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Great Athletes

Dennis Eckersley

by Jack Ewing

Sport: Baseball

Early Life

Dennis Lee Eckersley was born October 3, 1954, in Oakland, California. Dennis’s father, a warehouse supervisor, settled in the San Francisco Bay Area while working for the United States Navy during World War II. Dennis and his two siblings were brought up in Fremont, an Oakland suburb.

Dennis Eckersley pitching with the St. Louis Cardinals.

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(Mike Blake/Reuters/Landov)

Dennis excelled in sports as a child, and he played quarterback for his high school’s football team. He did not care for the contact of football, though, and he dreamed of pitching someday for the San Francisco Giants. When the Giants sent a scout to watch him pitch for his high school team, however, Dennis had a terrible day, and the opposing team hit him hard. The Giants passed on the chance to draft him.

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The Road to Excellence

In June, 1972, when Dennis was still seventeen, the Cleveland Indians of the American League (AL) made him a third-round draft choice. Dennis had expected to be drafted sooner, perhaps even in the first round. Furthermore, Dennis was not entirely happy that he had been drafted by the Indians, a perennially weak club that had not won a pennant since 1954. However, he was reconciled to the idea of playing for the Indians both by the team’s offer of a $32,000 signing bonus and by the realization that he could progress to the major-league level much faster with a poor team than with a good one.

Dennis was correct in supposing that he could make it to the majors in a hurry. He excelled in the Indians’ minor-league system, posting records of 12-8 at Reno, Nevada, in the Class-A California League in 1973 and an exceptional 14-3 record at San Antonio of the AA Texas League in 1974. In 1975, at the age of twenty, Dennis was inserted into the Indians’ starting rotation.

In his first big-league start, Dennis faced the powerful Oakland Athletics (A’s), who had won a third consecutive World Series title the previous October. Dennis shut out the defending world champions and went on to set a record for rookies by not allowing a single run in his first 28 innings in the majors. At season’s end, Dennis had compiled a 13-7 record and a fine 2.60 ERA, and he was named the AL rookie pitcher of the year.

In 1976, he won thirteen more games for the hapless Indians and averaged more than 1 strikeout an inning. In 1977, he threw a no-hitter against the California (now Los Angeles) Angels during a streak in which he did not allow a hit in 22 1/3 innings, the longest such streak in the major leagues since Cy Young threw 25 1/3 consecutive no-hit innings in 1904. Though he was still just twenty-three years old, Dennis—called “Eck” by his teammates—had established himself as one of the game’s top pitchers. He had posted winning records in each of his three big-league seasons despite the handicap of playing for one of the majors’ weakest teams.

The Emerging Champion

In 1978, the Indians sent Dennis to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for four players. The 1978 Red Sox were loaded with talent, including future hall-of-famer Carl Yastrzemski and young stars such as Fred Lynn, Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, and Carlton Fisk. Dennis posted 20 victories against only 8 losses, and the Red Sox led the AL Eastern Division for most of the season before faltering in a four-game September series against the New York Yankees.

Although the Red Sox missed the playoffs, Dennis was peaking. He was a young twenty-game winner for a contending club and the recipient of a large multiyear contract from the Red Sox. Opposing players considered him arrogant and grew irritated at his behavior on the mound, where Dennis sometimes danced in celebration after retiring a hitter. In fact, however, Dennis was unhappy.

In 1978, Dennis, who had married when he was only eighteen years old, separated from his wife Denise, who had begun a romantic relationship with Dennis’s teammate and friend, outfielder Rick Manning. In late 1978, the Eckersleys divorced; Denise and Manning later married. To make matters worse, Dennis had developed a drinking problem during his years in Cleveland. Although his personal troubles had not hurt his on-field performance, they affected his overall stability.

In August of 1979, with a 16-5 record, Dennis was cruising through another fine season when his arm suddenly grew tired. Dennis lost 5 of his last 6 decisions that year; the next season, he had his first losing record, and his ERA soared to 4.27. For three more seasons with the Red Sox, Dennis continued to drink and his career floundered. By 1983, his career was in jeopardy; he finished 9-13 with a 5.61 ERA. The Red Sox sent him to the Chicago Cubs in the National League, and his once-bright future seemed only a memory.

Dennis had some success in Chicago, with 10 wins for the Cubs’ 1984 division-winning team. He had begun using a Cybex exercise machine to strengthen his pitching shoulder, and the exercises helped. However, he continued to drink excessively. In 1985, though he posted an 11-7 record, his arm troubles returned, and the next season, he slumped again, to 6-11. Though he had managed to keep his drinking problem a secret, he had acquired a reputation as a talented but inconsistent underachiever.

