Your 1981 Red Sox Pt. 4: Bill Campbell

In this series, I will look at each player who played in 1981, the year I was born. Because, why not?

Let's look at two seasons from two pitchers shall we?

Player A: 13-9, 2.96 ERA, 140 innings pitched, 31 saves (led league), 60 walks, 114 strikeouts, 4.8 WAR)

Player B: 13-5, 2.17 ERA, 137 innings pitched, 26 saves, 33 walks, 68 strikeouts, 3.7 WAR

Player A is Bill Campbell in 1977.  He finished fifth in the Cy Young vote and 10th in the MVP vote.  Player B is Sparky Lyle in 1977, when he won the Cy Young Award and was 5th in the MVP vote.  My point is that the two pitchers were not really that far apart.  Lyle had a better ERA and fewer walks, but Campbell had more saves and quite a few more strikeouts.

Campbell was Boston's first major free agent signing after going 17-5 with 20 saves all in relief for the Twins in 1976.  Boston needed a big-time arm out of the bullpen and signed Campbell.  His first season was terrific as Campbell was an All Star and won the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award.  Unfortunately, pitching 317.2 innings in the previous two years took a lot out of his arm and he suffered through injuries for several seasons.  Campbell's ERA climbed each year from 1978 through 1980 and he only saved 13 games in those three seasons. 

He would never again be a top-flight closer but Campbell was able to transition into more of a setup man.  Campbell appeared to be back to being a big contributor in the pen in 1981.  He made it into just 30 games and pitched 48.1 innings, but he finished 23 games and notched seven saves, which was actually second on the team to Mark Clear, who had nine.  Campbell was 1-1 and his ERA dropped to a respectable 3.17.  He also struck out 37 while walking 20, his best ratio in several seasons.

1981 was Campbell's last season in Boston.  He signed with the Cubs as a free agent for the 1982 season.  He went on to have some decent seasons, but never reached the heights of his 1977 season.  He was released by the Expos early in the 1987 season and retired.  

Unknown Heroes Before My Time Pt. 10: Bill Campbell

I am sure that a visible pattern is becoming obvious.  A lot of relief pitchers have ended up in these posts.  Here is yet another one.

Bill Campbell was the first high-profile free agent contract the Red Sox signed.  He had previously been a highly successful reliever for the Twins and had won the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year award in 1976.  In 1977 he went to the Red Sox on a five-year contract, a shocking contract at the time, and too many years for a reliever now.

1977 was Campbell's only great season under the new contract.  He went 13-9 with a 2.96 ERA and 31 saves.  He struck out 114 and walked 60 in 140 innings.  He finished 60 out of the 69 games he appeared in.  This was at a time when the closer position was becoming more prominent.  Sparky Lyle won the AL Cy Young award that season as a closer and Campbell actually finished fifth in the voting with his impressive season.  Lyle's and Campbell's seasons were not really all that different.  Lyle had a better ERA by a decent-sized margin, 2.17 to 2.96.  Lyle also had four fewer losses and walked only 33 to Campbell's 60, but Campbell had five more saves, three more innings, 19 fewer hits, and 46 more strikeouts.  Campbell was a 4.8 WAR pitcher compared to Lyle's 3.7.  The Yankees also won the division, which was probably a large part of the reason that Lyle won the award.  Campbell did win both the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year and the AL Fireman of the Year awards so it was pretty clear that his season was at least on par with Lyle's, if not better.

Unfortunately that was pretty much it for Campbell as an elite reliever.  In 1978 he was decent, going 7-5 with a 3.91 ERA but only saved four, pitching in just 50.1 innings.  In 1979 he saved nine and was 3-4 with a 4.28 ERA in 54.2 innings.  1980 saw his ERA rise again to 4.79 and he did not notch a single save.  1981 was his last season in Boston and his numbers improved somewhat as he saved seven and had a 3.17 ERA.

 After his last season of his five-year deal, Campbell signed with the Cubs.  He bounced around after that but never rose to the same level of play again, though he did appear in 82 games one season for the Cubs and held on through the 1987 season.

 

Most Wins Without Starting a Single Game

When I get bored, I look at statistics, particularly on this site. Recently, I was curious as to the most wins by a relief pitcher who never started a game with the Red Sox. I can't quite remember why I thought of this, perhaps it had to do with looking at the early 1990's and how bullpen use has changed so much. At any rate, I know victories don't really tell us much as an individual stat, but I wanted to look into it anyway. So here we go, with a cutoff of 10 wins, the most victories by a Red Sox pitcher who did not start a single game that year:

Dick Radatz - 1964 - 16 W (It does not surprise me to see him on this list at all. The Monster was truly one of a kind. He lead the team in victories that year.)
Dick Radatz - 1963 - 15 W
Mark Clear - 1982 - 14 W (Clear actually led the team in victories that year)
Bill Campbell - 1977 - 13 W
Bob Stanley - 1982 - 12 W (How about 1982? Two relief pitchers with more than 10 Ws without starting a single game. Weird.)
Ellis Kinder - 1953 - 10 W
Mike Fornieles - 1960 - 10 W
John Wyatt - 1967 - 10 W

NOTES
-As I mentioned, I am not at all surprised to see Radatz. He won 49 games in just a few years with the Red Sox, and never started a single game.

-The modern exclusive relief pitcher is a fairly recent concept, so I am not surprised to not see anybody pre-1950.

-Most of the names are not terribly surprising. Radatz, Stanley, Fornieles, Campbell, and Kinder were all fairly well-known relief pitchers in their time. Clear and Wyatt are probably the most surprising. Clear was an All Star that year and Wyatt was an underrated and forgotten key component to the 1967 A.L. Champs.

-1982 was apparently an unusual year. The Red Sox had four pitchers with more than 10 wins, two of whom were Clear and Stanley. The other two were Dennis Eckersley and John Tudor, each of whom only had 13 wins. Clear lead the team in victories and he and Stanley each had 14 saves.

-I wonder what the record is? Is Radatz close? Unfortunately, without a colossal investment of time, I'm not sure how to check.