(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Video by MLB FilmRoom)
IN MEMORIAM
...Dick Tidrow...
(1947 - 2021) |
 Former Major League-pitcher and San Francisco Giants-executive Dick Tidrow passed away
Nederlands
 LEE'S SUMMIT, Missouri (USA) -
Dick Tidrow, who pitched thirteen seasons (1972-1984) in the Major League for five teams, unexpectedly passed away on Saturday (July 10) at age 74.
Since 1994, he worked in 28 years in different roles in the San Francisco Giants-organization, where he was the Senior Advisor to the President of Baseball Operations.
Richard William Tidrow was born on May 14, 1947 in San Francisco, California.
Tidrow attended Mount Eden High School in Hayward, which is located on the other side of the San Francisco Bay Area.
While playing baseball there, he got drafted by Washington Senators in the first-ever Amateur Draft in June 1965, but he decided to go to college first.
Tidrow went the study at Chabot College, also in Hayward.
He was also drafted by San Francisco Giants (January 1966) and Cincinnati Reds (June 1966), but also didn't sign with them.
The pitcher then was drafted in January 1967 by Cleveland Indians and this time, he signed a few months later.
Dick Tidrow played in the Minor Leagues for Cleveland Indians in 1967-1971.
He made his professional debut in 1967, pitching in two Single-A teams, appearing in eleven games.
The following season, Tridrow pitched in only six games for Cleveland's Single-A team Reno Silver Sox.
This also had to do with the fact, that he served in the US Marine Corps in 1968-1971.
In 1969, Tidrow started 25 games for Reno and was 15-6 with a 2.65 ERA, striking out 189 batters in 187 innings in what was his first full season.
The righthanded pitcher promoted to Triple-A in the 1970 season and also pitched on this level in 1971.
Tidrow then made the roster of Cleveland Indians during Spring Training of 1972, which was the start of his successful Major League-career.
When he made his Major League-debut, Tidrow initially was a starting pitcher.
In his first season, he started 34 games (out of 39), was 14-15 with a 2.77 ERA and struckout 123 batters.
The next season (1973), Tidrow started in 40 games and was 14-16 with a 4.42 ERA and 138 strikeouts.
In these two seasons combined, he threw 23 complete games.
On May 17, 1972, a month after making his Major League-debut with Cleveland, Tidrow threw his first complete game.
He did that in a 2-1 victory against New York Yankees for whom he would pitch the longest in his career (six seasons).
The third baseman for Cleveland in that season was Graig Nettles, who also would be his longtime teammate with the Yankees.
In 1974, Tidrow made four starts for Cleveland and was 1-3.
On April 26, he was traded to New York Yankees along with Chris Chambliss and Cecil Upshaw for four players.
At Cleveland, Tidrow's fellow pitchers included Ed Farmer, Steve Mingori, Gaylord Perry, Milt Wilcox and current Houston Astros Pitching Coach Brent Strom.
Other teammates in his seasons with Cleveland were Buddy Bell, Kurt Bevacqua, Jack Brohamer, Leo Cardenas, Rico Carty, Chris Chambliss, Frank Duffy, Dave Duncan, John Ellis, Ray Fosse, Oscar Gamble, George Hendrick, John Lowenstein, Tommy McGraw, Graig Nettles, Charlie Spikes and Del Unser.
At New York, Tidrow continued the 1974 season and was used as starting pitcher in 25 games, but towards the end of the season, he became a reliever.
Overall, he appeared in a total of 33 games for New York, was 11-9 with one save and a 3.87 ERA and struckout 100 batters.
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...Many players of New York Yankees wore similar moustaches in the...
...70s/80s, including Dick Tidrow, Thurman Munson and Rich Gossage...
(Baseball-cards of 1975, 1974 and 1982 respectively... |
When Tidrow played for New York Yankees, he became known for his characteristic big moustache, which he started to grow in these years.
Tidrow was one of many Yankee-players who had a (big) moustache.
Besides that, Tidrow, who was a hard worker, also was known for his high leg kick during his wind-up.
