Wednesday, June 18, 2014

#236 Kevin Campbell

About the Front: "Hehhhh? You want me to throw it where?"

About the Back: Other Arkansas Razorbacks in the major leagues at this time included Jeff King, Kevin McReynolds, and Tom Pagnozzi. Cliff Lee is the most prominent Razorback in the majors today.

Triple Play:

1. Kevin's only big league save was of the goofy variety, as he closed out Oakland's 9-0 rout of the Rangers on August 4, 1992 with three scoreless innings of relief. In his defense, it was only 7-0 when he entered the game.

2. The Dodgers' scout who signed him was Bill Pleis, who had been a reliever for the Twins in the early 1960s.

3. Just to clear up any confusion, he is not the Kevin Campbell who chairs the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Iowa.

11-Year-Old Kevin Says: If I ever knew that Campbell had a couple of short stints in the Minnesota bullpen in 1994 and 1995, I've long since forgotten it. As far as I was concerned, his entire major league career consisted of this baseball card.

Bill James Said: "A sinker/slider pitcher, he has had excellent control in the minors, but awful control during his major league callups, either because of loss of confidence or because major league hitters are laying off the pitch below the knees."

On This Date in 1993: June 18. The Yankees signed reliever Paul Gibson. The bespectacled lefty had been released a week earlier by the Mets after allowing 16 baserunners in 8.2 innings, but would go on to post a 3.06 ERA in 20 games for the Yanks over the balance of the 1993 season.

2 comments:

  1. My brother and I had a nickname for Mr. Gibson when he would come out of the bullpen: Paul "Touch 'em All" Gibson. I used to get a crick in my neck watching him.

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  2. Max - That sounds familiar. Just wait until I get to the end of the set, and I have the pleasure of discussing Bad Brad Pennington.

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