My daily baseball calendar gave me another fantastic piece
of information today. This time, it
revolves around Dave Stieb, the most Canadian person ever from Santa Ana,
California.
Stieb was drafted in the fifth round of the 1978 Major
League draft by the Toronto Blue Jays, out of Southern Illinois University
Carbondale. The Salukis have produced a
total of 29 players, including Stieb, Steve Finley, Jerry Hairston Jr., and Ray
Fosse.
In 19 minor league games at the end of the 1978 season and
first half of 1979, in 19 games, Stieb had two shutouts over seven complete
games, going 12-2 with a 2.95 ERA and 66 strikeouts vs. 43 walks. The Blue Jays decided he was ready for the
big show.
Stieb made his Major League debut on June 19th,
1979, in a 6-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
He allowed all six runs (five earned) while giving up six hits and two
walks and striking out five. Things
weren’t going too bad until he gave up back to back home runs in the bottom of
the sixth to Doug DeCinces and Lee May.
He had a decent first year, going 8-8 with a 4.31 ERA and 52 strikeouts
vs. 48 walks. He had a total of seven
complete games out of 18 games started that year, with one shutout.
Stieb would make the AL All Star team the next two seasons,
when he combined to go 23-25 with a 3.48 ERA and 197 strikeouts vs. 144
walks. He started 57 of the 59 games in
which he pitched, throwing 25 complete games with six shutouts. He even finished 27th in the AL
MVP voting in 1981. He earned AL Pitcher
of the Month in April of 1980 when he went 3-0 with a 1.09 ERA and 15
strikeouts vs. 14 walks. That month, he
had three complete games and a shutout, only allowing four runs in 33 innings.
The next four seasons saw three All Star appearances, and
also three seasons where he received votes for the AL Cy Young award. Overall, he was 64-47 with a 2.91 ERA and 693
strikeouts vs. 352 walks. Of his 145
starts, he completed 52 of them, with 13 shutouts. He averaged 275 innings per season over those four seasons, totaling 1098 1/3
innings. In those innings, he gave up
915 hits, but with his walk rate under three per nine innings, his WHIP was
1.154. Stieb would again win AL Pitcher
of the Month in May of ’83 (5-1; 1.73 ERA, 43 strikeouts and 22 walks; three
complete games and two shutouts) and May of ’85 (4-1; 1.69 ERA, 34 strikeouts
and 16 walks, one complete game).
1986 and 1987 were somewhat down years for Stieb. For those two seasons, he was 20-21 with a
4.43 ERA and 242 strikeouts vs. 174 walks.
In 390 innings, he gave up 403 hits, and with his walks per nine innings
hitting exactly four, his WHIP shot up to 1.479. He only had four complete games with two
shutouts over those two seasons, also notching his first career save on July 23rd,
1986.
Then came 1988. There
was nothing particularly remarkable about Stieb’s numbers that season. Overall, he went 16-8 with a 3.04 ERA and 147
strikeouts vs. 79 walks. Pretty decent
numbers, and they even earned him an All Star bid. He had eight complete games and four
shutouts. Long gone were the days of
almost touching 300 innings; after throwing 265 in 1985, the highest total he
would have was 208 2/3 in 1990. He was
an inning and a third short of that in ’88.
The reason we’re talking about 1988 is because the Blue
Jays, for the most part, were not a good team in 1988. At the end of May, they were seven games
under .500. Entering August, they were
only three games under .500, but 11 ½ games back of the Boston Red Sox. They didn’t show much improvement that month;
August 31st, they sat at 65-68, still 10 ½ games out of first place.
 |
| That's $29.84 American. |
That’s when I imagine that Stieb, in his Santa Ana, CA
accent (whatever that sounds like), called out his ragtag bunch of Canadians,
set a fire under their bellies and DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT. He said “WE CAN WIN THIS THING, HEY?” They then explained that it isn’t “hey”, it’s
“eh”. It sounds like “hey”, but without
the H at the beginning. He asked why
they never corrected him in his nine plus seasons there. They explained that he wasn’t ever a leader
really, but now that he was stepping up, they felt it necessary to say
something. He appreciated their honesty,
and wrote them all a check for $37C.
