmidt to Carmelo Martinez, here is the home run leader for every major…
An excerpt from Patrick Montgomery's new book, Baseball's Great Expectations: Candid Stories of Ballplayers Who…
An excerpt from Eric Vickrey's new book about the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals