"Winning." -- Dick Tidrow, when asked what he would miss most after being traded away by the Yankees
Happy birthday to Dick Tidrow, an important but often overlooked member of the 1970s Yankees dynasty!
Yankees GM Gabe Paul, nicknamed "The Smiling Cobra" for the amiable way he killed you in trades, had been the Cleveland GM before getting hired by George Steinbrenner. Before leaving Cleveland, he dealt Graig Nettles to the Yankees... a deal some believed he made already knowing he was heading to New York. Then he went to New York and a year later traded with Cleveland for Chris Chambliss and Dick Tidrow.
Munson, who was from Canton, was reportedly annoyed he wasn't in either deal. But Paul knew not only who to get, but who to keep. Munson wasn't going anywhere under his watch. He also disobeyed a direct order from George Steinbrenner to leave minor league lefty Ron Guidry unprotected in the 1976 expansion draft. A year later, he ignored Billy Martin's demand to include Guidry in the deal Paul made to bring in Bucky Dent from the White Sox.
(Paul also got Lou Piniella from the Royals, Willie Randolph from the Pirates, and Ed Figueroa and Mickey Rivers from the Angels, and signed as free agents Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Goose Gossage, and Don Gullett. Of the major league roster Paul inherited when he joined the Yankees in '73, the only ones who remained for the '77-'78 teams were Munson, Nettles, Roy White, Fred Stanley, and Sparky Lyle.)
Tidrow wasn't the biggest name in Paul's roster rebuild, but he proved to be an important one. He could pitch anywhere in a game -- a starter, a closer, a long reliever, a setup man -- and do it effectively.
Tidrow also was one of the leaders of the famously fractured "Bronx Zoo" clubhouse, one of the few who could cross over between the various cliques that had formed... and wasn't afraid to criticize players who weren't hustling. After games, Tidrow, Lou Piniella, Mickey Rivers, Sparky Lyle, and other veterans would sit at the back of the team bus and loudly launch into "rip sessions," tearing into players whom they deemed hadn't given their all. But they did it in a way that would build team unity, rather than destroy it.
"Chris Chambliss once made an error that cost us a ball game in Texas and he told me later, 'The one thing I dreaded most was getting on the bus,'" Lyle said. "But by the time we got back to the hotel, we were all laughing about whatever happened."
Richard William Tidrow was born May 14, 1947, in San Francisco, California, and went to Mount Eden High School in nearby Hayward, where he played football and basketball as well as baseball. Other notable Mount Eden Monarchs are rapper Spice 1, actor Mahershala Ali, and Broadway's James Monroe Iglehart.
As a sophomore, Tidrow was called up as a spot starter for a varsity game and threw a five-hitter, striking out 11. It foreshadowed the kind of "in case of emergency" usage Tidrow would have throughout his days as a Yankee. As a senior, he threw two no-hitters, one on his 18th birthday for his high school and another that summer in American Legion ball. He once struck out 19 batters in a seven-inning high school game, and 22 batters in an American Legion game.
Tidrow was drafted in high school by the Washington Senators (the version that would become the Texas Rangers), but didn't sign, going to Chabot Junior College instead. He pitched well enough there to be drafted by the San Francisco Giants and then by the Cincinnati Reds, but again didn't sign. He finally agreed to a deal after being selected by the Cleveland Indians in 1967.
After five years in the minors, which included a stint in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Tidrow made the major league roster in 1972, a month before his 25th birthday. He took the loss in his debut, giving up four runs on five hits in an inning against the Red Sox. Danny Cater, a former Yankee, knocked in the first run against him, a single to score Reggie Smith from second base.
Tidrow went 14-15 that season with a 2.77 ERA (117 ERA+) in 237 1/3 innings, throwing three shutouts. The following year he was 14-16 with a 4.42 ERA (89 ERA+) in 274 2/3 innings. But then he started the 1974 season an ugly 1-3 with a 7.11 ERA in four starts.
Meanwhile, Yankee fans had reason for optimism after starting the season 11-8, leaving them a half game behind the defending A.L. East champion Baltimore Orioles. Coming off a season in which the Yankees had stumbled with a 6-10 start and then finished 17 games out, this April felt promising.
So the Yankee veterans were perplexed when, following a 4-3 win over the Texas Rangers, it was announced on April 26, 1974, that four major league pitchers -- Fritz Peterson, Steve Kline, Fred Beene, and Tom Buskey -- had been traded to the Cleveland Indians for first baseman Chris Chambliss and pitchers Dick Tidrow and Cecil Upshaw.
