Monday, September 29, 2014

#289 Jesse Orosco

About the Front: In this photo, Jesse Orosco is still a spry young man of 35. He still had a lot of baseball ahead of him. In the background, we can see a quite dumpy umpire. Maybe it's Ken Kaiser.

About the Back: Orosco entered that game on April 22, 1979 in the seventh inning with the Mets down 2-0 to the Phillies, and was the benificiary of a three-run New York rally against Steve Carlton.

Triple Play:

1. The Mets initially acquired him in a trade for pitcher Jerry Koosman. That's just one of many "Jesse Orosco is SO old" fun facts.

2. Jesse was a workhorse out of the Mets' bullpen in the 1986 postseason, earning the decision in three of the team's four wins in the NLCS (including the wild 16-inning clincher) and tossing 5.2 scoreless innings over four World Series appearances. He saved two Fall Classic games, including the decisive seventh game.

3. He pitched through the 2003 season, finally retiring at age 46 with a record 1,252 games pitched. In the back half of his career, Orosco epitomized the lefty specialist, totaling just 504 innings pitched in 701 appearances from 1991 through 2003.

11-Year-Old Kevin Says: It was great fun watching the grizzled veteran Orosco pitch for my Orioles from 1995 through 1999. He had a 15-11 record, 11 saves, and a 3.35 ERA in 336 games with the O's.

Bill James Said: "His 1993 strikeout rate was by far the best of his career." 67 K's in 57 innings is not too shabby.

On This Date in 1993: September 29. A Bronx Tale, a crime drama written by Chazz Palminteri and directed by Robert De Niro (and starring both men as well), premieres in theatres.

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