In their first venture into free agency, the Cardinals pursued a closer, Bill Campbell, but were unprepared for what it would cost to get him.
Campbell signed with the Red Sox instead of the Cardinals in November 1976.
Nine years later, when the Cardinals acquired Campbell in a trade with the Phillies, he became part of a bullpen by committee constructed to replace closer Bruce Sutter.
Campbell helped the Cardinals win a National League pennant in his only season with the club. He was 74 when he died on Jan. 6, 2023.
From battlefield to diamond
After serving with the Army in the Vietnam War, Campbell was playing semipro baseball in California when the Twins signed him in September 1970.
Two years later, when he was a starting pitcher in the Twins’ system, Campbell told Bob Padecky of the Charlotte News, “Vietnam is still something that lives with me. The Charlies had this rocket over there you could hear coming for miles. Even now, I still flinch occasionally from a loud noise.”
A right-hander who featured a screwball, Campbell, 24, reached the majors in July 1973 with the Twins, who converted him into a reliever. After the 1975 season, when he played for $22,000, Campbell sought an $8,000 raise, but Twins owner Calvin Griffith said no, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
Until then, Campbell would have had to accept Griffith’s terms or quit, but in December 1975 arbitrator Peter Seitz had overturned baseball’s reserve system, opening the way for eligible players to become free agents in November 1976.
Campbell could become a free agent if he didn’t sign and played out his contract at the $22,000 salary offered by the Twins in 1976. That’s what he decided to do.
With Campbell piling up wins and saves for the 1976 Twins, Griffith approached him during the season and offered him what he had asked, the Star Tribune reported, but now it was Campbell’s turn to say no.
Campbell posted a 17-5 record with 20 saves in a league-leading 78 relief appearances for the 1976 Twins.
“It’s all in his delivery,” Twins manager Gene Mauch said to the Star Tribune. “Take all the pitchers in the league and time their fastball on a speed machine and there won’t be much difference. It’s where the ball comes from that counts. Good delivery equals consistency and endurance and deception.”
Top dollar
Campbell was the free agent who interested the Cardinals the most in November 1976. They envisioned him joining Al Hrabosky in giving them a dominant pair of late-inning stoppers _ Campbell from the right side and Hrabosky from the left.
“Campbell is an impressive individual, physically and personally,” Cardinals general manager Bing Devine said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Cardinals officials, including owner Gussie Busch, met with Campbell and his agent, LaRue Harcourt. “They asked me if I would give them the first shot,” Campbell told Peter Gammons of Sports Illustrated.
Campbell said to the Post-Dispatch, “Money will be the most important factor in my decision. You consider location and you want to play with a contender, but money comes first.”
Because the Cardinals “seemed more interested” than any other club, Campbell told Gammons he was “resigned to playing with the Cardinals.”
Then the Red Sox entered the bidding. Assistant general manager John Claiborne led the negotiations for Boston. (Claiborne had been mentored by Devine in St. Louis and would replace him there in 1978.) Once Campbell and his agent heard the Red Sox’s proposal, they quickly accepted it.
The reliever who played for $22,000 in 1976 got from the Red Sox a five-year contract worth $1.075 million. Campbell received a $250,000 signing bonus and yearly salaries of $165,000, Gammons reported.
Asked why Campbell didn’t sign with the Cardinals, agent LaRue Harcourt said to the Boston Globe, “Not enough money. That was St. Louis. Not enough money.”
As Bob Broeg noted in the Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals “weren’t in the ballpark financially in the bidding.”
Big in Boston
Campbell’s bonanza was stunning in a day when the average salary for a big-league ballplayer was $51,500. “No player is really worth what they’re paying me,” Campbell told Sports Illustrated, “but if they want to, then fine.”
Red Sox followers had high hopes for a $1 million reliever. Or, as columnist Leigh Montville put it, “He was expected to deliver instant pitching salvation.”
His first appearance for the 1977 Red Sox, on Opening Day at Fenway Park, drew boos. Tasked with protecting a 4-2 lead, Campbell gave up a two-run home run to Buddy Bell in the ninth. The Indians went on to win, 5-4, in 11 and Campbell was the losing pitcher. Boxscore
He was the losing pitcher again in the second game of the season. Boxscore
Campbell was 0-3 with a 6.94 ERA in eight appearances in April 1977. “His public image fell somewhere between that of an auto repairman and a politician under indictment,” Montville wrote.
A month later, he was a darling of the Red Sox faithful, posting a 4-0 record and five saves in May. “He comes in, and it’s like Christmas morn,” Red Sox pitching coach and former Cardinal Al Jackson told the Globe.
Campbell finished the 1977 season with 13 wins and a league-leading 31 saves.
Wiley veteran
After fulfilling his contract with the Red Sox (1977-81), Campbell pitched for the Cubs (1982-83) and Phillies (1984).
That’s when the Cardinals came back into the picture. Bruce Sutter, who had 45 saves for the 1984 Cardinals, became a free agent and went to the Braves. The Cardinals wanted a veteran reliever to join holdovers Jeff Lahti and Ken Dayley in forming a bullpen corps that manager Whitey Herzog could use to fill the closer vacancy created by Sutter’s departure.
On April 6, 1985, the Cardinals traded pitcher Dave Rucker to the Phillies for Campbell and shortstop Ivan DeJesus.
Campbell, 36, used a herky-jerky motion to deliver an assortment of pitches, primarily the screwball. “It’s tough for hitters to decipher because they’re seeing a lot of arms and legs,” Campbell told the Post-Dispatch. “My leg hits the ground and then my arm comes through … It looks like I’m jumping out there.”
In his first two saves for the Cardinals, Campbell pitched three scoreless innings against the Giants Boxscore and four scoreless innings versus the Braves. Boxscore
“He throws all the pitches _ screwball, slider, curveball, fastball,” Cardinals pitching coach Mike Roarke said to the Post-Dispatch. “He uses his pitch selection well. When he’s going good, it can be very confusing for a hitter.”
Campbell was at his best during the Cardinals’ drive for a division title. On Sept. 14, 1985, he was the winning pitcher with three scoreless innings against the Cubs, a victory that vaulted the Cardinals ahead of the Mets and into first place in the National League East. The Cardinals remained on top the rest of the season. Boxscore
For the month of September, Campbell pitched in nine games for the Cardinals and had an 0.93 ERA.
During the season, he allowed just six of 39 inherited runners to score. From Aug. 18 to Sept. 28, he pitched 13.1 innings without yielding a run.
Campbell finished the season with a 5-3 record and four saves in 50 appearances. Seven Cardinals relievers _ Jeff Lahti (19), Ken Dayley (11), Todd Worrell (five), Campbell (four), Bob Forsch (two), Neil Allen (two) and Ricky Horton (one) _ combined for 44 saves, basically matching the total of 45 Sutter had for them the year before.
Campbell pitched in the 1985 National League Championship Series (no runs allowed in three games) and in the 1985 World Series (one run in three games). Those were his only postseason appearances in 15 years in the majors.
Released by the Cardinals in November 1985, Campbell pitched for the Tigers (1986) and Expos (1987). He ended up with 83 wins and 126 saves in 700 games in the majors.