Joseph Raymond Eischen (born May 25, 1970) is a former
relief pitcher
In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...
in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
.
High school
Joey Eischen attended West Covina High School in West Covina, California and was a letterman in football, basketball, baseball, and tennis. He graduated from West Covina High School in 1988.
Major league career
Eischen made his Major League debut with the
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
on June 19, 1994. The following year he was traded to the
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
, appearing in 17 games, striking out 15 and walking 11 over 20 innings. He was traded again at the Major League
trading deadline
In professional sports within the United States and Canada, a trade is a sports league transaction between sports clubs involving the exchange of player rights from one team to another. Though player rights are the primary trading assets, draft p ...
in 1996 to the
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
. The Los Angeles Dodgers on July 31, 1996 traded him to the Tigers with pitcher
John Cummings for outfielder
Chad Curtis
Chad David Curtis (born November 6, 1968) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and convicted sex offender. Curtis played major league baseball from 1992 to 2001 for the California Angels, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cle ...
.
In his first full season, he struck out a career high 51 batters (a number he later tied in 2002). Before the 1997 season, Eischen was traded twice - first to the
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...
, then again to the
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
.
Eischen only pitched in one game for the Reds in 1997 and did not appear in the major leagues again until 2001. He returned to the Expos in 2001 and stayed with the franchise until 2006, enjoying moderate success. He had his best season in 2002, finishing with a 6–1 record and an
ERA
An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth.
Comp ...
of 1.34. In 2003, he appeared in a career high 70 games and had a very respectable 3.06 ERA. The workload apparently caught up to him the following season, as he pitched in only 21 games and his season was cut short by a shoulder injury.
He managed to come back in 2005 (with the relocated
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...
) and appear in 57 games but was limited to a total of 36 innings. In one not-so-enviable instance, he went five consecutive outings without recording an out.
Eischen still managed to become a cult hero for Washington fans with his all out play and witty remarks. Commenting on
Orioles
Oriole or Orioles may refer to:
Animals
* Old World oriole, colorful passerine birds in the family Oriolidae
* New World oriole, a group of birds in the family Icteridae
Music
* The Orioles, an R&B and doo-wop group of the late 1940s and earl ...
owner
Peter Angelos
Peter G. Angelos (born July 4, 1929) is an American trial lawyer and baseball executive from Baltimore, Maryland. Angelos is the majority owner of the Baltimore Orioles, a team in the American League of Major League Baseball.
Early life and educ ...
' objection to the Expos move to Washington, Eischen said "He's going to have to suck on it and like it. We're not going anywhere." It was well documented that he had to wear a mouth guard because he would grind his teeth when pitching.
Until he broke his arm diving for a ball, Eischen was an integral part of the Nationals bullpen as they led the NL East through the first half of 2005. The overachieving Nationals bullpen was worn thin and the starting pitching could not maintain the pace they had set through June. At 81-81, they finished the season in last place. Eischen was the first pitcher to register a win as a National. A favorite of Frank Robinson's, Eischen spent the first several innings of every game on the top step of the dugout alongside the Hall of Famer. Perhaps as a nod from Frank, Eischen relieved Chad Cordero and was the last Nationals hurler to throw a pitch that year.
In 2006, his last in the Majors, Eischen struggled drastically for the first two months of the season and was eventually put on the 60-day disabled list when he was scheduled to have season-ending surgery on his shoulder. After 6 consecutive seasons with the organization, he was released. His career ended after a failed comeback with the Detroit Tigers in 2007, in which he was cut during
spring training
Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...
.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eischen, Joey
1970 births
Living people
Adirondack Lumberjacks players
Albuquerque Dukes players
American expatriate baseball players in Canada
Baseball players from California
Brevard County Manatees players
Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players
Butte Copper Kings players
Charlotte Rangers players
Cincinnati Reds players
Detroit Tigers players
Gastonia Rangers players
Gulf Coast Expos players
Harrisburg Senators players
Indianapolis Indians players
Los Angeles Dodgers players
Major League Baseball pitchers
Montreal Expos players
New Orleans Zephyrs players
Ottawa Lynx players
Pasadena City Lancers baseball players
Tucson Sidewinders players
Washington Nationals players
West Palm Beach Expos players
Sportspeople from West Covina, California