Bob Welch, baseball player, 1978-1994

Bob Welch

Born: 11/3/1956 in Detroit, MI, USA

Died: 6/9/2014 in Seal Beach, CA, USA

MLB Debut: 1978-06-20 | Final Game: 1994-08-11

Bats: R | Throws: R | Height: 6'3" | Weight: 190 lbs

Full name: Robert Lynn Welch

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Biography

Bob Welch was a prominent pitcher in Major League Baseball, whose career spanned from 1978 to 1994. Born in 1956, he made a significant impact on the game during his time, finishing with a career record of 211 wins and 146 losses. His earned run average (ERA) stood at 3.47, showcasing his ability to limit scoring opportunities for opposing teams. Welch was known for his impressive strikeout capability, amassing a total of 1,969 strikeouts throughout his career. Additionally, he contributed to his teams with 8 saves, demonstrating versatility in his pitching role. Welch was a two-time All-Star and garnered further acclaim by winning the prestigious Cy Young Award, solidifying his status as one of the elite pitchers of his era. His playing style was characterized by a fierce competitiveness and a repertoire that included a powerful fastball and an effective slider. Welch's career coincided with a transition period in baseball, marked by the increasing emphasis on power hitting and offensive production. As a result, his accomplishments on the mound were particularly noteworthy during an era that challenged pitchers with evolving batting techniques. Bob Welch remains a respected figure in baseball history, remembered for his contributions to the game and his standing as a successful starting pitcher.

Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
211 146 506 462 61 28 8 3092.0 2894 1191 267 1034 1969 3.47 0

Career ERA 3.47 vs. league average 3.91 across their career seasons — 11.3% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1978 LAD NL 7 4 23 13 4 3 3 111.3 92 25 26 66 2.02 3.69 (+45%) -
1979 LAD NL 5 6 25 12 1 0 5 81.3 82 36 32 64 3.98 4.00 (avg) -
1980 LAD NL 14 9 32 32 3 2 0 213.7 190 78 79 141 3.29 3.84 (+14%) -
1981 LAD NL 9 5 23 23 2 1 0 141.3 141 54 41 88 3.44 3.58 (+4%) -
1982 LAD NL 16 11 36 36 9 3 0 235.7 199 88 81 176 3.36 3.86 (+13%) -
1983 LAD NL 15 12 31 31 4 3 0 204.0 164 60 72 156 2.65 3.87 (+32%) -
1984 LAD NL 13 13 31 29 3 1 0 178.7 191 75 58 126 3.78 3.81 (+1%) -
1985 LAD NL 14 4 23 23 8 3 0 167.3 141 43 35 96 2.31 3.89 (+41%) -
1986 LAD NL 7 13 33 33 7 3 0 235.7 227 86 55 183 3.28 3.97 (+17%) -
1987 LAD NL 15 9 35 35 6 4 0 251.7 204 90 86 196 3.22 4.29 (+25%) -
1988 OAK AL 17 9 36 36 4 2 0 244.7 237 99 81 158 3.64 3.73 (+2%) -183.4
1989 OAK AL 17 8 33 33 1 0 0 209.7 191 70 78 137 3.00 3.71 (+19%) 1347.1
1990 OAK AL 27 6 35 35 2 2 0 238.0 214 78 77 127 2.95 3.86 (+24%) -2081.9
1991 OAK AL 12 13 35 35 7 1 0 220.0 220 112 91 101 4.58 3.91 (-17%) -5142.4
1992 OAK AL 11 7 20 20 0 0 0 123.7 114 45 43 47 3.27 3.75 (+13%) -2332.7
1993 OAK AL 9 11 30 28 0 0 0 166.7 208 98 56 63 5.29 4.19 (-26%) -4851.4
1994 OAK AL 3 6 25 8 0 0 0 68.7 79 54 43 44 7.08 4.51 (-57%) -2007.9

Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
520 582 26 88 7 1 2 30 0 22 171 0.151 0.186 0.177 0.363 -4236.7

Career AVG .151 vs. league average .260 across their career seasons — 41.8% below league average.

Career OBP .186 vs. league average .325 across their career seasons — 43.0% below league average.

Career SLG .177 vs. league average .390 across their career seasons — 54.6% below league average.

