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65. The Amazing Emu... Jim Kern

65. The Amazing Emu... Jim Kern

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 1975 was a banner year for Rookies in Major League Baseball. Fred Lynn broke onto the scene in Boston and won Rookie of the Year and MVP… the first player ever to do that. And in the National League, John, “The Count” Montefusco took home the honors of National League Rookie of the Year. The Giants hurler narrowly beat out The Kid, Gary Carter, who went on to have a Hall of Fame career as a catcher. The only other player to get a vote for American League Rookie of the Year was Lynn’s teammate, a future Hall of Famer himself, Jim Rice who had a fantastic freshman year. The 3rd Hall of Famer in that rookie class was a pitcher in Cleveland by the name of Dennis Eckersley. But he wasn’t the only young stud on that staff… Enter The Amazing Emu… Jim Kern. A non-drafted pitcher out of Midland, Michigan, Kern didn’t rise quickly through the minors and took a detour when he joined the marines in 1969. After a year of serving and 5 more in the reserves, Kern’s baseball career started to take off and after a brief callus to the bigs in ’74, he came up for good in ’75. As a starter he had inconsistent success but with Frank Robinson as his manager, he converted to a receiver in 1976 and a star was born. One of the hardest throwers in the game, Kern took to his new role immediately, winning 10 games and saving 15 with an ERA of 2.37 over 117 innings. He was an American League All-Star the next three seasons culminating in 1979 when he won 13 games out of the pen and saved another 29 while amassing 143 innings with an ERA of 1.57. A season for the ages for the 6’5 flamethrower. Unfortunately injuries plagued Kern for much of the rest of his career. He bounced around the league and other than a resurgence in 1982 for a bad Reds team, he never was as dominant as he was during that 4-year stretch from 1976-79… On the Past Our Prime podcast, Kern tells us about his journey from being undrafted out of high school, to the marines to a 3-time All-Star reliever from 1977 to 1979. He tells us about his days in Cleveland that included playing for the first black manager in baseball history, Hall of Famer Frank Robinson and being on the same pitching staff as another Hall of Famer, Dennis Eckersley. Kern speaks fondly of many teammates including Gaylord Perry, Pat Dobson, Sparky Lyle and Boog Powell who taught this “dumbass rookie” as much about being a pitcher as anyone he ever came across. And this baseball character tells us about the best prank he ever took part in, and how Buddy Bell got his revenge! It’s a bunch of laughs with one of the funniest relief pitchers of the late 70’s who could throw the ball about as hard as anyone for a brief, yet electric time in Cleveland and Texas. The Amazing Emu, Jim Kern, on the Past Our Prime podcast. Download, listen, subscribe and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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