No doubt one Eck of a career

Perseverance marked road to Hall

July 25, 2004|Globe Staff

The boy meant no harm. He was too young to know any better. Otherwise, he never would have stood before Dennis Eckersley during a clinic at Fenway Park earlier this month for children from the Home for Little Wanderers, the South End Little League, and the Brighton YMCA and asked in all his youthful bluntness how Eckersley's playing days had ended.

"Did you quit?" the boy inquired.

The fact is, Eckersley could have walked away many times during 24 years of personal strife and professional tumult in one of baseball's most remarkable pitching careers. He could have fled amid the anguish of his first wife, Denise, abruptly leaving him with their 2-year-old daughter in 1978 for Rick Manning, a close friend and teammate. He could have surrendered time and again to alcoholism, which plagued him until he was so repulsed in 1986 by watching a home video of himself drunk that he sought treatment. Or he could have buckled under the ordeal of trying to spare his older brother, Glenn, from a 40-year prison term in 1987 for second-degree kidnapping and second-degree attempted murder.

Oh, and the baseball landscape is littered with pitchers who succumbed to lesser failures than Eckersley experienced on the mound. He went from losing effectiveness as a starting pitcher to surrendering one of the most memorable home runs in World Series history.

But in a celebration of one of the most indelible triumphs of perseverance over myriad traumas in modern sports, Eckersley today will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, his bronzed likeness installed among those of the game's greatest legends. A first-ballot electee, he will be cited for his achievements with the Indians, Red Sox, Cubs, A's, and Cardinals, hailed as a face of the American dream, and not once described as a quitter.

"The things I remember the most are the failures," Eckserley told the children at Fenway Park. "But I'm proud to have overcome all of that."

Fear of failure The risk of exploring Eckersley's turbulent career is allowing all he endured to overshadow all he accomplished. While appearing in more games (1,071) in major league history than all but two pitchers -- Jesse Orosco (1,252) and John Franco (1,079) -- the flamboyant righthander hurled a no-hitter for the Indians in 1977, won a World Series with the A's in 1989, captured the Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards in '92, and ultimately achieved a milestone that may never be matched as he became the only pitcher to throw 100 complete games and post at least 200 saves. He saved 390 games, third most in history behind Lee Smith (478) and Franco (424).

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