When making his wind-up, he pulled up his left leg very high, sometimes even above his head, before delivering the ball.
From 1975 on, Tidrow has been a reliever in the remainder of his career.
Except for the 1978 season when he also was used again a starter by New York Yankees in 25 games (four complete).
Most of his relief-appearances came as a closer.
In his thirteen Major League-seasons, Tidrow was the closer in 244 games.
In 1975, Tidrow and Sparky Lyle were the main relievers for New York.
Besides being very effective on the mound, the two also loved to be a prankster.
In this season, Tidrow was used both as closer and set-up man, pitching in 37 games (23 as closer).
He was 6-3 with five saves and a 3.12 ERA.
In 1976, Tidrow played in his first postseason with New York.
The team won the American League Championship Series against Kansas City Royals, then faced Cincinnati Reds in the World Series.
In Game 4, Cincinnati led 3-2, but decided the game with a 4-run rally in the ninth, which was highlighted by a 3-run homerun by Johnny Bench (his second in the game) off of Tidrow.
Cincinnati swept New York in four games and was known in those years as the 'Big Red Machine' with players such as Johnny Bench (catcher), Tony Perez (1B), Joe Morgan (2B), Pete Rose (3B), Dave Concepción (SS), George Foster (OF), César Gerónimo (OF) and Ken Griffey (OF).
In the meantime, New York Yankees also developed (again) into a powerhouse in these years, winning the World Series in 1977 and 1978, led by wellknown (and fiery) Manager Billy Martin with players that included Paul Blair, Chris Chambliss, Bucky Dent, Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Graig Nettles, Lou Piniella, Willie Randolph, Mickey Rivers, Fred Stanley and Roy White and pitchers Ed Figueroa, Rich Gossage, Ron Guidry, Don Gullett, Ken Holtzman, Catfish Hunter and Sparky Lyle.
In 1977, New York again eliminated Kansas City Royals in the League Championship.
Hereafter, New York won the World Series against Los Angeles Angeles Dodgers (4-2), which was another strong and dominating team in these years, just as New York and Cincinnati, but also Oakland Athletics, Boston Red Sox, Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates.
In Game 6 of the World Series, Reggie Jackson hit three homeruns for New York, which earned him the nickname 'Mr. October'.
In the 1978 season, Tidrow became a starting pitcher again for New York, which had added relievers Rich Gossage and Rawly Eastwick.
This was a very interesting season, as New York and Boston ended up in a tie first first place in the American League East Division.
With that, the teams had to play a tie-breaker (Game 163) to decide the championship, which was won by New York.
As a starter, Tidrow wasn't that successful this season, as he was 7-10 in 25 starts.
...1978 World Series - Game 4...
...Reggie Jackson is hit by a thrown ball...
(MLB FilmRoom) |
In the tie-break game, New York won against Boston thanks to the famous homerun by Bucky Dent and then defeated Kansas City Royals for third year in a row in the AL Championship Series.
In the World Series, New York again played against Los Angeles Dodgers, which won the first two games.
New York then won the next four games.
Tidrow pitched in relief for New York in two games, including a strong appearance in Game 4.
Los Angeles opened the score in the fifth inning via a 3-run homerun by Reggie Smith.
New York then scored twice in the sixth, which also had a still much talked about situation.
Reggie Jackson batted in the first Yankee-run.
With Thurman Munson on second base and Jackson on first, Lou Piniella hit the a soft line drive to short stop Bill Russell, who didn't catch the ball (some say, on purpose, to make a double play).
Instead, he forced out Jackson on second base and then threw the ball to first base.
However, the ball hit Jackson (who had stopped running) on his hip and it caromed into foul territory.
Munson advanced to first base, then scored while first baseman Steve Garvey argued with the umpire that Jackson had interfered.
The play could have gone differently.
Munson thought Russell would catch the ball and returned to second base.
There, he was when Russell picked up the ball.
Instead, Russell could have tagged out Munson and then force out Jackson for a double play.
