Charles Dwight "Red" Adams (October 7, 1921 – January 18, 2017) was an American professional baseball pitcher,

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement * Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

and

pitching coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisio ...

. The native of Parlier, California, pitched only briefly in

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) ...

, but had a lengthy career as a scout and coach for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brookly ...

. A right-hander in his playing days, he stood tall and weighed . Adams won 193 games in the minor leagues from 1939 to 1942 and in 1944–58, including a 21-victory season for the 1945

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

of the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Bas ...

. His Major League pitching tenure, however, consisted of only 12

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is ...

over eight

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (su ...

for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

in . All of his appearances came in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

. His one

decision Decision may refer to: Law and politics * Judgment (law), as the outcome of a legal case *Landmark decision, the outcome of a case that sets a legal precedent * ''Per curiam'' decision, by a court with multiple judges Books * ''Decision'' (nove ...

came on

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

, when he allowed a game-winning

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is ...

to Ray Mueller of the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

, which capped a six-run, ninth-inning rally and enabled Cincinnati to defeat Chicago, 7–6, at

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago W ...

, in the second game of the holiday doubleheader. Adams allowed 11

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an err ...

s, 18 hits and seven

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Sec ...

in 12 total

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inning ...

during his MLB career, with eight strikeouts. After his playing career, he was a

for the Dodgers from 1959 to 1968. He then worked as the Dodgers' MLB pitching coach from 1969 to 1980, serving on three

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

pennant-winning teams (1974; 1977–78) under managers Walter Alston and

Tommy Lasorda Thomas Charles Lasorda (September 22, 1927 – January 7, 2021) was an American professional baseball pitcher and manager. He managed the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1976 through 1996. He was inducted into the Natio ...

, and helping develop many of the Dodgers' pitchers. Said 324-game-winning pitcher Don Sutton upon his induction into the

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball ...

in July 1998: "No person ever meant more to my career than Red Adams. Without him, I would not be standing in Cooperstown today."

Tommy John Thomas Edward John Jr. (born May 22, 1943), nicknamed "The Bionic Man," is an American retired professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 26 seasons between 1963 and 1989. He played for the Cleveland Indians ...

, 288-game winner, also had praise for Adams. "When I joined the odgers in 1972 I was still convinced that I had only a mediocre fastball and that I was going to have to depend chiefly on my breaking pitches to win ball games. But Red disagreed with me, emphatically," John said. Adams encouraged him to rely more on the fastball, which though slower than most pitchers' fastballs, had a lot of movement. In 1979, Adams was inducted into the

Fresno County Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populous city in Cal ...

Athletic Hall of Fame. He died on January 18, 2017, at the age of 95.

References

External links

Baseball Almanac
statistics
Dodgers coaching
list
Venezuelan Professional Baseball League statistics
: {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Red 1921 births 2017 deaths Baseball players from California Bisbee Bees players Chicago Cubs players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Los Angeles Dodgers coaches Los Angeles Dodgers scouts Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball pitching coaches Miami Marlins (IL) players Minor league baseball managers Patriotas de Venezuela players People from Parlier, California Portland Beavers players Sacramento Solons players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Sportspeople from Fresno County, California Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players Vancouver Capilanos players