RIP: Rod Beck

Before the awfulness of Armando Benitez....

Before the chaos of emergency closers like Tim Worrell, Matt Herges, and Dustin Hermanson...

Before the Nenth Inning was ever imagined....

And after the awfulness of Jeff Brantley...

There was Rod Beck.

Unfortunately Rod Beck passed away while I was away this weekend. He made his debut with the Giants in 1991, but he did not enter my mind until one night in 1992.

1992 was an awful year for the Giants. Roger Craig, the man who had guided the Giants out of the misery of its 100 loss season in 1985 to the World Series in 1989, was starting to show his age. The team was in a funk that would see it lose 90 games. The team just felt lifeless.

That lifelessness was apparent one night in the middle of the summer. It had to be a Friday night. I cannot remember (without going to my parent's house and finding my old score cards) and the Giants were in a, surprisingly, close game.

Anyways, as I recall, Beck was brought into the game in the seventh inning with runners on. I had not seen him pitch before, and was lukewarm on him (sometimes it seemed like he was good, but then sometimes, as happened often in 1992 campaign, he did not seem so good). He came into the game and just started to mow down the oppositions batters. He looked like he should be dressed in a Hell's Angels jacket and riding a Harley instead of taking the mound. When he stared in to get the sign, with his arm dangling from his side as if it was just something hanging by a hook on his shoulder, Beck looked fierce.

He finished out the seventh and took the mound to start the eighth. Then, for some inexplicable reason, the manager paid a visit to the mound after Beck had gotten the first out in the inning and called for a new pitcher. Jeff Brantley came trotting out as Beck stood there on the mound, clearly arguing with Craig saying that he wanted to stay in the game and finish it out.

In the end, Craig won out, and Beck stomped off towards the dugout. When he got about half-way there, he hurled his glove into the dugout. Out of all the people on that field at the 'Stick that night, he might have been the only one getting paid by the Giants organization who was fighting to stay in the game.

And that sort of set the tone for what I got to see over the next five seasons that he played with the Giants. When he came out, he was coming out to challenge the batters he faced. Even when was no longer able to bring the heat with 90+ mph stuff, he still had a splitter that befuddled National League hitters. There was no question, when he was called he would take the mound, looking as if he was preparing for a brawl. Coupled with Mike Jackson, it felt as if the team could just get the game to the eighth inning then all would be well.

Then there was the 1997 game versus the Dodgers. Brian Johnson hammered the homerun to put the Giants up, but it was Beck who nailed the coffin shut.

Unfortunately, that would be his last season with the Giants. After that would come a series of stops with other teams, including the Cubs, Red Sox and Padres. I was sad when I heard he had arm troubles with the Red Sox that resulted in him being written off. When he caught on with the Cubs minor league team in 2003, I cheered for him. When he made it back to the majors with I cheered for his success (except those outings when he as facing the Orange and Black... and even then I did not treat him like He-who-must-be-booed). Eventually though, his arm troubles and his own personal problems surfaced once again to put a final end to his career.

It was nice to see that the Giants had a little memorial for him tonight before the game. He was a good Giant who will be missed.