Tom Niedenfuer
| Tom Niedenfuer | |
|---|---|
| Pitcher | |
| Born: August 13, 1959 St. Louis Park, Minnesota |
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| Batted: Right | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| August 15, 1981 for the Los Angeles Dodgers | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 20, 1990 for the St. Louis Cardinals | |
| Career statistics | |
| Win-Loss | 36-46 |
| Earned run average | 3.29 |
| Saves | 97 |
| Strikeouts | 474 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Thomas Edward Niedenfuer (born August 13, 1959), is a retired American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He attended high school in Redmond, Washington and was a standout pitcher in college for Washington State University under coach Bobo Brayton. He left school before completing his senior season. He is a native of St. Louis Park, Minnesota.
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[edit] Playing career
Niedenfuer played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Baltimore Orioles, the Seattle Mariners and the St. Louis Cardinals and was primarily used as a reliever during his ten-year career, which began in the strike-shortened 1981 season and ended after the 1990 season.
[edit] 1985 National League Championship Series
Ozzie Smith hit a home run against Tom Niedenfuer during the fifth game of the 1985 National League Championship Series between the Dodgers and the Cardinals in St. Louis.
In the Cardinals' half of the ninth inning with the score tied 2-2, Niedenfuer faced the Redbirds' switch-hitting All-Star shortstop Ozzie Smith. At this point in his career, Smith, a light hitter regarded more for his glove than his bat (indeed, he was nicknamed "The Wizard of Oz" for his fielding prowess), had hit only thirteen home runs in an eight-year career. However, all of them had been hit as a right-handed hitter despite Smith having had 3,009 at-bats from the left side. By his own estimation, Smith was a much better hitter from the right side at the time. [1]
"Physical strength helps me compensate for not having a real good stroke left-handed", he stated after the game.
With the count at 1-2 (generally regarded as being in favor of the pitcher), and the bases empty, Tom Niedenfuer threw an inside fastball which Ozzie Smith improbably lifted into the right field stands at Busch Memorial Stadium to give the Cardinals the win.
| “ | If someone's going to hit a home run against you, you think about (Jack) Clark, (Cesar) Cedeno, (Tom) Herr. Certainly not Ozzie Smith. | ” |
Two nights later, Tom Niedenfuer gave up another deciding home run: this one was to Cardinals first baseman Jack Clark and it clinched the National League championship for St. Louis. The Cardinals would face their cross-state rivals, the American League champion Kansas City Royals in that year's World Series, but would lose it four games to three.
Ozzie Smith would ultimately hit only fourteen more home runs (four of them left-handed) in a career which ended in 1996.
[edit] Personal life
Tom Niedenfuer is currently married to actress Judy Landers and resides in Florida.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
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