Dennis Eckersley

Dennis Lee Eckersley pitched the first half of his career as a starting pitcher who threw a no-hitter and won 151 games, and the second half as a closer who saved 390 games and won the AL MVP and Cy Young Award in the same season. He is the only pitcher in major league history with both 100 complete games and 100 saves. He coined the term "walk-off" and then surrendered the most famous one ever hit, Kirk Gibson's home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. He overcame alcoholism, reinvented himself at 32, and pitched until he was 43. The BBWAA elected him to the Hall of Fame in 2004 with 83.2% of the vote.

Oakland

Eckersley was born on October 3, 1954, in Oakland, California. His father Wallace worked as a warehouse supervisor. His mother Bernice was a keypunch operator. He had an older brother Wally and a younger sister Cindy. Eckersley attended Washington High School in Fremont and was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the third round of the 1972 draft.

Eckersley reached Cleveland in 1975, went 13-7 with a 2.60 ERA as a rookie, and earned The Sporting News AL Rookie Pitcher of the Year. He struck out 200 batters in 1976 and made his first All-Star team in 1977. On May 30, 1977, at Cleveland Stadium, he no-hit the California Angels 1-0, striking out 12. The only baserunners were Tony Solaita, who walked in the first inning, and Bobby Bonds, who reached on a wild pitch after a strikeout in the eighth and was erased on a double play. Duane Kuiper tripled and scored on Jim Norris' squeeze bunt for the game's only run. Frank Tanana took the loss.

Eckersley's first wife Denise left him for teammate Rick Manning in 1978, and the Indians traded Eckersley to the Boston Red Sox. He went 20-8 with a 2.99 ERA in his first season in Boston, won 17 the following year, and made a second All-Star team in 1982. He married his second wife Nancy, a model, who would later play a role in saving his life.

The Crossroads

Eckersley's performance declined through the mid-1980s. He was traded to the Chicago Cubs in May 1984 for Bill Buckner, went 6-11 with a 4.57 ERA in 1986, and drank heavily throughout the season. Nancy noticed the problem. During a holiday gathering, family members videotaped Eckersley while he was drunk and played the footage back to him the next day. "I was spiraling out of control personally," Eckersley said in his Hall of Fame speech. "I knew I had come to a crossroads in my life. With the grace of God, I got sober and I saved my life." He entered rehabilitation after the 1986 season and never drank again.

The Oakland Athletics acquired Eckersley on April 3, 1987, for three minor leaguers. Manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan originally planned him as a long reliever. When closer Jay Howell was injured, they gave Eckersley the ninth inning and never took it back. La Russa and Duncan pioneered the model of the dominant one-inning closer around Eckersley's pinpoint control. "They created a platform for me to pitch another 12 years," Eckersley said. "And it is in those 12 years that were my ticket to Cooperstown."

The Gibson Home Run

Eckersley saved 45 games in 1988, the most in the American League, and helped the Athletics reach the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In Game 1 on October 15, Eckersley entered the ninth inning to protect a 4-3 lead. Kirk Gibson, hobbled by injuries to both legs, pinch-hit and worked the count full. On a 3-2 backdoor slider, Gibson drove the ball over the right field wall for a two-run homer that won the game 5-4. "When he hit it, I just sank," Eckersley said. The Dodgers won the Series in five games.

Eckersley had coined the term "walk-off" earlier that summer to describe the shame of surrendering a game-ending home run. An April 1988 San Francisco Chronicle column by Lowell Cohn first documented the term in print, quoting Eckersley calling game-ending homers "walkoff pieces." Less than three months later, he gave the term its most enduring example.

The Athletics won the 1989 World Series, sweeping the San Francisco Giants in four games. Eckersley saved one game and earned the ring.

1992

Eckersley's 1992 season stands as the greatest by a relief pitcher in American League history. He went 7-1 with a 1.91 ERA, saved 51 games in 54 opportunities, struck out 93 batters, and walked only 11 (six of them intentional) in 80 innings. He won both the AL MVP and the AL Cy Young Award, becoming only the fourth reliever to win MVP, after Jim Konstanty in 1950, Rollie Fingers in 1981, and Willie Hernandez in 1984, and the third to pair it with a Cy Young.

Eckersley's 1990 season was nearly as absurd. He posted a 0.61 ERA with 48 saves and became the first reliever in history to record more saves than baserunners allowed in a season (48 saves against 41 hits, 4 walks, and no hit batsmen). He did not walk a batter between August 7, 1989, and June 10, 1990, a stretch of 41 consecutive games.

Rich Gossage said of his control, "He could hit a gnat in the butt with a pitch if he wanted to." Johnny Oates said, "His control is so good, I would be willing to put on the gear and catch any pitch he throws."

390

Eckersley returned to the Boston Red Sox for a final season in 1998, pitching in a setup role at 43, and retired with 197 wins, 390 saves, 2,401 strikeouts, and a 3.50 ERA across 1,071 games. He threw 100 complete games as a starter and saved 390 as a closer, a combination no other pitcher has matched. He made six All-Star teams, won one World Series ring, and earned the ALCS MVP in 1988.

The Oakland Athletics retired his number 43 on August 13, 2005. Eckersley spent 20 years as a broadcaster for NESN and TBS after retiring, becoming known for his blunt observations and a vocabulary fans compiled as "The Ecktionary." He retired from broadcasting after the 2022 season.

Eckersley credited La Russa and Duncan for the second half of his career, sobriety for the second half of his life, and the intersection of both for everything that followed. "I was spiraling out of control," he said. "Then I got to Oakland, and everything changed."