Walt Terrell

Walt Terrell
Terrell at Detroit Tigers Fantasy Camp in 2012
Pitcher
Born: (1958-05-11) May 11, 1958 Jeffersonville, Indiana, U.S.
Batted: Left Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 18, 1982, for the New York Mets
Last MLB appearance
October 2, 1992, for the Detroit Tigers
MLB statistics
Win–loss record	111–124
Earned run average	4.22
Strikeouts	929
Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
New York Mets (1982–1984) Detroit Tigers (1985–1988) San Diego Padres (1989) New York Yankees (1989) Pittsburgh Pirates (1990) Detroit Tigers (1990–1992)

Charles Walter Terrell (born May 11, 1958) is an American former Major League Baseball player. A starting pitcher, Terrell pitched from 1982 to 1992 for the New York Mets (1982–1984), Detroit Tigers (1985–1988), San Diego Padres (1989), New York Yankees (1989), Pittsburgh Pirates (1990), and the Tigers again (1990–1992).

Career

In 1979, Terrell played collegiate summer baseball for the Chatham A's of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL). He posted a 9–4 record with a 2.20 ERA and 13 complete games. Terrell set the league record for innings pitched in a season, and was named the league's outstanding pitcher. Terrell was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2007.

Terrell attended college at Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky. He was initially drafted by the Mets in the 15th round of the 1979 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign the $12,000 offer, choosing instead to return to Morehead for his senior year. A year later, the Texas Rangers selected him in the 33rd round of the 1980 draft, and this time he did sign, thus beginning his professional career.

On April 1, 1982, just before the start of the 1982 regular season, the Rangers acquired first baseman/outfielder Lee Mazzilli from the Mets, giving up two pitching prospects from their minor league system in order to get him: Terrell and Ron Darling. Met fans were disappointed to lose the popular, homegrown, local star, traded for two minor leaguers whose name most people had never heard. Yet it turned out to be one of the best trades the Mets ever made. The team sent both pitchers to their AAA squad, the Tidewater Tides.

Terrell pitched to a 7–8 record along with a 3.96 ERA at Tidewater, yet was called up to the major league team in September. Pitching for a team which would finish in last place, Terrell overall pitched effectively. His major league debut came against the St. Louis Cardinals, who were on their way to winning that year's World Series. They roughed him up for six runs in six innings, handing him his first major league loss. Despite that inauspicious debut, he averaged seven innings per start in his three major league appearances, all starts, posting an overall ERA of 3.43, albeit while receiving the loss in all three games. His appearances were limited enough for him to qualify as a rookie the following season, 1983.

Terrell began 1983 back in Tidewater, where he showed real promise. He had a record of 10–1, to go with a 3.12 ERA, when he was recalled to the major leagues. (He went on to be named the International League pitcher of the year.) The Mets had a doubleheader with the Cardinals scheduled for June 20, one of the games a makeup for a rainout two months prior, and called Terrell up to the majors to start the nightcap. He thus made his first 1983 major league appearance against the Cardinals, the same team which had smacked him around in his September 1982 major league debut. This time, however, Terrell got the win, his first as a major leaguer, as the Mets defeated the Cardinals 6–4. Keith Hernandez was now on the Mets' side, his fifth game with his new team after the shocking trade which brought him over to New York from St. Louis five days prior. Hernandez reached base thrice against his old team, including a two run, first inning home run to give the Mets the early lead. Terrell allowed 4 earned runs in 5.2 innings, followed by three relievers who shut the Cardinals out the rest of the way, and Terrell had his first major league victory.

On August 6, 1983, as a rookie facing future Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins of the Chicago Cubs, Terrell turned out not only to be the best pitcher that day, but also the best hitter. Entering the game Terrell had struck out in the majority of his at bats on the season, with eight strikeouts in 14 trips to the plate. He came up to bat in third inning at Wrigley Field, and hit a two-run home run. He came up again in the fourth - and hit another. Jenkins shut down the rest of the Mets' offense, as all four Met RBIs came off of Terrell's bat. He also had the longest start of his major league career to that point, giving up one run in 7.1 innings. Final score - Mets 4, Cubs 1. Later that month, Terrell had another three hits, including a three-run home run. In five years as a hitter (the rest of his career was spent in the American League, which employed a designated hitter), he logged only three home runs and ten runs batted in, but all three home runs, as well as seven of the ten RBI, came in a seventeen-day span in August 1983, his rookie year.

Terrell finished what officially was his rookie season with an 8–8 record and a 3.57 ERA, very respectable numbers for a team which finished in last place at 68–94.

