Bob Welch obit

Former Cy Young winner Bob Welch dead at 57

He was not on the list

Bob Welch was known to most of the public for winning the 1990 AL Cy Young Award, and for a dramatic strikeout of Reggie Jackson in the 1978 World Series. But at Citi Field on Tuesday, the Mets manager and GM simply mourned the loss of a friend. “One of my great friends,” Terry Collins said of Welch, who died at 57 Monday of a heart attack, according to a statement issued by the Dodgers, one of Welch’s former teams. “I’m sick to my stomach over it.”

While running the Dodgers’ farm system a decade ago, Collins hired Welch to teach young pitchers how to throw a curveball, and said that Welch was a gifted coach. “He loved working with the kids,” Collins said. “Loved it.”

Sandy Alderson’s connection to Welch ran even deeper.

“I got to know him quite well,” said Alderson, Welch’s GM with the A’s from 1988-1994. “I was at the hospital for the birth of his first child, I think.”

 “We traded for him in 1987, I think,” Alderson said. “He came to the A’s and did a phenomenal job. He won, what, 27 games in 1990, and was a Cy Young Award winner. He was a unique individual, too. He was an interesting character. Really sort of hyperkinetic. He had an outstanding year for us in ’89, and a lot of people don’t know that he was scheduled to pitch the third game of the World Series, which was postponed by the earthquake. But a day or so prior to that game, he had pulled a hamstring in the outfield, and we weren’t sure he was going to be able to make that start, and we ultimately weren’t put to the test, but he was a super guy. Just a very likeable, if not loveable personality.”

Years before arriving in Oakland, Welch emerged as a 21-year-old talent for the Dodgers in 1978. Facing Jackson with two on and two out with a one-run lead in Game 2 of the Series, Welch ran the count full, and allowed Jackson to foul off four pitches, before striking him out to end the game. It was one of the most memorable at-bats in baseball history. Reggie got revenge in Game 6 in the Bronx, launching a two-run homer off Welch to ice the Series-clinching 7-2 win.