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A native of Highland Park, Michigan, Bill Campbell began his professional baseball career with the Minnesota Twins after a military stint in Vietnam. He reached the majors within two seasons. A starting pitcher in the minors, Bill broke into the big leagues as a reliever with Minnesota during the 1973 season. That kicked off a stretch in which he was one of the sport’s better late-game weapons. During the ’76 campaign, he led all big leaguers with 68 games finished. For his efforts, Bill earned a seventh-place finish in AL Cy Young balloting and an eighth-place tally in MVP voting. That marked an excellent platform showing before he qualified for free agency. He signed with the Red Sox that offseason and had another great year during his first season in Boston. He put up a 2.96 ERA across 140 innings, pacing the American League with 31 saves, and earned an All-Star nod and finished fifth in Cy Young voting and 10th in MVP balloting. He was the first recipient of the "Rolaids Relief Man of the Year". That was his last elite season. He experienced arm trouble in 1978 and was no longer the dominating closer that he had been. He was limited to fewer than 55 innings in each of the next four years with the Red Sox. Bill signed with the Chicago Cubs upon qualifying for free agency during the 1981-82 offseason. The Cubs traded him to the Phillies, but he’d change teams each year for the rest of his career, following up with successive one-year stops as a Cardinal, Tiger and Expo. Bill appeared in all 15 major league seasons from 1973-87. At career’s end, he owned a 3.54 ERA in 1229 1/3 innings over exactly 700 big league appearances. Bill struck out 864 hitters, won 83 games and finished off 455 outings with 126 saves. After his playing career concluded, Bill had coaching stints in the Brewers and Red Sox organizations. Bill Campbell passed away on January 6, 2023 in a Chicago area hospice, after a battle with cancer, at the age of 74. |
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