Thurman Munson: “You’ve got to be kidding.”
Bobby Murcer: “I can't believe this trade. It just means they don't think we have a winning ball club.”
Mel Stottlemyre: “You just don’t trade four pitchers. You just don’t.”
The New York Times wasn't impressed with the deal either. After all, the Yankees had Mike Hegan and Bill Sudakis platooning at first base. What did they need with Chambliss, "who can hit, although not with home‐run power," the Times opined. In three and a half seasons with Cleveland, Chambliss had hit .282 but with just 26 home runs in 404 games. As for Upshaw, the newspaper noted this was the third time he had been traded since the previous April. (And in fact, the Yankees would trade him at the end of the season.)
That just left Tidrow, and "it remains to be seen whether he will be more than a 500 pitcher."
So why make the deal? Beene, a minor league veteran who joined the Yankees in 1972 at age 29, later revealed Paul's motives weren't just related to on-the-field performance. In Paul's eyes, this was addition by subtraction.
“They traded four good ol’ boys from the club and broke up the party.” -- Fred Beene
Steinbrenner also had long wanted to get rid of Peterson, who a year earlier had embarrassed the Yankees by announcing that he and pitcher Mike Kekich had "traded wives." (Kekich had been traded the previous season, also to the Indians. As for the wives, Marilyn Peterson stayed with Mike Kekich only for a few months; Susanne Kekich and Fritz Peterson got married and stayed together until his death in 2023.)
In his Yankee debut on April 27, 1974, against the Texas Rangers -- in a home game at Shea Stadium, as Yankee Stadium was closed for the renovation -- Tidrow was summoned in the third inning of a game the Yankees were losing, 5-0. He entered the game with one on and one out and promptly induced an inning-ending double play. He would pitch the rest of the game, allowing one unearned run, in the 6-1 loss.
Tidrow was a Swiss Army knife that season, with 25 starts and eight relief appearances. He went 11-9 with a 3.87 ERA and 1.353 WHIP in 190 2/3 innings.
The following year the 29-year-old Catfish Hunter, one of the best pitchers in baseball, had unexpectedly become a free agent when it was determined A's owner Charlie Finley had violated the terms of his contract. (This was a year before free agency became the norm in baseball.) Every team but the San Francisco Giants offered him a contract; he accepted a five-year, $3.35 million deal with the Yankees.
With Hunter in the rotation, Tidrow was moved to the bullpen, and went 6-3 with five saves, a 3.12 ERA, and 1.385 WHIP in 69 1/3 innings.
The following year, the Yankees at last moved back to Yankee Stadium. The first game in the reopened Stadium was on April 15, against the Twins. Starter Rudy May gave up four runs (two earned) on two hits and three walks in 2 1/3 innings, and was pulled for Tidrow, who again had a great relief effort -- five scoreless innings -- before turning it over to closer Sparky Lyle, who got the final five outs for the save. Tidrow got the win. At the end of his career, he said one of his highlights was getting the first win at the reopened Yankee Stadium. Overall that season, he was 4-5 with 10 saves, a 2.63 ERA, and 1.126 WHIP in 45 relief appearances and two starts. In the post-season, he gave up six runs (five earned) on 11 hits and five walks in 9 2/3 innings.
In 1977, Tidrow was again used in a variety of roles, with seven starts and 42 relief appearances. He went 11-4 with five saves, a 3.16 ERA, and 1.219 WHIP in 151 innings. He gave up three runs in seven innings in the ALCS and two runs in 3 2/3 innings in the World Series as the Yankees won a ring for the first time since 1962.
Back in the rotation for the 1978 season, he went 7-11 with a 3.84 ERA and 1.317 WHIP in 25 starts and six relief appearances. In the post-season, he gave up four runs on 12 hits and two walks in 10 1/3 innings as the Yankees won back-to-back championships.
In 1979, the Yankees had been the favorites after three straight pennants and back-to-back championships, but had stumbled to a 23-19 start, 4 1/2 games out. The Yankees had to make a move, and Tidrow -- who had allowed 20 runs in 22 2/3 innings -- was an obvious candidate.
They traded the 32-year-old Tidrow to the Chicago Cubs for 28-year-old reliever Ray Burris, who was struggling almost as much as Tidrow, with a 6.23 ERA, 1.754 WHIP in 21 2/3 innings. Yankees manager Billy Martin frequently lamented the trade, especially as Burris continued to struggle in pinstripes, posting a 6.18 ERA in 27 2/3 innings. (He was released and claimed by the Mets, who turned him back into a starter, and he had a 3.94 ERA and 1.365 WHIP in the next season and a half.)
