Ted Power (Inter)National League Man of Intrigue
Two wins and a loss away from the 70/70/70 club!
1982 Fleer Ted Power (#17) - Card of the Day
If you set out to write a fictional account of a pitcher who took baseball by storm with his blazing fastball and undeniable grit and swagger, what name would you give him? Sidd Finch, maybe?
Maybe. But how about a name that could also play well for your hero in a side hustle as, say, as spy? An international man of intrigue? A weekend sports reporter, maybe?
How about…Fred Garvin?
Hmmm, that feels close, but maybe a bit used-up. And also a bit seedy.
Let’s think about this a minute. How about…
Umm…
Yes, I’ve got it!
Our protagonist can only be…Ted Power, Tower of Diamond Domination.
What’s that you say? Ted Power is already taken? He’s a real person? A real pitcher, even? Crud.
But since we’ve come this far and since today is Power’s 70th birthday, we might as well take a quick look at the guy who struck out more hitters than…well…than Vic Power, at least.
Ted Power was a fifth-round selection by the Dodgers out of Kansas State in 1976, and he spent most of the next seven summers climbing the Los Angeles ladder. He started out striking out more than a batter per inning, fitting his name, but by the time he wrapped up his third go-round with Triple-A Albuquerque in 1981, he was down to 5.3 K/9 innings.
Even so, Power established himself as a promising (if old, at age 26) starting prospect, going 18-3 with a 3.56 ERA for the Dukes. After the midseason strike finally ended, the Dodgers called him up for the September stretch run. In five appearances that included two starts, Power went 1-3 with a 3.14 ERA.
That pretty much punched Power’s ticket to stay in the bigs in 1982, and it also served notice to the card companies that he had arrived. Only Fleer took the bait, though, and they issued his sole rookie card in their 1982 set.
That police-lineup shot that could just as easily be Bob Kevoian probably looks pretty strange to fans who remember Power’s heyday. A hint: that didn’t happen with the Dodgers.
After posting a 6.68 ERA in 14 appearances with L.A. in 1982, Power found himself on the move. That October, the Dodgers traded him to the Reds for Mike Ramsey and cash.
In some ways, that must have felt like a baseball death sentence given that Cincy had turned into the sewer sweepers of the National League West and wouldn’t start to climb toward the manhole for another couple of seasons. But the move was also an opportunity, one that Power seized.
Used mostly in relief, Power went 5-6 with a 4.54 ERA in 49 appearances for the Reds in 1983. Then, in 1984, he led the N.L. with 78 appearances and posted a 9-2 record with a 2.82 ERA and 11 saves. The next year, with Pete Rose at the helm all season, Power led the team with 27 saves.
As the Reds moved into full contention mode through the middle of the decade, Rose started giving Power more starts, and the clean-shaven (by Reds mandate) right-hander was a mainstay in the 1987 rotation. That summer, he made 34 starts and went 10-13 with a 4.50 ERA.
That all made Power a valuable enough commodity that Cincy was able to flip him and young Kurt Stillwell to the Royals in exchange for Danny Jackson and Angel Salazar. In K.C., Power transitioned back to the bullpen and spent the next six seasons making a lot of middle-innings appearances for seven different teams, including a Cincy encore in 1991.
When he retired after the 1993 season, Power had managed to last 13 years in the bigs despite a somewhat late start. And, though his 68-69 record, 4.00 ERA, and 70 saves may not have turned many heads, he was a mound constant for a generation of baseball fans.
Even if many of us never knew who he was.
What more could you ask for from your man of baseball intrigue?
Think He Left a Tip?
Power’s first appearance in the majors came in relief of Dodgers starter Dave Goltz against the Giants on September 9, 1981. If you don’t remember Goltz, you can still catch him on occasional reruns of The Jeffersons:
You can also read more about Goltz and his 1978 Topps baseball card right here.