Randy Louis Lerch (born October 9, 1954), is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

, who played 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), ...

(MLB) for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

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 ...

, and

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

, from to .

Early life

Lerch was born in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

and attended Cordova High School in

Rancho Cordova, California Rancho Cordova is a city in Sacramento County, California, United States which was incorporated in 2003. It is part of the Sacramento Metropolitan Area. The population was 64,776 at the 2010 census. In 2010 and 2019, Rancho Cordova was named ...

Baseball career

Lerch was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1973 and debuted in the major leagues with the Phillies in September 1975. His first full season was 1977, and he was a mainstay in the Phillies' pitching rotation from 1977 until 1980, when he began pitching more in relief. On September 30, 1978, Lerch hit two home runs in a 10–8 win that clinched the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

(NL) East Division championship for the Phillies. Lerch was part of the Phillies' 1980 World Series-winning team, although he led the league in losses that season with 14 and never appeared in the World Series. During the season, Lerch fell out of favor with the team's manager, Dallas Green, and voiced an interest in being traded. As a result, Lerch was left off the Phillies' 1980 postseason roster. Not long after the Phillies won the 1980 World Series, it was enmeshed in a scandal involving

amphetamines Substituted amphetamines are a class of compounds based upon the amphetamine structure; it includes all derivative compounds which are formed by replacing, or substituting, one or more hydrogen atoms in the amphetamine core structure with sub ...

that had been taken by several members of the team. In 1981, Lerch testified under oath that the Phillies' team physician for its Double-A affiliate in

Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Reddin'') is a city in and the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 95,112 as of the 2020 census and is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania after Philade ...

had prescribed amphetamines for the organization's major league players, and that Lerch himself had received the pills. Soon after testifying, Lerch was traded by the Phillies to the Milwaukee Brewers on March 1, 1981 for outfielder Dick Davis. In August 1982, the Brewers sold Lerch to the Montreal Expos, who released Lerch in July 1983. He then was signed by the San Francisco Giants less than two weeks later. After the 1984 season, Lerch filed for free agency and was signed the following year by the Phillies. He pitched about a year for the Phillies before they released him in June 1986. Lerch's career win–loss record was 60–64, with 507 strikeouts and a 4.53

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA). Lerch was a better than average hitting pitcher, posting a .206

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(55-for-267) with 27 runs, 4

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, 23 RBI and 19

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

. Defensively, he was better than average, recording a .966

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

which was 13 points higher than the league average at his position. Lerch was inducted into the Reading Baseball Hall of Fame in

in 2000.

Memoir

In 2019, Lerch published his 256-page autobiography, "God in the Bullpen," written with retired professional engineer Harold "Hal" Lerch, who despite their shared surname is no relation.Schultz, Wendy. "Many life lessons are learned on the diamond," ''Mountain Democrat'' (Placerville, CA), Wednesday, August 14, 2019.
Retrieved September 18, 2019Goodling, Tabitha. "What’s in a name?" ''The Sentinel'' (Lewistown, PA), Saturday, August 24, 2019.
Retrieved September 18, 2019 The book discusses Randy Lerch's battles with drug and alcohol addiction. Columnist Barry M. Bloom called it "perhaps the greatest tell-all baseball book since the late

Jim Bouton James Alan Bouton (; March 8, 1939 – July 10, 2019) was an American professional baseball player. Bouton played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a pitcher for the New York Yankees, Seattle Pilots, Houston Astros, and Atlanta Braves between 196 ...

wrote ''

Ball Four ''Ball Four'' is a book written by former Major League Baseball pitcher Jim Bouton (1939-2019) in 1970. The book is a diary of Bouton's 1969 season, spent with the Seattle Pilots and then the Houston Astros following a late-season trade. In ...

'' in 1970."Bloom, Barry M. "Former Phillies Pitcher Randy Lerch Tells All About His Addictions In New Book," ''Forbes'' (magazine), May 9, 2020.
Retrieved May 26, 2021

Personal life

Lerch lives in

Shingle Springs, California Shingle Springs (formerly, Shingle Spring and Shingle) is a census-designated place (CDP) in El Dorado County, California, United States. The population was 4,432 at the 2010 census, up from 2,643 at the 2000 census. It is located about from Sacra ...

. He was diagnosed with

cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue repai ...

in 2016, which was caused by alcohol addiction.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lerch, Randy 1954 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Auburn Phillies players Baseball players from Sacramento, California Louisville Redbirds players Major League Baseball pitchers Milwaukee Brewers players Montreal Expos players Oklahoma City 89ers players Philadelphia Phillies players Phoenix Giants players Portland Beavers players Reading Phillies players Rocky Mount Phillies players San Francisco Giants players St. Petersburg Pelicans players