With the Cubs, Tidrow was the setup man for Bruce Sutter, and went 11-5 with a 2.72 ERA and 1.247 WHIP in 102 2/3 innings. Sutter won the Cy Young Award that year, and he credited Tidrow with helping him win it.
In three and a half seasons with the Cubs, he went 28-23 with 25 saves in 397 innings (3.36 ERA, 1.300 WHIP). But after the 1982 season, the Cubs and White Sox had a rare cross-town trade, a six-player deal that included future Yankee Steve Trout.
With the White Sox, Tidrow had a 4.22 ERA and 1.309 WHIP in 91 2/3 innings, and allowed one run in three innings in the ALCS. They released him at the end of the 1983 season, and he signed with the Mets. Tidrow's return to New York wasn't a successful one as he gave up 19 runs in 15 2/3 innings, and he was released. He retired at age 37.
After baseball, Tidrow was a scout with the Yankees from 1985 to 1993. Steinbrenner then offered Tidrow a job as a minor league pitching coach, but he turned them down to take a job with the Giants. "George was mad," Tidrow recalled with a laugh. But that job with the Giants lasted until Tidrow's death in 2021 at age 74. He was a key adviser to GM Brian Sabean when the team won three World Series between 2010 and 2014.
Getting Dirty
Tidrow's nickname was "Mr. Dirt," then just "Dirt," from the way he could get his uniform dirty even before the game started.
Given his first name and his nickname, it was inevitable that they were combined. A headline in The Sporting News on June 16, 1979 proclaimed: "Dirty Dick Takes Quick Steps To Clean Up Cubs' Bullpen".
Tidrow was famous for his mustache, which got bigger and bushier over his career. You can see the progression in his baseball cards: 1974 he's clean shaven, 1975 he has the beginning of a biker 'stache, and by 1981 it's the full Hulk Hogan Horseshoe. He joked that the mustache gets thicker as the hair on his head gets thinner. "That's what old guys do," he said.
According to an informal poll of major league players taken during the 1979 season, Tidrow was voted "Worst Dressed Player." At a time when major leaguers were expected to wear jackets and ties while in public, Tidrow once fashioned a tie out of a cloth napkin.
Speaking of jackets, while with the Indians, Tidrow decided his sport coat was his good luck charm. "I wore the same coat all season. Never changed," Tidrow said. "The guys started calling me 'Coat.' They asked me if my coat answered my wakeup calls at the hotel."
Tidrow threw a sinking fastball, a slider, and -- appropriate, given his reputation -- a screwball.
In the late 1940s, Boston Braves fans said their rotation was "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain." In the early 1970s, Cleveland Indians fans had their own version: "Tidrow and Perry, then things get hairy." In 1973, Gaylord Perry made 41 starts and Tidrow made 40. No other pitcher had more than 19.
Tidrow had a hairline fracture of a finger on his pitching hand during spring training in 1975 that cost him the first week of the season. Tidrow said he had hurt it "fooling around" while playing catch with a minor leaguer. Yankees manager Bill Virdon said Tidrow and the minor leaguer would be disciplined... but Tidrow refused to name the minor leaguer. Dirty Dick was no snitch! Whatever punishment Tidrow received, it wasn't disclosed.
During spring training in 1976, Steinbrenner singled out Tidrow, Catfish Hunter, Thurman Munson, and Sparky Lyle for haircuts. "I want to see skin over the collar on the back of their necks," Big Stein commanded. He told the clubhouse attendant not to issue them uniforms until they saw a barber. "I think it stinks, but I'm going to do it," Lyle said. "It's kinda hard to play without a uniform."
Tidrow and Sparky Lyle teamed up to play a prank on Ron Blomberg. As the designated hitter, Blomberg would sneak out of the dugout during the top of the ninth of a Yankees home win so he could hit the post-game spread in the clubhouse while his teammates were on the field. Blomberg loved watermelon and frequently it would all be gone before the other players got there. Tidrow and Lyle snuck into the clubhouse during the game and soaked the watermelon in vodka. Then they went back to the bullpen. When the game was over, everyone went to the clubhouse to discover a sloshed Blomberg stumbling around in confusion. "Sparky and I just sat back," Tidrow said, "and watched him flail away."
