Player Profile: Orel Hershiser

Orel Leonard Hershiser. Tommy called him “Bulldog.” Born in Buffalo, N.Y., on September 16, 1958. His name is etched in Dodger history alongside many of their greatest pitchers. Most of that praise comes from one magical season when the stars aligned, and he was the best pitcher in the game. His performance in the regular season, the playoffs, and World Series carried the Dodgers to their fifth title in Los Angeles.

He was the oldest of four children born to Orel Hershiser III and Mildred Hershiser. His father owned a business, and the business was printing advertising inserts for newspapers. His business kept the family on the move. Starting in Buffalo, then Detroit, Toronto, Cherry Hill, N.J., and finally back to Detroit. After graduating from Cherry Hill East High School, Orel went to Bowling Green State University. While living in Toronto, he learned to play hockey, and he turned himself into a pretty good defenseman. Bowling Green was good in Hockey and Baseball. Orel leaned towards the diamond.

He was named the outstanding pitcher in 1979 and threw on May 4th of that year, what is still the team’s last complete no-hitter. He went 6-2 in his junior year and was recommended by bird dog scout Mike Trbovich to LA scout Boyd Bartley. He was selected in the 17th round of the free agent draft in June of 1979. Hershiser was sent to Clinton, Iowa, where he went 4-0. But the Dodgers considered him a reliever and not a starter. Over the next four seasons, he toiled in the bullpen in AA, San Antonio, and AAA, Albuquerque. While in San Antonio, he met Jamie Byars, and they were married in 1981 after a short courtship.

He was called up to the Dodgers in September of 1983. He made his debut on Sept 30, pitching two innings of relief to earn a save for Fernando. The Dodgers clinched the West with that win. After the season, Hershiser went to play in the Dominican Republic, where he worked with Dodger pitching coach Dave Wallace. Together they made Hershiser a complete pitcher. “What sets him apart is his intelligence. He comes out knowing what he wants to do. He makes adjustments he has to make and makes them quicker than anyone I have ever seen. He’ll adjust from pitch to pitch. For some pitchers, it takes an inning or two to figure out what they are doing wrong. He’s really broken his pitching down, mechanics, and hitters. He watches and studies and just has a feeling for pitching.” Dave Wallace’s words.

Hershiser made the 1984 team but was relegated to long relief work. Injuries to Jerry Reuss and Rick Honeycutt opened the door for him, and he made his first start on June 29th, where he beat the eventual Cy Young winner, Rick Sutcliffe, 7-1. It was his first complete game in the majors. He struck out 8. During the game, he started a scoreless inning streak that ran to 341/3 innings. It ended on July 24th. Hershiser went 11-8 that year with a 2.88 ERA, eight complete games, and four shutouts. Pretty impressive beginning! But in 1985, Hershiser was better. He went 19-3 with a sparkling 2.03 ERA, nine complete games, and five shutouts. The Dodgers retook the West from the Padres and then faced St. Louis in the NLCS. Hershiser pitched well in game 2, getting the win to put LA up 2-0. But the Cardinals came back and won the series in 6 games. Hershiser was tagged for four runs in that loss.

Over the next two seasons, the Dodgers sank in the standings, and Hershiser was 30-30. It was during this time that Lasorda started calling him “Bulldog.” Tommy did that because he wanted Hershiser to have a tougher mental attitude on the mound. Orel learned a lot about pitching from Lasorda. He would second-guess Orel and ask him, “why did you throw that pitch?” “I learned things like, don’t throw an off-speed pitch to a left-handed hitter with a man on base because he wants to hit it to the right side anyway,” he said.

1988. With a couple of bad seasons behind them, the Dodgers made some massive changes over the winter of 1987. First, on December 11th, they made a 3-team blockbuster trade with the Mets and A’s that sent Bob Welch and Matt Young to the A’s, C Jack Savage to the Mets. They got Alfredo Griffin and Jay Howell from the A’s and Jesse Orosco from the Mets. The A’s sent Kevin Tapani and Wally Whitehurst to the Mets. On Dec 15th, they signed OF Mike Davis as a free agent. On Jan 5, 1988, they signed P Don Sutton. On Jan 9, they signed OF Kirk Gibson, and on March 30, they signed Rick Dempsey. With the main pieces in place, the team headed to Vero, where an incident occurred that basically changed the whole season. Jesse Orosco decided to pull a prank on Gibson and put eye black in his cap. The enraged Gibson stormed off of the field, telling Lasorda, I came here to win. It took a while for Orosco to fess up, but the whole demeanor in the clubhouse changed.