But interference was not called, as it was ruled that Jackson didn't intentionally deflected the ball during the play.
Los Angeles-Manager Tom Lasorda and several players argued that Jackson had deflected the ball on purpose.
With Los Angeles leading 3-2, Tidrow took over the pitching and threw three scoreless innings.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Yankees came alongside on a double by Munson, then won 4-3 in the tenth on a walk-off single by Piniella.
In 1979, Tidrow pitched fourteen games in relief for New York and was 2-1, but had a huge 7.94 ERA, while striking out only seven batters in 22 2/3 inning.
On May 23 of the 1979 season, Tidrow was traded to Chicago Cubs for whom he then pitched in 63 games in relief (27 as closer) in the remainder of the season.
At Chicago, he became the long reliever, pitching before closer Bruce Sutter.
Tidrow was 11-5 for Chicago with 27 saves, a 2.72 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 102 2/3 inning.
On August 2 of this year, tragedy struck for New York Yankees, as catcher Thurman Munson died in an accident at age 32, while practicing landings with his Cessa Citation plane on what was a day off for the team.
When Tidrow played for New York, Munson, who was the team-captain, caught most of his games.
Tidrow and Munson, who were close friends, both sported the same sort of moustache, as did Gossage.
Besides the already mentioned players above, other teammates of Tidrow at New York included Sandy Alomar, Ron Blomberg, Bobby Bonds, Rick Dempsey, Oscar Gamble, Fran Healy, Elrod Hendricks, Jay Johnstone, Dave Kingman, Elliott Maddox, Jim Mason, Carlos May, Bobby Murcer, Jim Spencer and Walt Williams and pitchers Doyle Alexander, Jim Beattie, Pat Dobson, Rawly Eastwick, Dock Ellis, Tommy John, Jim Kaat, Tippy Martinez and Doc Medich.
In the 1980 season, Tidrow led the Major League with 84 relief-appeances.
He was 6-5 for Chicago, which had an unsuccessful season, losing 98 games and being led by three different Managers.
In 1981, Tidrow became the prime closer again for Chicago after Bruce Sutter was traded to St. Louis Cardinals.
In this season, which was shortened due to a players strike, Tidrow pitched in 51 games (30 as closer), but was 3-10 with nine saves and a 5.06 ERA in what was another losing season for Chicago.
In 1982, Chicago's results improved and the wins and losses were almost in balance.
Tidrow threw in 65 games, but was mostly used as a set-up man again, throwing in 25 games as the closer.
He was 8-3 with six saves and a 3.39 ERA, striking out 62 batters.
In his four seasons with Chicago Cubs, amongst Tidrow's teammates were Larry Biitner, Tim Blackwell, Bobby Bonds, Larry Bowa, Bill Buckner, Jody Davis, Ivan De Jesus, Steve Dillard, Leon Durham, Barry Foote, Ken Henderson, Steve Henderson, Jay Johnstone, Mick Kelleher, Dave Kingman, Jerry Martin, Jerry Morales, Bobby Murcer, Steve Ontiveros, Ryne Sandberg, Scot Thompson, Mike Vail and Bump Wills and pitchers Bill Campbell, Doug Capilla, Bill Caudill, Rawly Eastwick, Ken Holtzman, Fergie Jenkins, Mike Krukow, Dennis Lamp, Lynn McGlothen, Donnie Moore, Rick Reuschel, Lee Smith and Bruce Sutter.
In January 1983, Tidrow was traded to Chicago White Sox in a 6-player deal.
In the 1983 season, he was the prime reliever for his new team.
Tidrow was 2-4 with seven saves and a 4.22 ERA, appearing in 50 games (27 as closer).
Chicago White Sox went on to win 99 games to win the American League West Division, but the was then eliminated in the League Championship Series by Baltimore Orioles (3-1).
Back then, the Manager of Chicago was Tony La Russa, who then was in his fifth season with the team.
La Russa retired as Manager after the 2011 season, having led Chicago, Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals in 33 seasons.
This season, the 76-year old La Russa came out of retirement after being named Manager of the White Sox again in October last year.
