Scott McGregor walked into the Bowie manager?s office and overheard manager Don Werner discussing a power pitcher.
“You talking about me again?” McGregor joked, sending a chuckle through the room.
Werner knows his pitching coach all too well, having faced the crafty lefty when both were in the Triple-A International League in the 1970s.
“He was one of those guys you go 0-for-4 against, and you go ?How did he get me out??” Werner said. “He did it to a lot of people.”
McGregor, 52, was the winning pitcher in the final game of the 1983 World Series at Philadelphia, when the Orioles won their last World Series title.
“In the whole playoffs, I was the only one to lose a game,” McGregor said, recalling that he dropped the first game to both the White Sox and Phillies. “Then we won four in a row, and I was just fortunate enough to get the last game.”
That game was clearly a career highlight, as was a game in the 1979 playoffs when McGregor shut out the Angels in a pennant-clinching victory.
“I grew up out there, and I think my whole town was there watching that game,” McGregor said of his California home. “It was pretty exciting to clinch it in front of the home people.”
Today, the Orioles hope the 1981 American League All-Star can translate his previous successes on the mound to his tutoring of the organization?s top prospects.
Re-stocking the minor league pitching talent has been crucial in the organization?s overall efforts to rediscover Baltimore?s glory days.
His top two prospects on the Bowie staff couldn?t be any different than McGregor was as a pitcher. Armed with fastballs that reach the mid- to upper-90s, Adam Loewen and James Johnson lead a strong Baysox rotation.
“We?ve got some good prospects, a lot of good talent, kids on the rise,” McGregor said. “They?re very good, they?ve really come along at a real good pace.”
He noted that he?s worked with current Orioles pitchers Chris Ray, Sendy Rleal and Kurt Birkins, as well as Triple-A ace Hayden Penn.
“It?s just really rewarding to see these guys, help these guys down here, get them ready, and then see the outcome,” McGregor said.
THE McGREGOR FILE
» McGregor was drafted 14th overall in the first round of the 1972 draft by the New York Yankees.
» McGregor was traded with Rick Dempsey, Tippy Martinez, Rudy May and Dave Pagan from the Yankees to the Orioles in exchange for Ken Holtzman, Doyle Alexander, Grant Jackson, Elrod Hendricks and Jimmy Freeman in June 1976.
» In 356 games over 13 seasons, all of which were in Baltimore, McGregor finished with a career record of 138-108 and a 3.99 ERA. He won a career-high 20 games in 1980, and won 18 games in the championship season of 1983.
» McGregor and his wife, Cara, have three children Eric, Kate, and Mike. They have one grandchild, and another on the way.
