Tuesday, September 23, 2014

#285 Bob Tewksbury

About the Front: Bob Tewksbury is another one of those Greg Maddux types, in that he looks more like a math teacher than a pro athlete.

About the Back: The Yankees dealt away Tewk in a typically savvy 1980s trade, swapping him along with two other young pitchers to the Cubs in exchange for Steve Trout (0-4, 6.60 ERA in 14 games in NY).

Triple Play:

1. Bob appeared as himself in the 1994 comedy The Scout.

2. On June 28, 1998, while starting for Minnesota against the Cardinals, Tewksbury resorted to lobbing eephus pitches at soon-to-be home run king Mark McGwire. Big Mac could only laugh as he grounded out on one 44 mph offering, and popped up another.

3. He has been a sports psychology coach for the Red Sox since 2004, when he earned his Masters degree in psychology from Boston University.

11-Year-Old Kevin Says: I didn't pay much attention to strikeout rates when I was younger. Now I wonder how I could've overlooked something like Bob's total of 50 strikeouts in 145.1 innings in 1990. You've got to have pinpoint control and a good defense behind you if you're allowing that much contact.

Bill James Said: "He has pretty clearly established the ability to win if the league hits .300 against him, and to win big if they hit .270."

On This Date in 1993: September 23. The International Olympic Committee chooses Sydney, Australia as the site of the 2000 Summer Olympics.

2 comments:

  1. I was about to say he was a lot like Maddux as far as not walking guys, too,but I looked it up and he was actually a bit better in that regard. Maddux is 50th all-time with 1.8/9, while Tewks is 22nd with 1.45, right between Addie Joss and Cy Young.

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  2. I wouldn't have guessed that Tewksbury actually walked less guys than Maddux. Of course, Maddux had better stuff.

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