100 Greatest Phillies: 48 – Steve Bedrosian

Steve Bedrosian
Relief Pitcher
1986-1989

Career w/Phillies: 287.1 IP / 21-18 / 103 SV / 3.28 ERA / 241 K

Steve Bedrosian came to the Phillies in 1986, when the Phillies traded Pete Smith and Ozzie Virgil to Atlanta for the 28-year-old late-innings reliever. He was erroneously converted to the rotation in 1985, and thinking he was a lost cause, the screaming Indians traded him, getting Virgil as their starting catcher (coming off an All-Star season). Bedrosian didn’t disappoint in Philadelphia, being one of the better closers in baseball for a surprisingly good 1986 team. In 1987, however, he was the best closer in the game, winning the NL Cy Young with a 40-save, 2.83 ERA season (to be fair, it wasn’t a particularly strong pitching year in the National League). He suffered a little in 1988 but still finished fourth in league saves. He was traded to San Francisco despite a solid start to 1989. The Phillies got Terry Mulholland, Charlie Hayes and Dennis Cook in return, beginning a run of moves that would lead the Phils to the 1993 pennant.

Comment: Bed. Rock. Everyone affiliates him with Atlanta, but his best years were clearly with the Phillies. He was an igniter for that ’86 team that gave the Mets a run for about a minute, finishing in second place 21.5 games behind. His ’87 season remains the most one of the most obscure Cy Young seasons ever played.

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Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.

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