Continuing the Story

In 1980, Dennis had married his second wife, Nancy O’Neil, a model with a master’s degree in communications from Boston College. Nancy pressed Dennis into confronting his alcoholism; in early 1987, Dennis checked into the Edgehill treatment center in Newport, Rhode Island. At Edgehill, Dennis conquered his drinking habit, and he approached the 1987 season in his best physical and mental shape in years.

Furthermore, that spring, the Cubs traded Dennis to the A’s, a talented team and among the best managed organizations in baseball. Oakland’s manager, Tony LaRussa, and pitching coach, Dave Duncan, persuaded Dennis to trade his accustomed starting spot for a relievers’ role, and the move was a terrific success. In 1988, Oakland dominated the American League, and Dennis was the best reliever in baseball. He earned 45 saves to lead the majors and won the most valuable player award in the American League playoffs, as the A’s swept the Red Sox. The season ended in disappointment for the A’s, as the team was beaten in the World Series by the underdog Los Angeles Dodgers, but Dennis had clearly found his baseball home at last.

In the first game of the 1988 World Series, Dennis had a chance to show how he had matured. With the Athletics leading 4-3 with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning, he faced Dodgers pinch-hitter Kirk Gibson and threw two quick strikes. After taking three balls, Gibson then hit a slider from Dennis into the right-field seats for a game-winning home run. After the game, Dennis proved graceful under pressure, patiently answering reporters’ questions for nearly an hour.

In 1989, Oakland breezed through the American League again, and Dennis was terrific. His control, which had always been good, had become phenomenal: In 57 innings he struck out 55 batters and walked only 3, one of the best ratios in history. He was so good that opposing managers often altered their strategies against Oakland, playing, in effect, 7- or 8-inning games. Opposing teams knew that if the Athletics had the lead in the eighth inning or later, Dennis would likely save the game.

In 1989, the Athletics avenged the 1988 World Series defeat, sweeping the San Francisco Giants and earning recognition as the best team in more than a decade. Incredibly, Dennis was even better in 1990, with 48 saves, 73 strikeouts, only 4 walks in 73 innings, and a microscopic 0.61 ERA. Oakland captured its third consecutive AL pennant. Dennis had reached his potential at last.

Dennis had a stellar year in 1992, earning both the AL’s Cy Young Award and the league’s most valuable player award. He began the season with 36 consecutive saves and finished with a league-leading 51. In his next three seasons, Dennis failed to keep his ERA below 4.00 and, in 1996, was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. He earned more than 30 saves in his two seasons with the Cardinals in spite of increasing injuries. For the 1998 season, Dennis returned to Boston, where he spent the first half of the season on the disabled list. He recorded only 1 save in 50 appearances and decided to retire after twenty-three seasons, ending his career with a 197-171 record, 390 saves, and a respectable 3.50 ERA.

A six-time all-star, Dennis became the first pitcher in baseball history to record 100 complete games and 200 saves. Also, he was the first pitcher to garner both a 20-win season and a 50-save season during his career. For his prowess on the field, in 2004, Dennis was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. The following year, the Oakland A’s officially retired his uniform number. After his retirement from baseball, Dennis worked as a television analyst for the Boston Red Sox on the New England Sports Network.

Summary

Dennis Eckersley overcame arm troubles and alcoholism to regain his place among baseball’s best. As the intimidating closer for the dominant team of the late 1980’s, he established himself as one of the top relievers of all time. He was a rarity as pitcher, finding success as both a starter and a reliever.

Additional Sources

1 

Carroll, Will. Saving the Pitcher. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2007.

2 

James, Bill, and Rob Neyer. The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers: An Historical Compendium of Pitching, Pitchers, and Pitches. New York: Fireside, 2004.

3 

Purdy, Dennis, and Tony LaRussa. The Team-by-Team Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball. New York: Workman, 2006.

4 

Rolfe, John. “Eck! Dennis Eckersley of the Oakland A’s Is the Best Relief Pitcher in Baseball.” Sports Illustrated for Kids 5, no. 6 (1993).

5 

Schnackenberg, Robert. Dennis Eckersley: Back from the Edge. San Diego, Calif.: Revolutionary Comics, 1993.

6 

Snyder, John. Indians Journal: Year-by-Year and Day-by-Day with the Cleveland Indians Since 1901. Cincinnati: Clerisy Press, 2008.

7 

Vorwald, Bob. Cubs Forever: Memories from the Men Who Lived Them. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2008.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Ewing, Jack. "Dennis Eckersley." Great Athletes,Salem Press, 2009. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Athletes_1048.
APA 7th
Ewing, J. (2009). Dennis Eckersley. Great Athletes. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Ewing, Jack. "Dennis Eckersley." Great Athletes. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2009. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.