From September 1st on, the Blue Jays went 22-7,
finishing the season 87-75. They
narrowly missed the playoffs, finishing two games back of Boston, but it was a
team that Canada could be proud of (Les Expos finished 81-81, but 20 games back
of the New York Mets).
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| Wilkerson had a career .000 batting average on a 3-0 count, but an OBP of .966. |
One probably wondered whether Stieb was going to make it at
all that September, though. In his first
start on September 2nd against the Texas Rangers, he only lasted one
inning, giving up four runs – all earned – on a hit and a walk. Huh?
Well, the first inning started off just fine, with Stieb only allowing a
single and stolen base to Oddibe McDowell.
In the second inning, the wheels came off. He walked the first three batters on 16
pitches, and after throwing three balls to Curt Wilkerson, he was replaced in
mid-count by John Cerutti. Cerutti
promptly threw ball four to Wilkerson, allowing Geno Petralli to score. After allowing an RBI single to Jim Sundberg,
Cerutti retired McDowell and then allowed a three run triple to Scott
Fletcher. The Jays would come back to
tie the game with home runs from George Bell and Fred McGriff, along with an
RBI single by Tony Fernandez. The
Rangers would tie it at six all in the top of the ninth, when Sundberg would
hit a solo home run off of Tom Henke, but Bell hit a walkoff RBI single in the
bottom of the frame, scoring Fernandez and giving the Jays the 7-6 victory.
 |
| 54 career home runs in 17 seasons. |
Cerutti was unable to help out Stieb in his next
appearance. After Stieb threw seven
innings of three run ball (two earned) against the Detroit Tigers where he
struck out six and walked two, Cerutti gave up a two out double in the bottom
of the ninth to Chet Lemon. After
intentionally walking the VERY DANGEROUS pinch hitter Dave Bergman, Alan
Trammell pinched hit for Tom Brookens, and singled home Lemon. Through his first two September starts, Stieb
didn’t have a decision, and his ERA was 6.75.
Stieb’s next start was also against the Tigers, and this
time, he owned them. His only blemish on
the day came in the top of the third, when Jim Walewander hit a leadoff double,
and after a balk put him on third, Bergman knocked him in on a groundout to
Kelly Gruber. After allowing leadoff
singles to Luis Salazar and Fred Lynn to start the eighth, Tony Castillo came
in and promptly got Mike Heath to hit into a double play, followed by a
groundout by Ray Knight. The Blue Jays
won 9-1, with Jesse Barfield putting the nail in the coffin, hitting his third
and final career grand slam in the bottom of the seventh off of Paul
Gibson. Stieb went 7+ innings, only
allowing six hits and two walks while striking out four. The run that he allowed in the fourth inning
would be the last one he would allow over his next 35 innings pitched.
Stieb’s next start on September 18th was against
the Cleveland Indians. Through the first
three innings, it was a true battle between Stieb and the Tribe’s rookie Rod Nichols, as the only runner allowed was a Stieb walk to Cory Snyder, who was erased by a double play off of the bat of Dave Clark. In the top of the fourth, the Indians loaded the bases with no outs, but Stieb was able to work his way out of that. In a snapshot of how the game has changed in the last 26 years, even with loading the bases and then getting three outs, Stieb only threw a total of 17
pitches that inning. He only threw six
pitches in the eighth inning! On his way
to the complete game shutout, he scattered four hits and two walks while
striking out four. Nichols also pitched
a complete game, giving up four runs.
Combined, the pitchers threw 218 pitches, and the game took 2:10 to
complete.
Stieb would get the Indians again in his next start six days
later in Cleveland. Matched up against
Nichols again, this was an epic duel.
The Blue Jays nearly took the lead in the top of the second inning, when
they strung together three hits with two outs, but Barfield was thrown out at
home by left fielder Mel Hall. Entering
the ninth inning, Nichols had given up seven hits and three walks across 121
pitches. Stieb had given up ZERO hits and two walks across 106
pitches.