Leading the way on offense was Gibson, who would eventually be named MVP. On the mound, it was Hershiser. He had a season to remember, 23 wins, 8 losses, a Cy Young award, and the longest scoreless inning streak in MLB history. As of today, that streak is now 34 years old. 59 1/3 innings. When he tied Drysdale, he asked Lasorda to pull him from the game out of respect for Big D, but Lasorda and Perranoski persuaded him to go back out. When hearing that he had asked to be taken out of the game, Drysdale replied, “I would have gone out there and kicked him in the butt.” With the division won, the Dodgers headed into the playoffs. They were facing the New York Mets, who absolutely owned them during the regular season to the tune of a 10-1 record. They had a game rained out that did not mean anything in the standings, so it was not replayed. The Mets had a solid rotation of their own with David Cone, Doc Gooden, Ron Darling, and Sid Fernandez. Plus, some pretty good hitters in the likes of Darryl Strawberry, Gary Carter, Kevin McReynolds, Greg Jeffries, and Keith Hernandez. LA was not given much of a chance to beat the Mets.

NY took game one behind Gooden, Hershiser getting a no-decision as Howell got a blown save and the loss. Game 2 went to the Dodgers, 6-3, with Belcher going eight strong innings, Pena getting a save, and Cone only lasting two innings for the Mets. The series headed back to NY for games 3-4-5. In game 4, after having leads of 3-1 and 4-3, the Dodgers lost when Pena gave up the lead in a 5-run Mets 8th inning. Hershiser started and went 7. He gave up three runs, but only one was earned. Meanwhile, Gibson had an awful series. Hobbled by a bad knee. In game 4, Gooden was cruising, and it looked like the Mets were going to go up three games to 1. But in the 9th inning, down 4-2, Mike Scioscia came up with John Shelby on base and hit a 2-run homer with no outs to tie the game. In the top of the 12th inning, Gibson hit a homer off of Roger McDowell. In the bottom of the inning, Tim Leary got one out but allowed two hits. Orosco came in, got an out, but then walked a batter to load the bases. Lasorda called down to the bullpen, and Hershiser came in. With the bases loaded, Hershiser got McReynolds to hit a lazy fly to CF, and the series was tied.

Game 5, Sid Fernandez against Tim Belcher. New York was looking to go up 3-2 in the series, and Fernandez was their choice to pitch the game. He was fine through 3 innings; then in the 4th, Rick Dempsey hit a 2-run double that plated Mike Marshall and John Shelby. Shortly after that, Alfredo Griffin doubled in Dempsey. Now up 3-0, Belcher set the Mets down in the 4th. In the 5th, Sax and Hatcher singled, then Gibson homered off of Fernandez, knocking him out of the game. The Mets retaliated with three off of Belcher in the bottom of the inning. The Mets would close to 6-4 with a run in the 8th, but the Dodgers scored 1 in the ninth, and Brian Holton, who pitched 2/3rds of an inning in the 8th, shut them down for the save. The Dodgers headed home up 3-2, with Tim Leary set to face David Cone. Cone completely shut them down in game 6 for a 5-1 Mets win. Now it was game 7 featuring Hershiser and Ron Darling. The Dodgers scored one run in the first and basically iced the game with a five-run second. Hershiser threw a 5-hit shutout, and the Dodgers waited for the Mighty As to come in for the World Series.

The 1988 World Series had some very dramatic moments. First off, the Dodgers knew going in that they would be without Kirk Gibson. Their heart and soul was out with banged-up knees. He had made a diving catch in the NLCS that caused some damage to his knee. So, his replacement would be a member of the “Stunt Men,” Mickey Hatcher. LA jumped to a 2-0 lead on a 2-run homer by Hatcher. Canseco hit a grand slam in the top of the second. It stayed that way until the 6th inning when Mike Scioscia knocked in Mike Marshall with a single. Meanwhile, Leary, Holton, and Pena kept the A’s off of the board. Then came the bottom of the 9th. The A’s brought in their closer, Dennis Eckersley. Scioscia and Hamilton made outs. Mike Davis, a free agent signing who had a terrible year, pinch-hit for Alfredo Griffing and walked. Suddenly out of the dugout, to tremendous cheers from the Dodger fans, came Kirk Gibson. Gibby dug in, but he looked uncomfortable. He worked the count to 3-2 and fouled a couple off, including a weak dribbler that went foul up the first base line. With the count 3-2, Gibby stepped out for a second; we learned later he was remembering a scouting report on Eckersley he had received that said with two strikes to lefties, Eck liked to throw a backdoor slider. Eck threw the ball, Gibson swung, and the ball sailed into the night and into the right-field pavilion. BEDLAM! The stadium went nuts, and Gibby hobbled around the bases and into Dodger history and lore. Except for game three, when the winning run scored in the bottom of the 9th, the Dodgers never trailed in any of the games. Hershiser shut the A’s out in game 2. They lost game 3, 2-1. Belcher won game 4, his 3rd win in the playoffs, and Hershiser shut the A’s down with a 5-2 win in game five, and the Dodgers were World Champs. Hershiser won the series MVP award. Mickey Hatcher was the hitting star with two homers, one more than he hit during the regular season and a .389 average. The so-called best team in baseball had been shut down by excellent pitching.

