Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Steve Bedrosian reminisces at Ephrata card show

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Steve Bedrosian reminisces at Ephrata card show

    Steve Bedrosian reminisces at Ephrata card show

    LancasterOnline.com (Lancaster County, Pennsylvania)
    Sunday, Mar 24, 2013

    By Tom Arnold, Correspondent

    EPHRATA, PA -- With the start of baseball season looming, Lancaster
    County fans received a treat when former major league pitcher Steve
    Bedrosian visited Ephrata on Saturday morning for the Ephrata Lions
    Club's annual sports card show and auction.

    "This is the 34th show," said Nevin Rutt, one of the show
    organizers. "I remember 34 years ago when our first guest was [former
    Phillies pitcher] Chris Short. It's still just as much fun as it was
    then."

    Bedrosian, who will turn 56 in December, looked tan and slim. Besides
    a touch of gray at the temples, the former pitcher looked as though he
    could take the mound again and go for another save.

    "Bedrock" was one of the top closers in the league through the late
    1980s and finished his career with 184 saves. In 1987, while with the
    Phillies, Bedrosian finished with a 5-3 record and a 2.83 ERA and a
    league-leading 40 saves. That performance earned him the Cy Young
    Award and Rolaids Relief Man of the Year.

    "I'm blessed for sure," Bedrosian said. "Looking back ... playing 14
    years for four different teams, raising a family in between, four boys
    and a little girl we adopted from Russia, and now the journey has come
    full circle with my son [Cameron Bedrosian] playing for the [Los
    Angeles] Angels. Now we're chasing him around."

    For a man who has amassed a multitude of awards to accompany a 1991
    World Series championship and a 1987 All-Star appearance, Bedrosian
    claims an event in San Francisco as one of his all-time favorite
    moments in baseball.

    "If I had to pick one moment, I guess I'd pick winning the Willie
    McCovey Award while with the Giants in 1990," Bedrosian said. "I guess
    that and the Dave Dravecky story are two of the best memories of my
    career."

    Dravecky was a Giants pitcher who was diagnosed with cancer. He first
    had part of his pitching arm removed, and eventually had to have an
    amputation from his shoulder down.

    "There was a game where [the fans] pledged money on every pitch, like
    they do for a March of Dimes walk where they pledge for every mile and
    so on," Bedrosian said. "Well, Dravecky came back and pitched a game
    against Cincinnati and won 3-1. Going into the eighth inning in
    Candlestick, [the Reds] got two men on and they called for me and I
    came on and got the save.

    "I'm glad I won, because if I'd have lost that game, oh my... it would
    have all been on me."

    Along with that game, Bedrosian was happy for his Cy Young Award, but
    upset at the same time that the Phillies didn't win it all that year.

    "I wish we could have won as a team, but we didn't," he said. "But I
    got to play with some of the greats, like [Mike Schmidt] and [Steve]
    Carlton and watched them retire. But I guess winning the Cy Young was
    the highlight."

    With his son Cameron pitching in the Angels organization, Bedrosian
    doesn't have enough time to watch professional baseball.

    "We are chasing him all over the place while he plays," he said. "So I
    don't get as much of a chance to watch or listen to the majors as I'd
    like. I still keep an eye of the Phillies and Braves and Twins. In
    fact, the other year when Roy Halladay won the Cy Young Award, I was
    asked to come and present it to him, since I was the most recent
    winner presenting it to Halladay. That was nice."

    These days Bedrosian is content to do a few card shows and a few major
    league fantasy camps, and of course follow his son.

    "I retired as a baseball coach after 14 years, and coached all my
    boys," he said. "I coached briefly in the Braves' minor-league
    system. I also served on the board of education for 10 years, the last
    two as chairman.

    "I served in the only county in Georgia that does not pay their board
    of education members - so obviously I did it because I enjoyed it, not
    for the pay," he said with a laugh.


    From: Baghdasarian
Working...
X