In the top of the ninth, McGriff would lead off the inning
with a single. Rance Mulliniks would
bunt him to second, and after a Rick Leach single got him to third, Rob Ducey
took seven pitches to knock him in on a sacrifice fly to center field. Manuel Lee would strike out to end the inning
with the Blue Jays leading 1-0.
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| Franco played one week in 2014 for the Ft. Worth Cats. |
In the bottom of the frame, no hitter in tact, Stieb struck
out Andy Allanson to lead off the inning.
Willie Upshaw then pinch hit for Paul Zuvella, grounding out to second
base. Julio Franco was the Tribe’s last
hope. Franco watched the first pitch for
a ball, and watched the next two pitches, both called strikes. After fouling off the next three pitches,
then taking another ball, he singled on a ground ball to center field, breaking
up the no hitter with two outs in the ninth.
Clark then flew out to center field, ending the game. Stieb threw a total of 127 pitches, allowing
just the one hit and two walks with eight strikeouts. Nichols was the hard-luck loser that day,
allowing nine hits and three walks with three strikeouts across 137 pitches. This game took slightly longer, going 2:31 in
front of a crowd of 8157 in Cleveland Stadium.
Stieb’s final start of the 1988 season came on September 30th
in Toronto, in the Blue Jays’ 160 game of the season. They entered the day 4 ½ games back after
beating the Red Sox 1-0 the day before on a masterful performance by Jimmy Key,
where he only allowed two singles and one walk, needing only 99 pitches in the
complete game shutout.
The Blue Jays got an early lead after Tony Fernandez tripled
on the first pitch he saw that day from the Orioles’ Jeff Ballard. The next batter was Kelly Gruber, who singled
Fernandez home. On the pitching side of
things, Stieb was perfect through the first three innings, only needing 31
pitches to get through the O’s lineup the first time around. In the top of the fourth, Stieb would hit Joe
Orsulak with his second pitch of the inning, but he was erased one pitch later
when Pete Stanicek grounded into a double play.
Through five innings, Stieb had still not allowed a hit, and
the only runner he had allowed was Orsulak after 48 pitches. In the bottom of the fifth, the Blue Jays put
together a two out rally, with singles by Nelson Liriano and Ducey, preceded an
RBI single by Fernandez and a two run triple by Gruber. No damage was done by the Orioles in the
sixth. Stanicek’s one out walk in the
seventh was erased by a Cal Ripken Jr. lineout double play a batter later. After seven innings, Stieb had still only
faced the minimum number of hitters and had not allowed a hit, and he was at 80
pitches.
The eighth inning was more of the same from Stieb, only
needing eight pitches to dispatch Eddie Murray, Terry Kennedy and Larry
Sheets. The Blue Jays went down quietly
in the bottom half of the inning, setting up Stieb’s second chance at history
in a week’s time.
Blue Jays’ fans hardly had time to get out of their seats in
the top of the ninth, with Brady Andersongrounding out to first after two
pitches, and pinch hitter Jeff Stone grounding out to Stieb on the first pitch
he saw. With two outs, Jim Traber, pinch
hitting for Craig Worthington, was the only man standing between Stieb and the
history books. On a 2-2 count, Traber
connected for career hit 137, a bloop single just inside the right field line,
ending Stieb’s bid for the no hitter.
Two pitches later, Orsulak grounded out to third base, completing his
third shutout in a row. Stieb only
needed 90 pitches that day. On the other
side, Ballard had a complete game as well, only needing 99 pitches. Other than the first and fifth innings, he
only allowed one other hit that day. The
game only took 1:52 to complete.
Stieb had quite a finish to the 1988 season. Along with the two one hitters in his last
two starts, he also had one on May 31st, but this one was not quite
as dramatic, as the only hit of the day was a one out single by B.J. Surhoff in
a 9-0 victory over the Brewers.
After a pretty good 1989 season, Stieb would eventually get
his no hitter, throwing it in the Year of the No Hitter, 1990. On September 2nd, he would no-hit
the Indians in Cleveland. 1990 was the last
year Stieb would be an effective pitcher, when he went 18-6 with a 2.93 ERA and
125 strikeouts vs. 64 walks. He was an
All Star, and finished 5th in the AL Cy Young Award voting, and 25th
in the AL MVP voting.
