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Today's Featured Biography
James Todd Jr.
Posted: Saturday, May 25, 2013 11:50 pm | Updated: 4:09 pm, Fri Sep 13, 2013.
TOM ARNOLD Correspondent
Baseball season is in full swing, and former Lancaster resident Jim Todd has lots of fond memories of what it's like playing in the major leagues.
"If you take the best thing you've ever done and multiply it by 100, then you would get the feeling of what it's like to have a dream come true and play in the major leagues," Todd said.
Todd, 65, graduated from McCaskey in 1965 and was recruited by the likes of Duke, Penn State, Bucknell and West Chester, but none of the schools offered a scholarship. So Todd's father, Jim Sr., called local Detroit Tigers scout Ralph DeFranco, and DeFranco arranged for Todd to play on scholarship at Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa.
Todd became the captain of the freshman basketball team and played third base for Parsons.
"They didn't even know I pitched," Todd recalled. "One day I was throwing batting practice, and the manager walked by and asked me if I'd ever pitched before, and I told him I pitched since I was in Little League."
The manager promised Todd if he came back the next year he would use him as a pitcher. Unfortunately for Todd, Parsons lost its accreditation and young Todd had to take his talent elsewhere.
"Elsewhere" turned out to be back home in Lancaster County at Millersville University, where he played basketball and baseball.
In 1969, Todd was taken in the 10th round of the MLB amateur draft by the Chicago Cubs and began his climb to the majors.
Todd spent 1972 and '73 with the Wichita Arrows in AAA ball and was on the major league roster, meaning the Cubs had to use an option on him: either bring him up to the big leagues or let him go elsewhere.
"I started the '74 season in AAA level, but I got called up in May of that year. At that time, I was making $14,000 per year, and I said if I get called I want $16,500, or I wasn't going to go," Todd said with a laugh.
Todd spent the rest of the '74 season with the Cubs, finishing with a 4-2 record, a 3.89 ERA and "a couple saves."
Todd remembers his first major league appearance as if it were yesterday. He was 26.
"Burt Hooton started the game and was losing. So manager Whitey Lockman figured, 'What the heck. Bring Todd in,' so the first batter I faced was César Cedeño, who I walked on four pitches. Cedeño stole second, and I wild-pitched him to third. I then proceeded to balk him home. But, I got the next three batters out."
Todd pitched against the Phillies in 1974 in Veterans Stadium against Steve Carlton, and lost. In 1975, Todd was traded to the Oakland A's and was with the team about 15 minutes until he was sent to AAA.
"I wasn't going to go, but Wes Stock was the pitching coach, and he knew (owner) Charlie Finley and told me to do what I was told and Finley would bring me back up, which he did in just two weeks."
Todd rewarded the A's by going 8-3 with 12 saves and a tidy 2.29 ERA in 58 games.
In 1977, Oakland traded Todd back to the Cubs, where Herman Franks was his manager. He and Franks never saw eye to eye, and Todd eventually was traded to Seattle, where he finished the '78 season with a 3-4 record and a 3.88 ERA.
In 1979, Oakland called again, so Todd moved farther down the West Coast to work as a spot starter and long reliever for Billy Martin. Todd got sick and lost a lot of weight and didn't touch a baseball until just days before spring training. The A's released him the following spring.
Todd pitched for the San Francisco Giants' AAA club in 1980, but by then he had a wife and two kids and decided it was time to move on to the next stage of his life.
Todd finished his career with a 25-23 record, 24 saves and a 4.23 ERA, and pitched in three playoff games against the Boston Red Sox in 1975.
Todd's fondest memory came in 1975 while pitching against the Chicago White Sox in old Comiskey Park. "I came into the game with the bases loaded and the first batter I faced was Bill Melton, who (was among the league leaders) in home runs in '75, and I struck him out. Then I got Deron Johnson to ground back to the mound for a double play and I got us out of the inning."
Todd now lives in the Denver, Colo., area, where he works in the real estate appraisal business. He married his college sweetheart, Elsie, whom he met at Millersville. They have two daughters and four grandchildren.
Todd's father, brother, Donald, and sister, Cindy Gebhard, still live in the Lancaster area. Todd's mother passed away in 2001.
"I couldn't have done any of this without my wife, who followed me around in our old Corvair, and the rest of my family," Todd said.
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