Amongst Tidrow's teammates with the White Sox were Harold Baines, Tony Bernazard, Julio Cruz, Jerry Dybzinski, Carlton Fisk, Scott Fletcher, Jerry Hairston, Ron Kittle, Rudy Law, Vance Law, Greg Luzinski, Tom Paciorek, Mike Squires and Greg Walker and pitchers Floyd Bannister, Salome Barojas, LaMarr Hoyt, Jerry Koosman and Dennis Lamp.
In October 1983, Tidrow was released by Chicago White Sox, but then signed with New York Mets in January 1984.
Tidrow pitched in eleven games for New York and was 0-0 with a 9.19 ERA, before being released on May 8, 1984.
Thereafter, the righthander pitcher retired as a player.
While playing for New York Mets, Tidrow played together with Wally Backman, Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, George Foster, Ron Gardenhire, Danny Heep, Keith Hernandez, Jose Oquendo, Rusty Staub, Darryl Strawberry and Mookie Wilson and pitchers Ron Darling, Dwight Gooden, Ed Lynch, Jesse Orosco and Doug Sisk.
When Tidrow played for New York Mets, the team was led by Manager Davey Johnson, who in 2003 and 2004 was a member of the coaching-staff of the Netherlands Baseball Team as Assistant Manager, Interim Manager and Bench Coach.
With the Orange Team, Johnson participated in the 2003 European Championship, the 2003 World Championship and the 2004 Olympic Games.
In thirteen Major League-seasons, Dick Tidrow pitched in 620 games (138 as starter, 244 as closer) and was 100-94 with 55 saves and a 3.68 ERA.
He struckout 975 batters in 1,746 1/3 inning, walking 579 batters and giving up 1,705 basehits, including 163 homeruns.
While playing for New York Yankees, Tidrow got the nickname 'Dirt', as he appeared somewhat unkempt, but also because he got his uniform-shirt dirty before the start of a game.
Tidrow is also one of the few Major League-players who played for both teams in Chicago (Cubs, White Sox) and in New York (Yankees, Mets).
In 1985, Dick Tidrow returned to New York Yankees, where he was a Special Assignment Scout in 1985-1993.
He then became a scout for San Francisco Giants in 1994, was named Special Assistant to the General Manager of San Francisco in 1996 and then was promoted to Director of Player Personnel in 1997.
In these years, he closely worked together with General Manager Brian Sabean.
As Director of Player Personnel, Tidrow oversaw the Minor Leagues and proved to have an eye for talent.
Under the leadership of Sabean and Tidrow, players such as Madison Bumgarner, Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, Sergio Romo and Pablo Sandoval climbed upwards in the Minor Leagues.
It was Tidrow who urged San Francisco to draft pitchers Bumgarner, Cain and Lincecum.
With these players, Sabean and Tidrow laid the foundation for the team that won the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014.
In those years, Hensley Meulens was the Hitting Coach of the Major League-team.
Meulens played for the Netherlands Team and was the team's Manager during the World Baseball Classic in 2013 and 2017.
Later, Tidrow became the Senior Advisor to the President of Baseball Operations, which he was through this year.
In his free time, he loved spending time with his family and enjoyed cooking, making Italian food, but also enjoyed fishing and boating and making family trips.
During these family gatherings, Tidrow always made movies.
Larry Baer, the Chief Executive Officer of San Francisco Giants, said:
,,Our entire organization is heartbroken by the news of Dick’s passing.
So much of our success over these past three decades is directly linked to Dick’s contributions.
He will be truly missed by all of us, and our thoughts are with Mari Jo and his entire family during this difficult time''.
Brian Sabean, who is the Executive Vice-President and Senior Advisor of San Francisco Giants, said:
,,Dick was a unique and special person whose influence and impact was legendary throughout the game and whose fingerprints are all over our three World Series trophies.
On a personal level, we shared some incredible highs and lows together, and I’m forever grateful for his 40 years of friendship and support''.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News extends his condolences to the family of Dick Tidrow and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(July 15)
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