Sidearm Slingers : Kent Tekulve

Credit: Lone Star Ball

Next up in our Sidearm Slingers series is former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Kent Tekulve! Tekulve was iconic and became the epitome of a classic sidearm pitcher in the 1970s and 1980s. Integral to winning the 1979 World Series with the Pirates, Tekulve's unique sidearm pitch delivery and workhorse mentality owed to his success and cemented him as a true grit-and-grind, underdog story from his early high school and college playing days to his success in the MLB.

Kent Tekulve : An Underdog to Hero Story

High School and College Trials

Kenton Charles Tekulve, is a right-handed relief pitcher who was born on March 5, 1947, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Standing at 6 foot 4 inches and weighing 180 pounds in his playing days, Tekulve was always overlooked all throughout his life due to his skinny stature and most people would mistake him for not being a professional baseball player as he was coming up.

In his childhood, Tekulve faced hardship as he was cut repeatedly from his Catholic High School baseball team in Hamilton, Ohio. He finally made his high school team in his senior year and would go on to pitch two no hitters, as well as other solid one and two hitter games.

However, Tekulve went undrafted out of high school. His dream school was Ohio State University, however due to him being 6 foot 2 inches, around 150 pounds, he was overlooked once again because of his stature. Fortunately, NCAA Division III Marietta College's baseball team was rebuilding in 1966 under head coach Don Schaly. Tekulve noted that with a beginning roster size of 110 players, players began to quit and stop wanting to be in the program because of Schaly's no nonsense, hardball style of coaching. Tekulve never quit though, and finally received consistent playing time and became a star of the team his senior year. While pitching to a sub 1.00 ERA, this still wasn't enough for scouts and professional teams to recognize him as Tekulve went undrafted again out of college in 1969.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Sidearm pitchers are tough to project for MLB scouts, as it goes against the unconventional over-the-top and three-fourths arms lot that almost all professional baseball pitchers throw the ball from. However, in 1969, through his college coach Schaly, Tekulve landed a pro tryout with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Tekulve could not even pass the initial running and conditioning test, as despite his skinny stature, he was very slow and the scout told him to just sit in the stands. Towards the end of the tryout, Tekulve noted to the scout that "I don't run the ball up to the plate", thus the scouts let him pitch, and boy were they impressed. They signed him immediately on the spot after he was finished pitching, and he would go on to appear two days later for the Pirates affiliated team in the New York Penn League.

Credit: Lost in Left Field

Then, Tekulve would slowly climb up through the Pirates' Minor League system over the next couple years before finally making his Major League debut on May 20, 1974. In total he spent 2 years in A ball (1969-1970), 2 years in AA (1971-1972), and 1 year in AAA ball (1973), before finally making his MLB debut at 27 years old, which is considered relatively old by some standards.

Tekulve became the Pirates full-time closer in 1978, thus starting the most notable years of his career. He appeared in 91 regular season games in '78, notching 31 saves, then in 94 regular season games in '79, notching 31 saves again.

Pirates 1979 World Series Championship Success

Tekulve was on top of his game all throughout 1979, and this continued as the Pirates marched past the Mighty Cincinnati Reds in the National League Championship series to face the Baltimore Orioles in the 1979 World Series. Tekulve would tie a record by appearing in 5 games in the World Series, notably closing out both Game 6 and 7 to give the Pirates their fifth, and still most recent World Series Championship.

Here's the last three outs recorded by Tekulve to win the 1979 World Series:

Credit: Pittsburgh Pirates Highlights

Tekulve's 1979 World Series Cumulative Stat Line:

With the 94 regular season games Tekulve appeared in 1979, plus the 7 postseason appearances, this brings his total for the season to 101 games pitched, 72 of those being games he closed/finished. This owes to one of Tekulve's many nicknames: "The Rubberband Man", because of the durability in his pitching arm, sidearm delivery (which many think causes more arm pain due to its strain on the arm, although not proven), and ability to pitch in consecutive games with little to no rest.

Post World Series Win, Later Playing Days, and MLB Records

Tekulve would go on to be traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1985 and pitch for them for four seasons. Tekulve would pitch his last year in the Big Leagues with his hometown Cincinnati Reds in 1989, before retiring as a legend and icon of the game in the late 20th century.

Numerous records that "The Rubberband Man" currently holds include:

• Led the National League in games pitched four times (91 games in 1978, 94 games in 1979, 85 games in 1982, and 90 games in 1987). Ties him with Mike Marshall as the only pitchers in MLB history to appear in 90 games in a season more than one time, each of them doing so in three seasons.

• Tekulve's 90 games pitched in 1987 make him the oldest ever pitcher (40 years old) to pitch in at least 90 games.

• NL record for career innings pitched in relief at 1,436.2 innings

• Most appearances and innings pitched without making a single start

• Pitched on nine consecutive days for the Phillies in 1987

Career Statistics

In his career, Tekulve pitched 1,050 games / 1,436.2 innings in the Majors, all being relief outings coming in to pitch from the bullpen. His career stats include a 94-90 W-L record, 2.85 ERA, 184 saves, and 779 strikeouts to 1,305 hits and 670 total walks (normal plus intentional. Tekulve was named an All-Star in 1980, and was in the running for the National League Cy Young and MVP awards in 1978 and 1979.

Credit: Baseball Reference

Conclusion

After retirement in 1989, Tekulve would work on the Phillies broadcast team from 1991 to 1997, then took a job as an advanced scout for the Pirates in 2006. From 2008 to 2017, he worked as an analyst on AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh to discuss Pirates games after they concluded. After a health scare in 2014, Tekulve was honored after recovery from his surgery in throwing out a ceremonial first pitch for the NL Wild Card game between the Pirates and San Francisco Giants that year on October 1st. Finally, after a successful on and off the field career, spanning back to 1974 when he made his Major League debut, Tekulve retired from broadcasting in 2017.

From not being able to make his high school team, and going undrafted two separate times, Tekulve faced a rough uphill battle in the early part of his baseball playing career. But, when times get tough with preconceptions and people underestimating you because of certain factors, the only thing that matters is how you respond. Tekulve acknowledged that early, put in the hard work, made himself unique, never backed down, withstood the toughness and embraced the grit. Tekulve undeniably had the talent, it just went unrecognized because of his stature and unconventional sidearm delivery.

This underdog story of Kent Tekulve is just another embodiment of what it means to be a "Sidearm Slinger"

Sources:

The Academy Archives - (Gordon): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SezIrxe49Ts

Baseball Reference Profile: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/tekulke01.shtml

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Tekulve