In Stieb’s last two years in Toronto, he would only pitch in
30 games, going 8-9 with a 4.33 ERA and 74 strikeouts vs. 66 walks. After the 1992 season, he signed with the
Chicago White Sox, but after going 1-3 with a 6.04 ERA and 27 strikeouts vs. 17
walks, he was released on May 23rd, 1993. He signed with the Kansas City Royals on June
14th, but he was released six weeks later after going 3-3 with a
6.42 ERA and 18 strikeouts vs. 12 walks at AAA Omaha (but he did have a
complete game shutout there).
For some reason, Stieb decided to play, and the Blue Jays
decided to sign him, in 1998, after being out of baseball for four years. Starting the season 20 years removed from his
first stint at Dunedin, and later returning to Syracuse after a 19 year
absence, he combined to go 7-4 with a 2.78 ERA and 66 strikeouts vs. 22 walks
in 81 innings across 12 games, all starts.
He even threw two complete games!
The 1998 Blue Jays were good on the offensive side of the
ball. Carlos Delgado, Shawn Green and
Jose Canseco all hit 35+ home runs.
Green contributed 35 stolen bases, and Shannon Stewart added 51
more. Then we look at the pitching. Roger Clemens went 20-6 on his way to the Cy
Young Award. All other pitchers combined
to go 68-68. The other starters were
mainly pre-Dave Duncan Chris Carter and Woody Williams, and decline phase Pat
Hentgen and Juan Guzman (Guzman’s peak lasted three years; his decline phase
lasted seven). |
| Stieb had aged quite a bit by the time '98 rolled around. |
When Stieb made his season debut on June 18th,
the Blue Jays were 34-37. I guess at
that point, they really had nothing to lose by calling him up, since they were
already 17 ½ games back. Entering the
game with a 13-6 lead over the Orioles, he danced around three hits without
giving up a run. Almost a month later,
on July 15th, he would get his first start of the season, a 5-2 loss
to the White Sox, giving up four runs in six innings. He would get his second career save on August
19th, in a 16-2 win over the Seattle Mariners. Ten days later, he would get his final career
victory in his second start of the season, a 14-7 victory over the Minnesota
Twins, then six days later, he would get his third and final career save in a
12-1 win over the Red Sox. Finally, in
his last start of the season, he couldn’t summon the magic of 10 years earlier,
losing to the Indians 7-5. Overall that season,
he went 1-2 with a 4.83 ERA and two saves, with 27 strikeouts vs. 17 walks.
For his career, Stieb went 176-137 with a 3.44 ERA and three
saves, with 1669 strikeouts vs. 1034 walks.
His 140 wins in the 1980’s trailed only Jack Morris’ 162 during that
decade. Nearly always leading or among
the leaders in hit batsmen, his career total of 129 ranks 37th of
all time. The BBWAA concluded he was not
a Hall of Famer, with him only garnering 1.4% of the vote in his first and only
appearance in 2004. Still, his 57.0
career WAR ranks him 69th all time for a pitcher. Always a good defender, he only made 22
errors in 787 chances, good for a career fielding percentage of .972. He didn’t have enough games pitched to qualify,
but if he had, that would rank him tied for 67th best fielding
percentage for a pitcher all time.
Fun fact – Stieb never had a hit in his two career at bats,
but he did score two runs. In 1981 and
1986, he scored a run as a pinch runner.
His first career at bat came on August 28th, 1980 as a pinch
hitter/LEFT FIELDER in a 15 inning, 7-5 loss to the California Angels, where he
flew out to center field in the bottom of the 15th inning. His final career at bat came nearly 18 years
later, grounding out to Tom Glavine in a 10-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves on
June 28th, 1998.
Even though Stieb was never officially on a World Series
winner (he last pitched on August 8th, 1992), they did award him a
ring after the 1992 season. He has the
only no hitter in Blue Jays history. He
still is the all time leader for the Blue Jays in wins, ERA, games started,
complete games, shutouts, innings pitched and strikeouts. And probably one hitters lost with two outs
in the ninth inning.
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