Michael James Boddicker (born August 23, 1957) is an American right-handed former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

(1980–1988),

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

(1988–1990), Kansas City Royals (1991–1992), and Milwaukee Brewers (1993). He was the ALCS MVP in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

and was an American League All-Star in 1984.

Early years

Boddicker was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on August 23, 1957.Mike Boddicker (statistics & history)
''Baseball-Reference.com'' His ancestors (Johan & Elisabeth (Jacobi) Boddicker) emigrated in 1861 from the village of Brilon, Province of Westphalia, which was situated in current-day Germany, and were among the original settlers of Norway, Iowa, where he was raised. He was the youngest of five children to Harold and Dolly. His father, who was commonly known as Bus, operated a travelling

hammermill A hammer mill is a mill whose purpose is to shred or crush aggregate material into smaller pieces by the repeated blows of little hammers. These machines have numerous industrial applications, including: * Ethanol plants (grains) * A farm mach ...

for grain milling before becoming a

custodian Custodian may refer to: Occupations * Janitor, a person who cleans and maintains buildings * Goalkeeper, in association football * Fullback, in rugby, also called a sweeper * Legal guardian or conservator, who may be called a custodian in some ...

at the local elementary school.Wulf, Steve
"He Has Returned To His Roots"
''Sports Illustrated'', December 19, 1983 He is a distant cousin of the musician

Michael Boddicker Michael Lehmann Boddicker (born January 19, 1953) is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. He is a three times National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (N.A.R.A.S.) Most Valuable Player "Synthe ...

Baseball career

Boddicker's pitching repertoire, once called "

Little League Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Rod Carew Rodney Cline Carew (born October 1, 1945) is a Panamanian former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman, second baseman and designated hitter from 1967 to 1985 for the Minnesota Twins ...

, featured off-speed pitches and deception to compensate for a lack of power.Klingaman, Mik
"Catching Up With...former Oriole Mike Boddicker"
''The Toy Department'' (''The Baltimore Sun'' sports blog), Thursday, April 8, 2010.] He was able to throw from three different arm angles. He had a

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. " Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thr ...

that never came close to reaching 90 miles per hour. The one pitch that made him famous was the fosh, which he called "a glorified

changeup A changeup is a type of pitch in baseball and fastpitch softball. The changeup is a staple off-speed pitch often used in a pitcher's arsenal, usually thrown to look like a fastball but arriving much more slowly to the plate. Its reduced speed ...

." Another one he used with success was the slurve.

Tony Phillips Keith Anthony Phillips (April 25, 1959 – February 17, 2016) was an American professional baseball utility player who had an 18-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career from 1982 to 1999. He played regularly at second base, but also had signif ...

once commented, "What I noticed about him is that he lets you get yourself out. I find myself sometimes actually jumping at his pitches, being overanxious because he doesn't throw very fast, and I wind up popping the ball up."Berkow, Ira. "Sports of The Times; Mike Boddicker And His Fosh Ball"
''The New York Times'', Sunday, October 9, 1988 Boddicker had a win–loss record of 134–116 with a 3.80 ERA during his career. In his rookie season, 1983, he went 16–8 with a 2.77 ERA and led the majors with five shutouts. Perhaps his best season was

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, when he went 20-11 with a 2.79 ERA (leading the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

in both wins and ERA). He also won the Gold Glove Award in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

. Boddicker had a notable performance in the 1983 postseason. With his team down 1–0 in both the ALCS and

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

, Boddicker pitched his team out of the hole by winning Game 2 of the ALCS 4–0 against the Chicago White Sox (complete game shutout) and Game 2 of the World Series 4–1 against the Philadelphia Phillies en route to a world championship. After going 0–8 with a 5.83 ERA to begin the 1988 campaign, Boddicker rebounded with a 6–4 record and a 2.95 ERA in his last 13 starts with the Orioles. On a team that lost its first 21 games of the season and was never in postseason contention, he was traded to the

for

Brady Anderson Brady Kevin Anderson (born January 18, 1964) is an American former baseball outfielder and executive who played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (1988–2002) for the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Indians. He spent the majori ...

and

Curt Schilling Curtis Montague Schilling (born November 14, 1966) is an American former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher who is a commentator for conservative media outlet BlazeTV. He helped lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a World Series appearance ...

on July 29, 1988, two days prior to the non-waivers trade deadline. Contending for the

American League East The American League East is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. MLB consists of an East, Central, and West division for each of its two 15-team leagues, the American League (AL) and National League (NL). This division was created before ...

title, the Red Sox outbid the Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics to land him.Chass, Murray. "Baseball: Red Sox Acquire Orioles' Boddicker," ''The New York Times'', Saturday, July 30, 1988.
Retrieved September 6, 2021 Boddicker went 7–3 down the stretch for the Sox, helping them win the AL East crown that year. He went 15–11 in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

and in 1990 went 17–8 with a 3.36 ERA while helping the Red Sox win another division title. After signing with the Royals, he finished 12–12 with a 4.08 ERA in 1991, his last full season (30 games). After his contract was purchased by the Brewers, he pitched 54 innings for them in 1993, his final year. He finished 3–5 with a 5.67 ERA that year.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boddicker, Mike 1957 births Living people American League All-Stars Baltimore Orioles players Boston Red Sox players Kansas City Royals players Milwaukee Brewers players Major League Baseball pitchers Gold Glove Award winners Sportspeople from Cedar Rapids, Iowa Baseball players from Iowa American League ERA champions American League wins champions Iowa Hawkeyes baseball players Bluefield Orioles players Charlotte O's players Rochester Red Wings players Beloit Brewers players Omaha Royals players American League Championship Series MVPs Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks players

Early years

Baseball career

See also

References

External links