‘Did a pitcher get a save while drunk?
It’s a question that’s making the rounds in local baseball circles because it’s alleged to have happened in the World Series.
Former All-Star catcher A. J. Pierzynski (47-retired), who played in the Major Leagues for 19 years, appeared on Foul Territory, a U.S. online media outlet, on Wednesday (June 12) and mentioned a former teammate who pitched drunk in the World Series.
According to Pierzynski, the incident occurred in Game 3 of the Chicago White Sox-Houston World Series on Oct. 25, 2005, in Houston, where the game went to extra innings. The White Sox scored two runs in the top of the 14th inning to take a 7-5 lead, but in the bottom of the inning, they had runners on second and third.
Mark Burley (44-retired) came on in relief. Burley, who had started Game 2 of the World Series and allowed four runs in seven scoreless innings, was back on the mound just two days later and got Adam Everett to fly out to center field on three pitches to earn the save. Riding a three-game winning streak, the White Sox went on to win Game 4 to clinch the World Series for the first time in 88 years.
Pierzynski, who started the game for the White Sox and was replaced in the ninth inning, said, “Burley was drunk when he took the mound. He wasn’t just drunk, he was full drunk,” Pierzynski said of the situation.
“The starting pitchers never drink on game days,” he continued. But it’s different for the guys in the bullpen,” he said, adding, “What do you do when you’re sitting in the bullpen for a four-hour game,” suggesting that on-field drinking was not uncommon among bullpen pitchers at the time.
Burley, who made his major league debut in 2000 with the White Sox, is a legendary pitcher who compiled a 214-160 record in 16 years in the big leagues before retiring in 2015 with Toronto. He was also a five-time All-Star pitcher. He won 16 regular-season games in 2005, the year he earned the “Drinking Save,” and posted double-digit wins in 15 consecutive years from 2001 through his retirement season.스포츠토토
While non-pitching beasts in the major leagues don’t drink openly, there have been cases of whiskey mixed with chewing tobacco. One South American player who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers in their heyday used to put honey and whiskey on his chewing tobacco before a game, the first thing he did after getting dressed in the clubhouse.
He laughed and explained the process to a reporter who looked at him curiously. First, he opens the package of the chewing tobacco and squeezes a certain amount of honey from a plastic container into it. He then looks around and adds a miniature whiskey that they give out on airplanes when no one is looking, mixes it with a spoon, pops it in his mouth, and is ready to go. We don’t know what his blood alcohol level was at the time, but it was a real “drinking game”.