Late Bloomers: Charlie Hough

For those of you that grew up watching baseball in the 1950s, do you remember a guy named Tom Morgan? He came up with the Yankees and was part of their bullpen for a couple of their World Series teams of that decade, then moved on to the Tigers and Angels, among others. He was your basic middle relief guy but had a decent 12-year career.

Morgan pitched into the early 1960s, and by the end of that decade there was a guy named Tom Hall who filled a similar role mostly for the Twins and Reds. Again, he was fine, but never broke out of that middle relief role. In 10 seasons he made 358 appearances, of which only 63 were starts, but also compiled just 32 saves.

He pitched into the mid-1970s, a time when there were quite a few guys in that sort of role. Like Dale Murray, for instance. Remember him? He was the guy you got excited to see when you opened a pack of baseball cards and saw his name, only to realize a few seconds later that it wasn’t Dale Murphy. Murray was an Expo, for the most part, but also pitched for the Yankees, and the Mets, and some other clubs. He made just one career start in over 500 career appearances, but also wasn’t in a glamorous closer role, the same as Morgan and Hall before him.

In the 1980s there was Jim Acker of the Blue Jays and Braves, and the same decade introduced us to Gene Nelson of the Yankees, White Sox, and A’s. He pitched into the 1990s, when Terry Adams first appeared for the Cubs before moving on to the Dodgers and Phillies. There are current pitchers whose career numbers will look much the same as these guys once they’re done playing.

No matter which era of baseball is your favorite, you can likely remember a few guys who fit this description. That familiar guy who strolls in from the pen four or five dozen times a year but is rarely around for the save and is usually just filling time between the starter and the closer. They’re all sort of interchangeable, as their respective career numbers make pretty clear.