DENNIS RASMUSSEN: MY HERO OF THE 80's

Watching the Yankees playing in the 980’s was both thrilling and exasperating. The lineup was just a hitting machine, with the likes of Don Mattingly, RickeyHenderson, Dave Winfield, Willie Randolph, and on and on. At the same time, our pitching was generally awful. When the starting rotation would stabilize, the bullpen would give away games, and vice-versa. One of the bright spots of the rotation was a guy named Dennis Rasmussen. As a teenager, I felt like he was part of the starting five for something like forever. In reality, it was for about four years. Both for those years, especially in 1986, he was a bright spot on an otherwise terrible pitching staff, and gave Yankee fans hope for a successful year. 

It is hard to imagine this scenario, but Rasmussen was the only Yankees pitcher in 1986 with double-digits in wins. Ron Guidry, the only other pitcher who even came close to him, in terms of productivity, was in the twilight of his career, and the Yankees were in need of a new ace. Rasmussen, who was 27 years old at the time, ended up winning 18 games for the Yankees and looked like the next big thing. 

Between 1982 and 1992, only three times did a Yankee get 18 wins or more – Rasmussen in 1986, Guidry in 1985 (22), and Guidry in 1983 (21). Given Guidry’s age, you can imagine why we all looked to Rasmussen as the next man to lead the charge back to the playoffs.

(In Photo: Dennis Rasmussen) 
Despite his pitching success with the Yankees, they never really valued his skills. Rasmussen played for a management structure that valued power hitting and home runs far more than good, solid pitching. For those that remember baseball at that time, you know that when I say management structure, I mean George Steinbrenner. Opposing batters hit .217 against him in 1986, and he allowed no more than three runners or less in five of his last six starts as a Yankee. 

Nevertheless, despite all of that, we traded him to the Reds for barely-mediocre starter Bill Gullickson (read here). The best comparison I can think of is if the Yankees were to trade CC Sabathia to Oakland for Jarrod Parker. I was one of many fans who were in shock and disgust at this news. The only explanation I could think of was that perhaps because he had lost his last start several days earlier, and that George had lost patience, so he had to make move. Nevertheless, the record speaks for itself. On the day of the trade, the Yankees held a 71-55 record, in third place, and were four games out of first. They went 18-18 the rest of the way and finished the season in fourth place and nine games out. 

Though Dennis Rasmussen did not compile huge Yankees statistics, for the time that he pitched here, he was cause for hope. The 1980’s was the decade when Yankee fans learned that hitting looks good on highlight reels, but pitching wins championships. On a team where top-shelf pitching was scarce, Dennis Rasmussen was a pitcher that stood out and represented the hope that we had something to build on. He was fun to watch, he was sorely missed when he was traded, and for those of us who remember watching him pitch, he is one of the key players I always look forward to seeing on Old Timers’ Day.

--Ike Dimitriadis, BYB Writer
Twitter: @KingAgamemnon
My blog is: Shots from Murderer's Row



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