THE COCKROACH

October 20, 2023

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball as much as Ichiro loved hosing base runners.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about a ballplayer that had a roller coaster career, but refused to die, and eventually got his moment of glory.

Kurt Bevacqua, aka “Dirty Kurt” had one of the strangest careers in MLB history.

Mostly he was terrible, but at times he was absolutely incredible.

Ultimately, it was a single game that immortalized him in the hearts of San Diegans.

But before we get there, who is this guy?

Bevaqua isn’t someone you’d be itching to get in your fantasy draft.

Kurt first made a name for himself off the field by winning a nationally televised bubble gum blowing contest when he was with the Brewers.

This accomplishment is actually the sole achievement that got him into the Hall of Fame.

During a 15-season big league career, he was traded six times, purchased twice, released twice and signed as a free-agent twice.

Overall, he suited up for six different big league teams.

Bevacqua posted a lifetime batting average of .236 in over 2,000 AB’s.

But when it mattered most, Kurt was CLUTCH.

In '84, Bevacqua was with the Padres in their first trip to the World Series.

After receiving just two at-bats in the National League Championship Series, Bevacqua served as DH for all five World Series games in ‘84.

Down 3-2 in the fifth, Kurt stepped in the box with two ducks on the pond.

He took the first strike.

The next pitch was a belt high slider.

Bevacqua connected. 

Kurt knew it was out from the moment he hit it.

He raised his arms in triumph and did a full spin on his way to first.

GLORY AT LAST.

The Padres held onto that two run lead, and to this day it's their ONLY World Series win in 54 seasons.

Bevacqua was released a year later in the spring of '86 and decided to retire.

BASEBALL TRIVIA

Find the answer in the bottom of this email!

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Clarkson came from a family of ballers.

His brothers, John and Walter played in the Major Leagues as well; John is a Hall of Famer with over 300 wins.

"Dad" had his best season in '83 with the Browns when he went 12-9 and recorded a 3.48 ERA.

Unfortunately, he was never able to recapture that success, and he was out of the game completely by the end of 1896.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites: