Prospectus Q&A

Tom Bradley

by David Laurila

Tom Bradley played in an era where the workload of a starting pitcher is far different than it is today. Now 61 years old, Bradley pitched from 1969-1975, a time where four-man rotations were the norm, pitchers like Mickey Lolich and Wilbur Wood were throwing upwards of 350 innings a season, and pitch counts had yet to be invented. The right-hander went 55-61 over seven big-league seasons with the Angels, White Sox, and Giants, his best years coming in Chicago where he won 15 games in both 1971 and '72. A hard thrower, Bradley finished in the top 10 in strikeouts in the American League each year. Formerly the head baseball coach at Jacksonville University (1979-1990) and the University of Maryland (1991-2000), Bradley currently serves as the pitching coach for the Fort Wayne Wizards, the Padres' affiliate in the Midwest League.

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David Laurila: When you look back, how do you view the career you had as a big-league pitcher?

Tom Bradley: I had a decent career, but it was too short. I came up in the era from 1968 to 1977, when we were on a four-man rotation and only had one side [session] between starts. I logged about a thousand innings over a four-year period of time—1970, 1971, 1972, and 1973—and I put together four good seasons. In 1972, with Johnny Sain as our pitching coach, we were kind of short on starters, so I made seven starts on two days' rest. I got traded to San Francisco that winter, and ended up getting 34 starts—and I had a broken ankle—so I was pretty durable. I started every fourth day, but then I hurt my arm in Candlestick, in 1974, on a cold and windy night. They asked me to pitch in relief, and like a dummy I said yes. I felt something pop in my shoulder, and I wasn't the same again. And that's unfortunate because if we do anything today, it's that we overprotect our pitchers. So I would have liked to have played longer, obviously, but it just didn't work out that way.

DL: Pitchers obviously threw a lot more innings in your era than they do now. Can you talk a little more about your workload?

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