Career OPS 0.363 vs. league average 0.715 across their career seasons — 49.3% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1978 LAD NL 23 29 3 5 1 0 0 1 0 0 7 0.172 — — — — 0.0
1979 LAD NL 25 19 1 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 6 0.158 — — — — 0.0
1980 LAD NL 34 70 1 17 3 0 0 3 0 1 13 0.243 .264 (-8%) .326 (-22%) .387 (-26%) .714 (-24%) -291.9
1981 LAD NL 23 45 3 10 0 1 0 2 0 1 16 0.222 — — — — 0.0
1982 LAD NL 38 85 5 12 1 0 0 3 0 3 32 0.141 .261 (-46%) .324 (-49%) .388 (-61%) .712 (-55%) -809.6
1983 LAD NL 31 73 2 7 1 0 1 2 0 1 22 0.096 .260 (-63%) .324 (-63%) .389 (-61%) .714 (-62%) -758.6
1984 LAD NL 32 51 0 4 0 0 0 3 0 2 15 0.078 .259 (-70%) .322 (-65%) .384 (-80%) .707 (-73%) -611.7
1985 LAD NL 25 50 4 9 1 0 0 4 0 3 13 0.180 .257 (-30%) .323 (-30%) .390 (-49%) .714 (-40%) -326.7
1986 LAD NL 35 76 2 8 0 0 1 4 0 4 23 0.105 .257 (-59%) .325 (-51%) .395 (-63%) .720 (-58%) -739.1
1987 LAD NL 38 83 5 13 0 0 0 5 0 7 24 0.157 .262 (-40%) .331 (-33%) .415 (-62%) .746 (-49%) -699.0
1988 OAK AL 36 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1989 OAK AL 33 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1990 OAK AL 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1991 OAK AL 36 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1992 OAK AL 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1993 OAK AL 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1994 OAK AL 26 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 — — — — 0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
17 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1992 ALCS OAK 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1990 ALCS OAK 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1990 WS OAK 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.000
1989 ALCS OAK 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1988 ALCS OAK 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1988 WS OAK 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1985 NLCS LAN 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000
1983 NLCS LAN 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1981 NLCS LAN 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1981 NWDIV LAN 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1981 WS LAN 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1978 NLCS LAN 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000
1978 WS LAN 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
3 3 17 9 2 49.3 58 25 24 41 4.56

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1992 ALCS OAK 0 0 1 1 0 7.0 7 2 1 7 2.57
1990 ALCS OAK 1 0 1 1 0 7.3 6 1 3 4 1.23
1990 WS OAK 0 0 1 1 0 7.3 9 4 2 2 4.91
1989 ALCS OAK 1 0 1 1 0 5.7 8 2 1 4 3.18
1988 ALCS OAK 0 0 1 1 0 1.7 6 5 2 0 27.00
1988 WS OAK 0 0 1 1 0 5.0 6 1 3 8 1.80
1985 NLCS LAN 0 1 1 1 0 2.7 5 2 6 2 6.75
1983 NLCS LAN 0 1 1 1 0 1.3 0 1 2 0 6.75
1981 NLCS LAN 0 0 3 0 1 1.7 2 1 0 2 5.40
1981 NWDIV LAN 0 0 1 0 0 1.0 0 0 1 1 0.00
1981 WS LAN 0 0 1 1 0 0.0 3 2 1 0 0.00
1978 NLCS LAN 1 0 1 0 0 4.3 2 1 0 5 2.08
1978 WS LAN 0 1 3 0 1 4.3 4 3 2 6 6.23

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
OF 1 0 0 0 0 0
P 506 462 243 394 26 30

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1978 LAN P 23 13 6 12 1 0
1979 LAN P 25 12 2 8 3 3
1980 LAN P 32 32 15 26 1 3
1981 LAN P 23 23 4 18 0 1
1982 LAN OF 1 0 0 0 0 0
1982 LAN P 36 36 19 26 2 0
1983 LAN P 31 31 14 27 3 1
1984 LAN P 31 29 20 28 2 5
1985 LAN P 23 23 15 27 3 1
1986 LAN P 33 33 21 26 2 2
1987 LAN P 35 35 25 38 0 3
1988 OAK P 36 36 16 32 1 2
1989 OAK P 33 33 26 21 4 3
1990 OAK P 35 35 20 31 0 2
1991 OAK P 35 35 15 29 2 1
1992 OAK P 20 20 5 13 1 1
1993 OAK P 30 28 16 26 0 2
1994 OAK P 25 8 4 6 1 0

Career Games by Position

Position Games
Pitcher 506
Left Field 1
Right Field 1

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1990 Cy Young Award
1990 TSN All-Star RHP
1990 TSN Pitcher of the Year
1989 Player of the Week Week of 1989-08-25
1980 Player of the Week Week of 1980-05-16

Salary History

Year Team League Salary
1994 OAK AL $3,450,000
1993 OAK AL $3,450,000
1992 OAK AL $3,450,000
1991 OAK AL $3,450,000
1990 OAK AL $1,133,334
1989 OAK AL $1,208,333
1988 OAK AL $937,500
1987 LAN NL $837,500
1986 LAN NL $743,750
1985 LAN NL $643,750
Total Career Earnings $19,304,167

College History

School Name City State Years Attended
Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti MI 1975, 1976, 1977

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1990 Cy Young Award AL 1st 107.0 140 15
1990 Most Valuable Player AL 9th 54.0 392 0
1987 Cy Young Award NL 8th 3.0 120 0
1983 Cy Young Award NL 8th 2.0 120 0