Baseball Way Back: A screwball Cinderella story

It is tempting to ponder how the 1984 Cubs would have fared if the team hadn't traded Willie Hernandez to the Phillies for Dick Ruthven the year before.

But the Cubs already had a closer in future Hall-of-Famer Lee Smith.

And certainly no one could have envisioned Hernandez, who died last week at age 69, as a dominant closer, much less one who would join Sandy Koufax and Denny McLain in winning Cy Young and MVP honors while capturing a World Series crown in the same year.

Baseball is full of Cinderella stories, but Hernandez' saga surely ranks near the top. Like Cinderella, Hernandez pushed a mop, such as when he was called upon to clean up during the Cubs' famous 23-22 loss to the Phillies on May 17, 1979.

That day, Hernandez relieved Moore with the Phils up 11-6. By the time he left, it was 21-9.

Even before his baseball career started, Hernandez was an underdog, a high school dropout from Aguada, Puerto Rico, who came to the mainland at 15 and became a $145-a-week factory worker in Chelsea, Massachusetts.

At 18 he went back to Aguada and caught the eye of a Phillies scout who spotted him pitching semipro ball in 1973.

After knocking around the Phillies system for three years, the Cubs selected him in the Rule 5 draft.

He had been a starter, but the Cubs needed a lefty reliever, and he was the only lefty on the staff.

He accepted the role gracefully, telling reporters: "I've started all my life. That's what I want to do here. But then, who's left in the bullpen."

Hernandez, along with Paul Reuschel, worked as setup men for ace reliever Bruce Sutter on a 1977 team that made some noise in the National League East before it faded and finished with an even 81-81 record.

Sports writer Robert Markus wrote that Sutter was a Rolls-Royce, but Hernandez and Reuschel were Cadillacs.

Hernandez was 8-7 with a 3.03 ERA and 4 saves in 67 games in 1977 and 8-2 with a 3.77 ERA and 3 saves in 54 games in 1978.

But his performance began to sag after a mediocre 1979 campaign. He went 1-9 with a 4.40 ERA in 1980, and then, in 1981, the Cubs sent him to AAA Iowa - he only appeared in 12 major-league games in that strike-shortened year.

But his ship changed its course in 1982, when he appeared in 75 games with a 3.00 ERA and recorded 10 saves.

New Cubs GM Dallas Green remarked to reporters: "I told Willie this would be the last contract he signed with the Cubs unless he got down to work. He had the ability before, but he was wasting it."

Hernandez also had the equivalent of a fairy godmother in former Orioles pitching star Mike Cuellar, who taught him his magic pitch, the screwball, while they were playing catch prior to 1982 spring training.

Hernandez said he also benefited from Fergie Jenkins' return to the Cubs when Jenkins taught him a cut fastball.

After pitching three perfect innings against the Reds on May 22, 1983, the Cubs traded him for Ruthven and pitching prospect Bill Johnson.

It was the second time they tried to peddle him to the City of Brotherly Love - a multiplayer deal in 1982 was nixed by Cubs board chairman Andrew McKenna, because the Cubs would have given up Leon Durham.

"I'm just psyched up about being in a pennant race. I want to be in first place," Hernandez said.

He not only got his wish but was also the winning pitcher when the Phillies took over first place in the NL East on Sept. 9 against the Pirates, holding the Bucs hitless in the final three innings.

He went 8-4 with a 3.29 ERA and 7 saves for the Phils and acquitted himself well in relief when the Phillies lost the 1983 World Series to the Orioles, but at the time Al Holland was the team's closer.

In March 1984 the Phillies didn't realize it but they traded a star closer when they parted with Hernandez and Dave Bergman and received outfielder Glenn Wilson and catcher John Wockenfuss from the Tigers.

In his new role, Hernandez was instrumental in the Tigers' 35-6 start, saving seven of those games, including a win over the White Sox in their home opener.

That year Hernandez was 9-3 and appeared in 80 games, saving 32 of them and boasting a sparkling 1.92 ERA

His brilliance spilled over into the postseason, with 2 saves in the World Series against the Padres, and he was on the mound when Tony Gwynn's flyout gave the Tigers the crown.

Hernandez' value wasn't lost on pitching coach Roger Craig, who said in June of that year: "We're leading the league in saves. Last year we were last in the league. I've never seen anything like this. Hernandez has made everybody better."