The Phillies announced that former big league pitcher Al Holland has passed away. He was 73 years old.
Holland was born in Roanoke, Virginia in 1952. After graduating high school, Holland attended North Carolina A&T State University, a historically black university in Greensboro, North Carolina. He played baseball and also football for the Aggies. His baseball performance led to interest from the professional ranks. Holland was drafted by the Rangers in 1974 and the Padres in 1975, but opted to stay in college in both instances. He later signed with the Pirates as an undrafted free agent.
He made a very brief major league debut in 1977, appearing in two games for the Bucs, allowing two earned runs in 2 1/3 innings. He was then kept in the minors for all of 1978 and the start of the 1979 season. In June of 1979, he was traded to the Giants, alongside, Fred Breining and Ed Whitson, for Bill Madlock, Lenny Randle and Dave Roberts.
With the Giants that year, Holland got another brief taste of the majors, making three scoreless appearances. He emerged as a full-time big league reliever in 1980, giving San Francisco 82 1/3 innings over 54 appearances. He only allowed 1.75 earned runs per nine and racked up seven saves. He finished tied for seventh place in National League Rookie of the Year voting.
He continued to produce solid results out of the Giants’ bullpen for another two season. He posted a 2.41 ERA in 1981, tossing 100 2/3 innings even though that season was interrupted by a strike of almost two months. In 1982, he logged 129 2/3 innings with a 3.33 ERA. He added another 12 saves over those two campaigns.
The second trade of his career preceded the 1983 season. Holland and Joe Morgan were flipped to the Phillies for C.L. Penigar, Mark Davis and Mike Krukow. The move to Philadelphia allowed Holland to become more of a traditional closer. He earned 25 saves in 1983, posting a 2.26 ERA in 91 2/3 innings for the Phils.
The Phillies won the National League East, giving Holland a chance to pitch in the postseason for the first time. The Phils topped the Dodgers in the NLCS, with Holland recording the final outs of that series, before falling to the Orioles in the World Series. He didn’t allow an earned run in 6 2/3 innings during that playoff run. He won the Rolaids Relief Fireman of the Year award in the N.L. that year, sharing it with Lee Smith.
Holland saved another 29 games in 1984 but the Phillies dropped to 81-81 that year, though Holland was selected to the All-Star team that season. During the 1985 campaign, he was traded twice. The first one sent him back to the Pirates, alongside Frankie Griffin, for Kent Tekulve. He was traded to the Angels a few months later, alongside John Candelaria and George Hendrick, for Mike Brown, Pat Clements and a player to be named later, who was later named as Bob Kipper. Between those three teams, Holland put up a 2.90 ERA in 87 innings.
He became a free agent after that season but his situation was complicated by what became known as the “Pittsburgh drug trials”, related to cocaine use by professional baseball players. Holland was one of several players who received a 60-day suspension for admitted cocaine use, though all player suspensions were commuted in exchange for fines and community service.
He signed with the Yankees and pitched for them in both 1986 and 1987. His ERA climbed to 5.09 in the first of those. He spent most of the latter season in the minors, only making three big league appearances, allowing ten earned runs in 6 1/3 innings.
That was his final season as a big leaguer. Overall, he appeared in 384 games across ten major league seasons. He logged 646 innings with a 2.98 ERA, 513 strikeouts and 78 saves. After his playing days were done, he did some coaching at the high school level and in the minor leagues. We at MLBTR send our condolences to his family and friends, as well as all those in the baseball world mourning him today.
Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto, Imagn Images