For the series, the A’s were held to a .177 average, and the Bash Brothers only hit two homers. LA celebrated with a parade, and all was great in the Dodger universe. It would be 32 more years before they would feel that kind of elation again. By the time that happened, Orel would be a part of the Dodger broadcast team.

1989 was a completely different animal. The changes began after the World Series was over. Griffin, Marshall, Sax, Orosco, and Pena were all free agents. Griffin, Marshall, and Pena re-signed with the team. On Dec 4th, they traded Juan Bell, Brian Holton, and Ken Howell to the Orioles for Eddie Murray. They signed Willie Randolph as a free agent to replace Sax, who signed with the Yankees. In March of 89, they traded Mike Devereaux to the Orioles for Mike Morgan and Gil Reyes to the Expos for Jeff Fischer. In July, with a record of 43-50, they sent Mariano Duncan and Tim Leary to the Red for Lenny Harris and Kal Daniels. Hershiser would finish with a 15-15 record for a 4th-place team. LA went 77-83.

1990 would be a lost year for Orel. After four starts, he felt stiffness in his right shoulder. They found tears in the tissue that looked like they had been pounded with a hammer. The blame was placed on his heavy workload. Dr. Frank Jobe did reconstructive surgery. There was no set timetable for his return. It would be May of 1991 before he made his next start. After going 1-1 in 90, he posted a 7-2 mark in 91. In 92, he was 10-15, leading the NL in losses. But he pitched 210.2 innings. He had a losing record again, 12-14 in 93. He was 6-6 when the players walked out in 94. After it was settled, he was a free agent. The Dodgers told him they were not going to sign him as they were going in a different direction. He thought they were kidding and told them so. “You have not seen the off-season workouts, I can still pitch,” he said. They wanted him to retire and join the organization. They said the only way they would sign him was if he gave them a hometown discount. They offered under a million dollars. Little did Orel know that they had signed Hideo Nomo out of Japan and did not have the money to sign him. The Cleveland Indians did not outbid anyone for his services, but they offered him the best chance of winning.

Orel signed a two-year contract with the Indians to pitch in a rotation that included Dennis Martinez, Charles Nagy, and Bud Black. The Indians pounded their opposition, winning 100 games and making the playoffs for the first time since 1954. Hershiser went 16-6 with a 3.67 ERA. From July until the end of the season, he was 11-2. He not only won, but he also led by example, and his game savvy was praised by many of the younger Indian pitchers. His excellence continued in the playoffs, garnering a win in the ALDS against the Red Sox and two wins in the ALCS against the Mariners. He won MVP honors in that series. He went 1-1 in the World Series as the Braves beat the Indians in 6 games. Orel was again solid in 1996, winning 15 and losing 9. The Indians won the AL Central title but did not advance to the series. They won the title again in 97, this time making it to the Series. Hershiser posted a 14-6 record. But the Marlins tagged him for two losses in the series and a bloated 11.70 ERA.

A free agent once more, he returned to the senior circuit and signed with the Giants. The Giants finished second to the Padres and six games in front of the Dodgers. Orel was 11-10 with a 4.47 ERA. He was now 39 years old. He was a free agent again, and this time he signed with the New York Mets. He went 13-12, winning in double figures for the 13th time in his career. After the season, the 41-year-old was a free agent again. This time, he went home. He signed a one-year deal with the Dodgers. But his glory days were way behind him. He was 1-5 and was waived in June. He decided it was time to retire. Hershiser finished with a 204-150 record, 3.48 ERA, and 2014 K’s. He posted records of 1-0 in the LDS, 4-0 in the LCS, and 3-3 in the World Series.

In retirement, he worked for ESPN as an analyst, then was the pitching coach of the Texas Rangers for a while. He returned to ESPN and was part of their little league World Series crew. In 2013 he went to work for the Dodgers and Sportsnet LA as an analyst, a job he still does today. Hershiser and his wife Jamie divorced in 2005. They have two sons, Orel Leonard V, known as Quinton and Jordan. Jordan was drafted by the Dodgers in the 2012 draft. Hershiser has also played professional poker and won a few tournaments. He married Dana Deaver in 2010 and live in Las Vegas with her two children. He is a very active Christian. Hershiser told the story of going to the White House after the 88 series with his wife, Jamie. They had been invited to a White House state dinner honoring Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister. Among the guests were Henry Kissinger, Tom Selleck, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Orel was telling Selleck that he and Jamie were feeling like Cinderella at the ball, and if they did not hurry up, the limo was going to turn into a pumpkin. When the limo pulled up, a young Marine opened the door, and Orel helped Jamie in. He then walked around to the other side, where another young Marine held the door for him. ” Now, this Marine is like me, about my age. But he is standing there staunch and straight with his chin tucked in like I am some head of state. So I decided to make a joke out of it; I put my hand in my pocket, pulled it out, and said, sorry, I do not have any singles. The guy never cracked a smile; he just said, “That’ll be all Cy Young.” Yes, 1988, was a very good and magical year for Orel and every Dodger fan!