Know your Appleton Baseball Alumni (4/24)

Eddie Watt, pitcher. Member of 1962 Fox Cities Foxes.

Watt signed with the Orioles in September of 1961 off the campus of Iowa State Teachers College. The Orioles sent him to Appleton for his first taste of professional baseball for the 1962 season.

Watt appeared in 25 games for the Foxes and went 11-11 with a 2.19ERA. He struck out 170 batters in 160 innings. The Foxes that season were managed by Cal Ripken, Sr. and finished at 61-63.

Watt moved on to Aberdeen of the Northern League for a nearly two seasons. In his second year (1964), Watt went 14-1 with a 1.77ERA. That earned him a promotion to Elmira at the tail of the season.

Watt earned a distinction of note in the 1965 season in Elmira. He tossed a pair of no-hitters about two weeks apart. Later in the season, he was promoted to Rochester.

In 1966, Watt was on the opening day roster for Baltimore. He was a starting pitcher, but was only 2-5 in thirteen starts before being moved to the bullpen. It was a move that would take and keep Watt in the major leagues until 1975.

The Orioles won the AL Pennant in 1966 with a 97-63 record. Watt went 9-7 with four saves for the O's. Baltimore won the 1966 World Series, but Watt did not get into a game.

Three years later Watt helped the Orioles win the AL East with 109 victories. Watt was 5-2 with sixteen saves and a 1.65 ERA. In the ALCS, Watt appeared in one game against the Minnesota Twins and pitched two scoreless innings. The World Series was a different story for Watt and the O's.

Game Four had the Orioles down 1-0 after the seven innings at Shea Stadium. Watt replaced Mike Cuellar and worked an uneventful bottom of the eighth. In the top of the ninth, Baltimore tied the game. In the ninth, Watt had to work around singles by Cleon Jones and Ron Swoboda to keep the game tied. But, the Mets won on an error in the bottom of the tenth to take a 3-1 series lead.

Watt also appeared in Game Five, but took the loss. New York had tied the game 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh. Jones doubled and one out later Swoboda doubled. Later in the inning, Swoboda scored on a double error (one by Boog Powell and one by Watt) the Mets had a 5-3 win and three outs later their first World Series Title.

The O's won it all in 1970 as Watt went 7-7 with 12 saves. Baltimore cruised 1970 with 108 wins; swept the Twins in the ALCS; and faced The Big Red Machine in the World Series. Brooks Robinson put on the defensive show as Baltimore won in five games. Watt got into one game -- Game Four, the only Oriole loss, and Watt took the loss. Jim Palmer left the game with two on and no outs in the top of the eighth. Watt entered and gave up a three-run homer to Lee May.

Baltimore went back to the playoffs the next year. Watt got a save in the 1971 ALCS against the A's in Game One. His World Series luck continued though. The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Orioles 4-3 in Game Four and Watt took the loss. A different May, Milt May, delivered a pinch hit single in the bottom of the seventh inning to snap the tie and give the Pirates the lead.

Game Four of the 1971 World Series is historic, not because of what happened during the game. It is memorable for when the game happened. It was the first night game ever in the Fall Classic and Eddie Watt was a part of it.

The Orioles made it back to the playoffs in 1973, but they lost to the A's. Watt appeared in one game of that ALCS and it was his final game as an Oriole. Baltimore sold him to the Phillies for the 1974 season. Watt pitched in Philadelphia 42 times that year and went 1-1 with six saves. The Phils let him go just before the start of the '75 season. He wrapped up his career with the Chicago Cubs as they signed him on April 25, 1975, But, he appeared in just six games for the Northsiders with his final game on June 14, 1975. He pitched one inning in relief of Steve Stone at Wrigley Field against the Reds and gave up one run on two hits. The last hitter he faced was Pete Rose. Rose bunted on him and picked up a bunt single.

Camden Chat did a list of the 40 greatest Orioles. One of the commenters on the post noted that Watt was omitted and here was the brief case he put forward for Watt to be included:

Eddie Watt (8 years of excellent bullpen work, one of the staples of the glory days teams)

The O's recognized the contributions of Watt to their teams and in 2000 he became a member of the Oriole Hall of Fame.

Watt appeared in 411 major league games, recorded 80 saves, and pitched for some of the best Baltimore teams ever. Quite a career for a guy from Iowa who started his pro career in Appleton.

Baseball card from Baseball Almanac

Stats from The Baseball Cube

Play-by-play and box score information from Retrosheet.

Other Eddie Watt Pages. Wikipedia, Retrosheet; Baseball-Reference.