, the Pirates' official career saves leader with 158, had three saves in the 1979 World Series, which the Pirates won after losing three of the first four games.
Yet Tekulve, 58, is almost as well known for a brief moment he spent in left field in Candlestick Park that season. In the first game of a doubleheader Sept. 1, with the Pirates leading, 5-3, with two outs in the ninth inning, manager Chuck Tanner sent Tekulve from the mound to left field and brought in left-hander Grant Jackson to face left-handed batting Darrell Evans after a Jack Clark bunt single. Jackson got Evans to hit a fly ball to left field, which Tekulve caught for the final out.
Tekulve, who says baseball enabled him to be 12 years old "until I was 42," grew up in Hamilton, Ohio -- just a few blocks from current Pirates manager Jim Tracy.Recently, Tekulve sat down with national baseball writer Paul Meyer to reflect on his career and to talk about Tracy.
Is there anything about Jim Tracy we don't know yet?
Tekulve: I don't think there's anything that hasn't been covered. I think what you don't know yet is how much of what you've heard is true. Much like [Willie] Stargell, what you hear is what you get.
Do you have any advice for Tracy?
Tekulve: I think the best advice I could give to any new manager is to be patient. You've got to learn your players. Your players have to learn you. And you have to build up a trust between you. That's something that just doesn't automatically come. It's something that needs to be developed.
Will it be more difficult because he's coming from outside the organization?
Tekulve: I don't think so because he's a very genuine person. I think having played against him, the players that are here and have been here could see that. That's kind of the reputation he's had, and I'm sure they've talked to some of the friends they've had on the Dodgers. You know, they'll talk to somebody and that somebody will say, "Yeah, he's really a good guy." I think that will bridge that gap of not personally knowing each other, but professionally he's been around for five years [as a manager], about the same length that most of these [Pirates] players have been around, so they kind of all broke in at the same time, even though on different coasts and different jobs.
Can you talk a bit about the day you became a left fielder?
Tekulve: It was a total surprise. Chuck obviously had a strategic reason for doing what he did. The strategic reason was that if Darrell Evans had gotten a base hit, I was supposed to come back in and pitch to Mike Ivie. The thing that was strange about it was that never once prior to the moment he came to mound to tell me I was playing left field had he ever mentioned to me that he would even think about doing something like this. So I was just as shocked as everybody else was.
Had you ever played in the field?
Tekulve: Not as a professional. But it's not that big a deal. Pitchers catch more fly balls than any player on the team because we're out in batting practice every day running around the outfield catching balls behind our back, between our legs because we're bored. So catching a fly ball is not anything that's difficult for a pitcher to do. Any pitcher who's been in the major leagues for any amount of time can catch a fly ball.
Still, this was in a game in Candlestick Park, where wind could be a huge factor. You weren't nervous? Or anxious?
Tekulve: No. In fact, the funny part was I was actually waving everybody off. Of course, there was nobody within 150 feet of me, but I was waving frantically, telling everybody that I had it. The good news was it was an afternoon game in San Francisco. Candlestick Park was notorious for its winds, but that was always in night games. Afternoon games were calm, so it was a calm afternoon. The ball was hit directly to me. It really wasn't anything to get nervous about. Everybody else was probably more nervous than I was because I knew I could catch a fly ball. They weren't so sure.
Did you ever take batting practice?
Tekulve: Occasionally. But not very often. I would go out during pitchers' batting practice before the real players took batting practice and bunt my five or six balls and turn around and go back into the clubhouse. Chuck suggested I take a little batting practice. He'd say, "Hey, you might get a hit sometime. Who knows?" I said, "Chuck, let's be honest about this. First of all, only three things can happen if I take batting practice, and they're all bad. I can swing and miss and hurt myself. I can foul the ball off and hit myself in the foot and hurt myself. Or I can get hit by the pitch and hurt myself. No good will come out of this." And besides, if I come up to bat in the eighth or ninth inning when I'm pitching and it's important that I get a base hit because we need to score the runner on second, am I going to bat? He said, no. Then why should I take batting practice?
Was Willie Stargell as good a person, as good a teammate, as it seemed?
Tekulve: Willie was one of those very rare individuals, probably the only one that I knew of that I played with or against, that the public perception of him was exactly the way he was. He was as good as everybody thought he was. He was as kind as everybody thought he was. He was as insightful as everybody thought he was. What you saw was what you got with Willie. He was one of the most genuine, sincere people I've ever met in my entire life.
Do you still have any of the stars Willie gave out in 1979?
Tekulve: Yes, I do. The hat I had with all the stars from 1979 is in Cooperstown in the World Series exhibit. When the Hall of Fame wanted that hat, Willie gave me a bunch of stars to make a mock hat, a second hat, that I could keep for myself at home. He actually gave me a few extra stars, too. In fact, I gave two of them to Margaret Stargell last year when I played in her Stargell golf outing so they could auction them off for charity.
Franka Brun, Post-GazetteKent Tekulve, who spent time as the Washington Wild Things' pitching coach, is the Pirates' career saves leader with 158.
Click photo for larger image.
First Published: November 14, 2005, 5:00 a.m.
