MLB history: Forgotten stars of the current NL West teams

Forgotten MLB stars of the current NL West teams: Ed Whitson, Padres

Yeah, right, Ed Whitson is likely now recalled as the guy (among many) who once fought Billy Martin, and broke his arm. Not all that many broke one of Billy’s arms, of course, but with certainty, Billy fought many.

Still, Whitson, a colorful MLB character, was arguably, briefly, a star.

Let’s go to the bottom line for the right-handed fastball thrower: He went 126-123 in his career. That’s an interesting career overall, quite a number of decisions.

The greatest success Whitson enjoyed, though, came almost exclusively in San Diego. Playing for five different teams, he had winning records only seven of the 15 seasons he played, including one year he only pitched in five games. Four of the remaining winning campaigns were with the Padres.

The first of those occurred in the first of only two seasons the Padres have been to the World Series, in 1984. That year Whitson went 14-8 with a 3.24 ERA and a 1.180 WHIP, one of only three seasons his WHIP dipped below 1.200.

The right-hander had three games that season in which he gave up no earned runs and eight in which only opponents got only one off him. The Padres won all but one of those eleven games and won the NL West by twelve full games.

In game three of the NLCS, Whitson then stopped the Cubs after Chicago had won the first two games.

Unfortunately, the hurler lasted only 17 pitches against the favored Tigers in game two of the World Series, and after San Diego ultimately lost, he signed with the Yankees as a free agent.

Whitson spent a tumultuous year and a half in the Bronx and on the road with the Bombers. The fight with Martin occurred at a hotel in Baltimore in September, and apparently resulted from Martin scratching the pitcher from a start two days earlier, then lying to the press about him having trouble with his arm.

Despite a winning record for the Yankees, he seemed a particular annoyance to New York fans, and at one point his wife stopped coming to his games.

After a particularly bad start to ’85, and pitching only on the road, Whitson was traded back to the Padres for Tim Stoddard.

And he became his old San Diego self, starting at least 32 games in four of his five last MLB years, posting winning records in ’88, ’89 and ’90, and booking the only two sub-3 ERA campaigns of his career.

In his age-34 season with the Fathers, he had his career-best WHIP, 1.084.

Ed Whitson’s last MLB appearances resulted from a torn ligament in his throwing elbow in 1991. It’s a pretty sure bet that when he cleaned up his weight-room gear, he didn’t find any “I Love NY” t-shirts.