American baseball player and coach
Baseball player
Red Adams
|
---|
Adams, circa 1944
|
Pitcher
|
Born:
(
1921-10-07
)
October 7, 1921
Parlier, California
, U.S.
|
Died:
January 18, 2017
(2017-01-18)
(aged 95)
Fresno, California
, U.S.
|
Batted:
Right
Threw:
Right
|
|
May 5, 1946, for the Chicago Cubs
|
|
July 2, 1946, for the Chicago Cubs
|
|
Win?loss record
| 0?1
|
---|
Earned run average
| 8.25
|
---|
Strikeouts
| 8
|
---|
|
---|
|
As player
As coach
|
Charles Dwight "Red" Adams
(October 7, 1921 ? January 18, 2017) was an American professional baseball
pitcher
,
scout
and
pitching coach
. The native of
Parlier, California
, pitched only briefly in
Major League Baseball
, but had a lengthy career as a scout and coach for the
Los Angeles Dodgers
. A
right-hander
in his playing days, he stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 185 pounds (84 kg).
Adams won 193 games in the
minor leagues
from 1939 to 1942 and 1944 to 1958, including a
21-victory
season for the 1945
Los Angeles Angels
of the
Pacific Coast League
. His Major League pitching tenure, however, consisted of only 12
innings
over eight
games
for the
Chicago Cubs
in
1946
. All of his appearances came in
relief
. His one
decision
came on
Memorial Day
, when he allowed a game-winning
home run
to
Ray Mueller
of the
Cincinnati Reds
, which capped a six-run,
ninth-inning
rally and enabled Cincinnati to defeat Chicago, 7?6, at
Wrigley Field
, in the second game of the holiday
doubleheader
.
[1]
Adams allowed 11
earned runs
, 18
hits
and seven
bases on balls
in 12 total
innings pitched
during his MLB career, with eight
strikeouts
.
After his playing career, he was a
scout
for the Dodgers from 1959 to 1968. He then worked as the Dodgers' MLB pitching coach from 1969 to 1980, serving on three
National League
pennant-winning
teams (1974; 1977?78) under
managers
Walter Alston
and
Tommy Lasorda
, and helping develop many of the Dodgers' pitchers.
Said 324-game-winning pitcher
Don Sutton
upon his induction into the
Baseball Hall of Fame
in July 1998: "No person ever meant more to my career than Red Adams. Without him, I would not be standing in
Cooperstown
today."
[2]
Tommy John
, a 288-game winner, also had praise for Adams. "When I joined the [Dodgers in 1972], I was still convinced that I had only a mediocre fastball and that I was going to have to depend chiefly on my breaking pitches to win ball games. But Red disagreed with me, emphatically," John said. Adams encouraged him to rely more on the fastball, which though slower than most pitchers' fastballs, had a lot of movement.
[3]
In 1979, Adams was inducted into the
Fresno County
Athletic Hall of Fame.
[4]
He died on January 18, 2017, at the age of 95.
[5]
References
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]
External links
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]