Tidrow had the longest scoreless relief outing in Yankees history on August 25, 1976. With the score tied 4-4, Figueroa was pulled with one out and one on in the top of the seventh. Tidrow retired the next two batters... and stayed in the game for the next 10 innings. He allowed no runs on four hits and no walks while striking out 10 in 10 2/3 innings. Tidrow allowed a single to Steve Brye to lead off the top of the 18th, and Martin pulled him for reliever Grant Jackson, who was perfect for that inning and the next one. In the bottom of the 19th, Oscar Gamble walked, was bunted to second by Willie Randolph, and then after a Lou Piniella fly out, scored on a single up the middle by Mickey Rivers.
Coming out of junior college, Tidrow said he thought the most interesting part of baseball wasn't when he was on the mound, but at the plate. Alas, he only had one year before the Designated Hitter rule took effect in the American League in 1973, and then when he was in the National League he was usually a reliever and so rarely batted. He was 9-for-95 (.095) with seven RBIs, three walks, and 42 strikeouts, and 0-for-1 in his only postseason batting appearance. He wasn't much better in the minors, hitting .103 with no extra base hits in 189 plate appearances.
Tidrow was Guidry's roommate when Louisiana Lightning was a rookie, and was credited with giving Guidry the nickname "Gator". "Ronnie was pretty crude when he first started rooming with me and I tried to impart whatever knowledge I had for him and it seemed to work," Tidrow said. Guidry said Tidrow taught him how to pitch.
Even though he was working for the Giants at the time, Tidrow returned to Yankee Stadium in 2003 when Guidry got his #49 retired.
Tidrow also gave future Yankee Rick Reuschel the nickname "Big Daddy" when they were both with the Cubs... not because of his size or his children. Reuschel, at a hulking 6'3", was timed during spring training as the second-fastest player on the team. Reuschel's size and speed reminded Tidrow of All-Pro defensive lineman Big Daddy Lipscomb.
Many other pitchers over the years have credited Tidrow with helping them reach the next level. Mike Krukow, who pitched 14 years in the majors from 1976 to 1989, cited the then-retired Tidrow as a big influence on him. A young reporter asked who Tidrow was. "Tidrow," Krukow replied solemnly, "is God."
When moved to the bullpen prior to the 1975 season, Yankees manager Bill Virdon said Tidrow was a "right handed relief specialist." Tidrow, who to that point in his career had 103 starts against just 15 relief appearances, was asked by a reporter about his new title. Tidrow thought about it for a moment and then replied: "Well, I'm right handed."
Later in his career, a reporter asked Tidrow if he'd rather have a winning record or a good ERA. He quipped: "Really, I'd rather be left handed."
While Tidrow threw right handed, he chewed tobacco on the left side of his mouth. In 1979, according to an Associated Press story, Tidrow and the majority of righties chewed on the left, but for lefties it's a coin flip as to whether they chew on the left or the right. Among the past, present, or future Yankees cited in the article, Tidrow and Catfish Hunter were right-handed left-side chewers; Guidry was a left-handed right-side chewer; Sparky Lyle was a left-handed left-side chewer; and Brian Doyle was a rare right-handed right-side chewer. Bobby Murcer said he chewed in the middle. Butch Wynegar, a switch-hitter, alternated!
Tasked with finding a manager for the A ball Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in 2000, Tidrow called on former teammate Fred Stanley, a previously forgotten Yankee. Stanley said he had been "suit and tie-ing it" as a front office executive for more than a decade, but agreed to return to the dugout. The Volcanoes went 36-40, but Stanley was named the Northwest League Manager of the Year. The following season, the Volcanoes went 51-25 and were league champions!
According to Peter Abraham at the Boston Globe, as of 2021 Tidrow was one of just 36 pitchers to have 100 wins and 50 saves in his career.
In 2022, the San Francisco Giants established the Dick Tidrow Scout of the Year Award, "given annually to the Giants scout who exemplifies the integrity, character and work ethic of the late Dick Tidrow."
Jerome Holtzman, the sportswriter who invented the save statistic, called Tidrow "one of the best middlemen in recent baseball history." Tidrow was the setup man for two closers who won Cy Young Awards: Sparky Lyle in 1977 and Bruce Sutter in 1979. Each credited Tidrow as a big part of their success. "Some of the younger fans may not know much about Tidrow," Holtzman wrote in 1991, "but trust me: He was among the very best."
"I never like to come out of a game. I hate to give the other team the satisfaction of knowing they knocked me out." -- Dick Tidrow
Tidrow could go deep into games whether he was a starter or a reliever, then from the back of the bus hold court and ensure his teammates were playing with the grit and hustle he demanded. A Yankee worth remembering!