In 1984, the Mets were involved in their first pennant race in a decade, improving their record by 22 games from the year prior, as they finished in second place behind the Cubs with a 90–72 record. Terrell established himself as a major league starter. He remained in the big leagues all season, making 33 starts, and finishing with numbers substantially similar to his 1983 results: 11–12 record, 3.52 ERA.

Terrell was dealt from the Mets to the Tigers for Howard Johnson at the Winter Meetings on December 7, 1984. Over the next three years, Terrell established himself as one of the better and more reliable starting pitchers in the American League. He averaged 34 starts per year, finishing with records of 15–10, 15–12, and 17–10 respectively, to go with ERAs of 3.85, 4.56, and 4.05. Although his ERA was higher than it was with the Mets, he was now pitching in a bandbox on the opposite end of spacious Shea Stadium, a known pitcher's venue, while facing the designated hitter instead of the opposing pitcher in the lineup, and while often pitching against some of the better lineups in all of baseball in the talented American League East. Terrell was able to withstand the travails of pitching his home games in a hitter's park, relying heavily on his sinker, while benefitting from the excellent defense played by the Tigers' legendary middle infield duo of Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker.

Against the California Angels on August 20, 1986, Terrell came close to achieving what would have been the remarkable feat of throwing a no-hitter at Tiger Stadium. The score was 0–0 until the Tigers broke through with two outs in the bottom of the 7th inning off of Angels' starter John Candelaria. With two outs in the top of the 9th inning Wally Joyner doubled, ending the no hit bit; Terrell then retired Reggie Jackson on a fly ball to deep centerfield. Terrell got the win and the complete game shutout, having only surrendered one hit and three walks, improving his record to 11–9 on the season.

In his next start, on August 25, 1986, Terrell surrendered the first of what would turn out to be 583 home runs by the A's Mark McGwire, as Terrell was the losing pitcher of record in an 8–4 defeat, having been charged with giving up 7 earned runs in just 4.2 innings.

Terrell had a career-best 17 wins during the Tigers 98-win season in which the team captured the 1987 American League Eastern Division title. Terrell experienced his only major league postseason play that year when the Tigers faced off with the Minnesota Twins in 1987 American League Championship Series. The Tigers, with their MLB-leading 98 victories, came in heavily favored over the 85-win Twins, but Detroit faltered badly in series, and lost the best-of-seven in five games. Like his fellow Tiger starting pitchers Jack Morris and Doyle Alexander, Terrell badly underperformed in the playoffs as compared to his regular season accomplishments. Terrell's one start came in Game 3. Handed a 5–0 lead, Terrell gave up six runs to give the lead back to Minnesota, while pitching into the seventh inning, earning him a 6.00 ERA. The Tigers rebounded to win the game, the only victory the team secured that postseason, as the Twins not only bounced Detroit but pulled a similar upset to capture the World Series, defeating the heavily favored St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

1988 got off to a bumpy start for Terrell. He missed the first few weeks of the season recovering from an injured ankle caused by an offseason fall on the ice. The Tigers were in the thick of the division race that year, trying to defend their AL East crown, before faltering badly late in the season. They mostly brought back the 1987 team, with the notable exception of Kirk Gibson, who left to the Dodgers via free agency, where he proceeded to win the National League Most Valuable Player award as he led his new team to a surprise championship. The Tigers' team as a whole was stocked with veteran players; age presumably played a factor as they crumbled at the end of the season, as the team suffered through slumps and injuries, losing the division to the Boston Red Sox. Terrell was no exception, as he lost six of his last seven starts. The Tigers and their veteran lineup struggled mightily on offense in 1988, which led to Terrell's finishing with a 7–16 record despite improving his ERA from the prior season, posting a 3.97 mark that year. Immediately after the season ended, the Tigers traded Terrell to the San Diego Padres, in exchange for veteran infielders Keith Moreland and Chris Brown.

Terrell finished with a career mark of 111–124 in 321 games, to go with a 4.22 ERA. He struck out 929 batters in 1,986.2 innings pitched.

Although a weak hitting pitcher, posting a .120 batting average (23-for-192) with 3 home runs and 10 RBI, Terrell was an above average fielding pitcher. He recorded a .980 fielding percentage with only 10 errors in 489 total chances, and started 38 double plays.

Personal life

Terrell was born in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and attended Morehead State University, where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He has three children, Ryan, Michael, and Erin.

External links

• Career statistics from MLB  · Baseball Reference · Fangraphs · Baseball Reference (Minors) · Retrosheet  · Baseball Almanac

• Walt Terrell at SABR (Baseball BioProject)