Ed Ranks 1984 Milwaukee Brewers Pitchers

This wasn't their logo at the time. Whatever.

Oh, did I not tell you last time this would be a two-parter? Well, it is. Because how could I tell you about the 1984 Brewers position players without talking about the pitching staff?

18. Jerry Augustine – I mean technically he had a 0.00 ERA, which in other circumstances would make him a boss.  But under the circumstances where he only had 5.1 Innings Pitched and gave up four hits and 1 run in those innings, he’s at the bottom of the barrel for 1984’s pitchers.  His season would be so bad, that he would never play in the majors again.

17. Jim Kern – Jim pitched even less than Jerry Augustine (a mere 4.2 innings), and gave up more hits (6). So why rank him above? No runs, plus he was able to finish 3 games and get a win, feats which Augustine couldn’t match. Kern had played for the Phillies earlier in the season, before being released and signed by the Brewers as a minor leaguer, eventually being brought up in September.

16. Paul Hartzell – He only pitched 10.1 innings and wound up with a 7.84 ERA, which is not good at all. As with Augustine, September of 1984 would be his last days in the Major League.

15. Andy Beene – Benne was brought in for 5 games, 3 of which he started but wound up with an atrocious 2 losses and 11.09 ERA. When you have more Earned Runs (23) than Innings (18.2), you are not destined for MLB stardom. Which is why 83-84’ were the only years he was in the majors.

14. Tom Candiotti – 2-2 record with a little over 32 innings pitched and a .529 ERA? Yeah, this guy seems like he’d be about 14th place among 18 pitchers. Fortunately, things would get better for Tom and he’d go on to be a much better pitcher later in his career, playing until 1999 and having especially good seasons with the Indians.

13. Jack Lazorko – A backup reliever who got to be in 15 games, giving himself 1 loss and 1 save. Just meh. He was famed for being one of the best fielding pitchers in the game…but great fielding wasn’t enough to give him a promising career.

Nope. This is the wrong guy.

12. Bob Gibson – HOLY SHIT! BOB FUCKING GIBSON played for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1984? This pitching legend must have been slumming it with the Brew Crew after being a 9-time Allstar, 2-time World Series Champion (and series MVP both years), 2-time Cy Young award winner, etc. etc. Wait. No. This doesn’t make sense. Bob Gibson retired in 1975. He would have been 49 years old! Let me look into this further…and…ah, okay. I see my mistake now. This is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT Bob Gibson. Never mind. This guy was…ya know…a just okay backup starter.

11. Rick Waits – This guy had been pitching for the Indians for some time before winding up in Milwaukee near the end of his career. By 1984, he was just a relief pitcher who did okay, finishing 16 games and playing with a decent 3.58 ERA.

10. Chuck Porter – Chuck started in 12 games and was about as good as you’d think a middling starter for a terrible team would do.

9. Ray Searage – When the great Rollie Fingers wasn’t able to close a game, Ray Searage was the guy they could reliably turn to. He got 6 saves in 21 games with a very nice 0.70 ERA. Yet he only played in 38.1 innings, so I can’t rank him that high.

8. Pete Ladd – Pete Ladd was the actual man who the Brewers usually turned to as the closer when Rollie was out, and had some notable play in 1982. But I’m talking about 1984. He played a lot more than Searage, so I’ll rank him higher. But he didn’t do quite as well.

7. Tom Tellmann – As with Searage and Ladd, Tellman was an okay reliever who sometimes got the job done (4 saves, 6 wins), and sometimes did not (3 losses, 25 Earned Runs).  Still, with a 2.78 ERA, he was pretty decent.

6. Mike Caldwell – In Caldwell’s last season in baseball, his skills had clearly faded. He maintained his position as a starter for a good portion of the season (starting in 19 games), but he’d wind up with 6 wins and 13 losses.

5. Bob McClure – As with Caldwell, McClure bounded back and forth between being a starter and reliever. In 1984, the Brewers used him mainly as a starter, where he would start 18 games, winding up with a mediocre 4-8 record.  He was also used for relief duty, and even got a single save in.

4. Jaime Cocanower – The Brewers only had 3 picthers in 1984 who could be consistently relied on as starters, and they are three of the last four here. Cocanower wasn’t the best of the three, but he put up about as decent stats as he could have for being a starting pitcher on a terrible, terrible, last-place-in-the-division team. 

Essentially Rollie Fingers.

3. Rollie Fingers – Ah, the aforementioned Rollie Fingers! Yeah, it’s hard to believe that old man Fingers with his freaky mustache was still around in 1984 – but he was! He was 37 years old in his second-to-last year after an earlier successful career with the A’s (and Padres).  While he was notionally past his prime, he still put up 26 saves on a terrible team and had a stellar 1.96 ERA. Good work, old man!

2. Moose Haas – Moose Haas had more losses (11) than wins (9), but that’s still enough to make him the second best pitcher on a team that only won a total of 67 games all year. At least he kept his ERA under .400 (barely, at .399) and threw 84 strikeouts.

1. Don Sutton – HOLY SHIT. I was mocking Don Rollie Fingers for being around at age 37, but it’s hard to believe that Don Freaking Sutton was still pitching in ‘84.  Sutton was 39 this year, and the legendary Dodger (who played back in the 1960’s) was still bouncing around in the 1980’s, where he would continue to pitch for numerous different teams (the Brewers, Astros, Athletics, Angels, and finally one last year with the Dodgers in ‘88).   I can’t mock him though, as in 1984 he was still the best option the Brewers had. He went 14-12 with a .337 ERA and 143 Ks.