#281 John Verhoeven
John Verhoeven spent 1982, pitching in AAA for Syracuse and Pawtucket compiling a 5-3 record on the strength of a 5.42 ERA in 84 2/3 IP.
Those kind of numbers in AAA won't typically get you back to the majors, and that proved true with John. In fact, I couldn't find any record of John pitching anywhere after '82, not even in Japan. He just disapppears for a few years until he became the pitching coach for the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros in the early 1990's
During his time in the majors though, he was a middle reliever for the Angels and Twins with a brief stop on the southside of Chicago (6 appearances). He never started a game, but the back of his card notes that on July 21, 1980, he tossed the final 8 2/3 innings of a game against the Orioles.
What the card doesn't say, is that it was John's 1st big league victory. Oddly, all 3 career of his career wins came in 2 month period, and almost exactly a month apart from each other—July 21, August 28, and September 21.
Having spent a little time in the majors in '76 and '77, 1980 was John's first full season in The Show. Apparently he was enjoying his time, judging by the prank he pulled on Dan Quisenberry that summer by telling him Dan had been selected to the All-Star team. Here's how Quiz described it—
"He (Verhoeven) called me — the Twins were in town — and said he was a radio guy named Josh McDowell or something, and he said I'd been picked. I got real excited and I was telling him how great it was and then he couldn't take it anymore and he started breaking up.
Either he was a prankster, or maybe some of the veterans on the team put the young guy up to it.
The next season, 1981, John's ERA rose very slightly (from 3.97 to 3.98) but his ERA+ dropped 11 (from 110 to 99). September 30, 1981, he threw the final 2 outs of the top of the 9th, making him the last Twins pitcher to throw outdoors in a home game...'til 2010. That's a little over 28 years. In the world of cool coincidences, he was 28 years old at the time.
John's final moments on a major league mound, like Rickey Keeton's earlier in the season, would come against the White Sox.
It was about 6 weeks after the ChiSox knocked Rickey out of the majors, when they faced John, October 4, 1981. Last game of the season, and last inning of a slugfest that wasn't as over as the Twins manager Billy Gardner wanted it to be.
Minnesota was up 12-9, when John took the mound. He gets Wayne Nordhagen to fly out in foul territory by first base. Then he gets Marc Hill to line out to short. Everything was going fine, but that would prove to be the final out he’d ever record in the majors.
The next batter, Mike Squires, singled. He moved to 3rd on another single, by pinch hitter Bob Molinaro. After that, John was replaced by Twins closer Doug Corbett. Corbett gave up 4 runs without getting anybody out. One's got to think John could've gotten 1 more out...
