Tom Waddell (baseball)

Thomas David Waddell (born September 17, 1957) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. One of only eight Scotland natives to ever be a major league ballplayer, he pitched for the Cleveland Indians from 1984 to 1985, and again in 1987.

Waddell grew up in Closter, New Jersey.^[1]

The right-hander was signed by the Atlanta Braves as an amateur free agent out of Manhattan College in 1981. After three seasons in their farm system, he was drafted by the Indians in the 1983 rule 5 draft. He made his major league debut on April 15, 1984 against the Baltimore Orioles, facing only two batters and giving up a game tying sacrifice fly and a single.^[2] For the season, Waddell went 7–4 with a 3.06 earned run average, 59 strikeouts and six saves in 58 appearances for the Indians, setting a club record for relief appearances by a rookie.

In 1985, Waddell was 4–5 with a 3.88 ERA and nine saves out of the tribe's bullpen when Cleveland manager Pat Corrales converted him into a starter. In his first major league start, Waddell pitched six plus innings to earn the win over Ron Guidry and the New York Yankees.^[3] For the season, he made nine starts, including a 7-hit complete game win over Dave Stieb and the Toronto Blue Jays on August 19.^[4]

Waddell had shoulder surgery in September 1985 and made only three rehab appearances for Cleveland's triple A affiliate in 1986. He was unsuccessful in a brief 1987 comeback bid, going 0–1 with a 14.29 ERA in six games with the Indians. He signed a minor league contract with the Montreal Expos in 1988, and went 3–2 with a 2.95 ERA splitting the season between their double and triple A affiliates. He split the 1989 season between the Expos' and Milwaukee Brewers' farm system before retiring.

References

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet, or Baseball Almanac, or Sports Illustrated