John Tudor
From SoSH
| Born: | February 2, 1954 |
| Birthplace: | Schenectady, New York |
| Hometown: | {{{home}}} |
| Height: | 6'0" |
| Weight: | 185 |
| Bats: | Left |
| Throws: | Left |
| Drafted: | 3rd Round, 1976 by Boston Red Sox |
| College: | Georgia Southern University |
| High School: | Unknown |
| Other Teams: | Pittsburgh Pirates 1984, St. Louis Cardinals 1985-1990, Los Angeles Dodgers 1988 |
| Years with Boston: | 1979-1983 |
John Tudor was drafted by the Red Sox and traded to Pittsburgh for Mike Easler as the Sox had a good crop of young pitchers and needed a left-handed bat to replace retiring DH Carl Yastrzemski.
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Overall Career
Tudor's Major League tenure was a mixed bag of injuries, fits of anger, and occasional dominance. Tudor was deemed expendable by the Red Sox, with young arms such as Bruce Hurst, Bob Ojeda and Roger Clemens on the horizon. Tudor fared well in Pittsburgh, but was traded after the 1984 season to the St. Louis Cardinals. What would follow would be Tudor's best season in the majors, and one for the ages. Tudor would never regain his dominant form. After completely falling apart in Game 7 of the 1985 World Series, the moody Tudor injured his pitching hand punching an electric fan in the clubhouse. Tudor would make it back to the World Series again in 1987 with the Cardinals, and again with the Dodgers in 1988, where he finally got a ring.
Moment in the Sun
Tudor's 1985 season got off to an ominous start. Despite his 3.74 ERA, he began the year 1-7 for the Cardinals. Tudor would finish the season 20-1, and fiished second to the Mets Dwight Gooden in the Cy Young balloting. Tudor had ten complete game shutouts during that stretch, a feat that has not been duplicated. Tudor lost Game 1 of the 1985 NLCS, but came back to win Game 4 and shift the series back in the Cardinals favor. He went on to win games 1 and 4 in the World Series, but was shelled 11-0 by the champion Kansas City Royals, oppsing pitcher and future Red Sox Bret Saberhagen got the win.
Quotes
"He (John Tudor) was also combative, curt, and bluntly honest; when he considered a question stupid, he said so. It is the age of 10-second sound bites and TV mini-cams and much of what the professional athlete must deal with really is trivial and repetitive, but the unwritten rule is that you play along, smile for the camera, babble banalities and go on. Not this guy." - Joe Henderson in The Man and the Image (Baseball Digest : August 1986)
External Links
- Baseball-Reference.com - Career Statistics and Analysis
