finalyear bats birth_place debutyear finaldate statvalue position finalteam statlabel debutdate birth_date article_title debutteam name throws
1981 left sandusky , ohio 1978 october 3 0-3 5.44 34 pitcher houston astros win-loss record earned run average strikeouts september 5 14 april 1956 bobby sprowl
 boston red sox bobby sprowl left
bobby sprowl

robert john sprowl -lrb- born april 14 , 1956 in sandusky , ohio -rrb- is a retired professional baseball player who was a pitcher in major league baseball from 1978 to 1981 .
he played for the boston red sox and houston astros .
sprowl was a star pitcher at the university of alabama , leading the nation in strikeouts per nine innings in 1977 .
he was selected by the red sox in that year 's amateur draft .
sprowl is best known for losing two critical games in the 1978 pennant race between the red sox and the new york yankees .
before he was called up to the majors , sprowl had compiled a 9-3 record in the aa eastern league .
boston 's minor league organization claimed that he `` had ice water in his veins , '' and manager don zimmer gave sprowl three starts late in the season .
sprowl 's first start was in baltimore on september 5 , where he went seven innings , allowing four runs -lrb- three earned -rrb- on five hits and three walks , but took the loss when orioles ace -lrb- and future hall-of-famer -rrb- jim palmer stifled the red sox , who got a second-inning run on a dwight evans rbi double , and then nothing more .
sprowl carried the 1-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh , having allowed only two hits to that point , but then surrendered a game-tying home run to lee may .
it was alleged that if boston left-fielder jim rice had not turned the wrong way , he could have caught may 's hit , which barely cleared a seven-foot fence in left field .
instead he lunged at the last minute and knocked the ball into the bullpen .
andres mora then grounded through the legs of red sox third baseman butch hobson , reaching second base .
-lrb- this was hobson 's second error of the game and 35th of the season . -rrb- .
sprowl retired rick dempsey on a grounder to shortstop , as pinch-runner mike dimmel advanced to third , and then with the infield playing in , carlos lopez hit a soft liner that did n't even reach the outfield on the fly , but dropped for a hit and allowed dimmel to score the eventual winning run .
-lrb- sprowl retired the next two batters to end the inning , but gave up a hit and a walk to start the bottom of the eighth , and those runners eventually scored when relief pitcher dick drago allowed a two-out , two-strike pinch-hit double by terry crowley , providing baltimore an insurance margin .
zimmer had told drago to pitch around crowley -lsb- `` it does n't matter if you walk crowley .
we can still work to dempsey . '' -rsb-
, but was ignored . -rrb-
the red sox players lauded sprowl 's effort -lrb- `` the kid only threw three or four bad pitches all night , '' said catcher carlton fisk , `` but he kept apologizing to me . '' -rrb-
and zimmer decided to give him a second start .
his second start was on september 10 against the new york yankees , in the fourth game of a four-game series at fenway park , after the yankees had already defeated mike torrez , jim wright , and dennis eckersley to draw within one game of boston .
zimmer passed over veterans bill `` spaceman '' lee and luis tiant , who had dominated the yankees during their careers .
-lrb- lee , for example , won 12 out of 17 decisions against the yankees in 10 years with boston .
then again , lee had been pulled from the rotation after losing his last seven starts , had barely pitched since then because he had publicly feuded with zimmer , and it 's arguable that what lee did against the yankees in 1969 did n't have much relevance in 1978 .
the 37-year-old tiant had thrown a two-hit shutout in baltimore the night after sprowl 's start , and would have been working on three days ' rest had zimmer chosen to advance him in the rotation . -rrb-
sprowl walked the first two batters , got thurman munson to hit into a double play , but was unable to retire reggie jackson and escape the inning , surrendering an rbi single .
he then walked lou piniella and chris chambliss and was pulled .
-lrb- reliever bob stanley allowed a hit to drive in two more runs , which were charged to sprowl , before finishing the inning . -rrb-
the yankees won the game , 7-4 -lrb- although jack brohamer came close to a tying 3-run home run in the 9th -rrb- , tying boston for the the division lead , and subjecting zimmer to much second-guessing , due to sprowl 's perceived `` nerves '' .
tiant started the next night against baltimore and took a 4-1 lead into the 8th before tiring and surrendering three straight hits to open the frame ; stanley allowed the tying run , but no more , and the red sox scored in the bottom of the 8th to win the game and briefly reclaim first place , as the yankees were idle .
however , the red sox then lost their next three games -lrb- two in cleveland to the lowly indians -rrb- and were 1.5 games behind the yankees when they arrived in new york on september 15th , which would have been sprowl 's next start .
perhaps due to previous criticism , zimmer this time opted to bypass sprowl and start tiant on short rest ; tiant lasted only 3.2 innings and allowed all four runs in the red sox ' 4-0 defeat .
sprowl was not used at all against the yankees that weekend -lrb- torrez and eckersley started , both likewise on three days ' rest , and pitched well -rrb- , but started the monday -lrb- september 18 -rrb- game in detroit .
he allowed three runs in 5 innings , leaving with a 4-3 lead .
-lrb- stanley blew the save in the eighth , but boston won it in the 11th . -rrb-
this would be sprowl 's last start of the season , as zimmer went with a four-man rotation of tiant , torrez , eckersley , and stanley for the final two weeks .
-lrb- torrez and eckersley continued to pitch well on short rest ; tiant was knocked out four batters into the september 19 game at detroit boston rallied to win , but was more effective thereafter ; perhaps only pitching 3.2 innings on the 15th and to just four batters on the 19th enabled him to be essentially well-rested for his three remaining starts .
was 1-1 in his two starts . -rrb-
overall , sprowl went 0-2 with a 6.39 earned run average .
the following season , he was traded to the astros .
he pitched in 19 games over the next three years , mostly in middle relief .
he was sent back to the minors in 1982 , and spent three seasons in the astros and baltimore orioles organizations .
the closest he ever got to the majors again was three games for the astros ' top affiliate , the tucson toros .
he ended his major-league career with an 0-3 record in four years .
he is currently the head coach of the shelton state community college baseball team .
