Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — It’s the name that has haunted 80’s kids from LA for two generations: Niedenfuer!!! The very name itself with its multi-syllabic Germanic earthiness practically begs to be said with clenched fists: Niedenfuer!!! And regardless of what poor Tom Niedenfuer was able to accomplish before or after it, the former Dodger reliever’s legacy will always be defined by one moment: October 16, 1985.
Every Dodger fan who hasn’t had that part of his memory permanently erased through chemical means doesn’t need me to replay the scene, but for the uninitiated please allow me to explain:
1985 NLCS. Game 6. Dodger Stadium. Dodgers vs. Cardinals. Bottom of the 9th inning. Dodgers clinging to a one-run lead. Men on second and third. And, to borrow a phrase from a better Dodger memory, look who’s coming up. Cardinal slugger Jack Clark with first base open.
On the mound that fateful fall afternoon was Niedenfuer, a reliever who’d already thrown over a 100 innings for manager Tom Lasorda’s depleted bullpen that season. And on the first pitch: WHACK!! A go-ahead home run that effectively ended the series. The Dodgers would go quietly in the bottom of the 9th, and the Cardinals would win the series 4 games to 2 and were World Series bound.
Well, as painful as that moment was, the Bleed Los team decided to relive it live on the air, inviting Niedenfuer on to hash it out and give some closure to podcast host Juan Ramirez, who has been nursing a Niedenfuer grudge since he was seven years old.
“Baseball is competition,” Niedenfuer told Ramirez and his co-hosts Alonso Sarinana and Alysha DelValle. “there a winner and there’s a loser. Let me tell you something though… in today’s game, if I were facing the Yankees in the World Series, would I strike out Aaron Judge in the 7th and then have to face him again in the 9th?”
Indeed, what many fans have forgotten about that game was that it was played in the era of three-inning saves. Niedenfuer was the first in out of the bullpen that day, relieving a gassed young pitcher by the name of Hershiser who had given up four runs in 6.1 innings. And in the top of the 7th, Niedenfuer had gotten a strikeout from Clark with the bases loaded.
“Nobody remembers that,” Niedenfuer said. “How many times does a closer have to face a guy twice?”
In fact the strikeout in the 7th was a far more likely outcome in a battle with Clark than the homer that followed. Over the course of his career, Clark had a measly .227 batting average off Niedenfuer, and given that pinch hitter Bryan Harper was still in Whitey Herzog‘s dugout, who would most certainly have hit for Andy Van Slyke if Clark had been walked, the better play was to leave Niedenfuer in and roll the dice. The gamble, as Dodger fans know all too well, didn’t work out.
Niedenfuer played at the tail end of the great Dodger era of the late 70s and early 80s, pitching with the ballclub from 1981 to 1987. During that time, he had good numbers, with a 2.76 ERA and over 400 total innings. In 1985, he made 64 appearances, and was part of a great bullpen that included Steve Howe and Dave Stewart as well. Does it bother Niedenfuer that fans remember just the one homer? He is philosophical about it.
“A friend of mine, Gary Anderson, was the field goal kicker for the Vikings,” he said,” and he made 28 or 35 field goals in a row, but he missed one in the playoffs, and that’s the one everybody remembers. People expect place kickers and relief pitchers to be perfect all the time. And that’s just not possible. You have to just wipe the slate clean for the next day.”
Among sports fans, Niedenfuer’s name was synonymous with goat (not G.O.A.T). At least for a while. But even then too, the baseball gods shined upon him.
“Thank God for Bill Buckner!” he quipped.
You can hear the entire Niedenfuer interview by clicking here. Subscribe to the Bleed Los podcast to keep tabs on all things Dodgers, cuz you never know who might drop by the carne asada!
