Yankees Birthday of the Day: Walt Terrell

Q: What teams did Walt Terrell play for in Major League Baseball?

Walt Terrell played for the New York Mets, Detroit Tigers, San Diego Padres, and New York Yankees during his MLB career.

Q: What was Walt Terrell's best performance with the New York Yankees?

His best performance with the Yankees was a complete-game shutout against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Q: When was Walt Terrell born and where?

Walt Terrell was born on May 11, 1958, in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Q: What was Walt Terrell's career ERA during his time with the Detroit Tigers?

Walt Terrell had a league-average ERA of 4.14 during his first three seasons with the Detroit Tigers.

NEW YORK - CIRCA 1987: Walt Terrell #35 of the Detroit Tigers pitches against the New York Yankees during a Major League Baseball game circa 1987 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. Terrell played for the Tigers from 1985-88 and from 1990-92. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) | Getty Images The 1989 Yankees were a mostly forgettable squad. Situated squarely within the late-80s decline that came before the dynasty years of the late ‘90s, the ‘89 team combined lengthy winning and losing streaks to reach the All-Star Break with a 43-43 record — good for second in the AL East, 5.5 games behind the division-leading Baltimore Orioles. A late-July swoon, however, prompted the Bombers to swing some deals at the deadline, bringing today’s birthday boy to the Bronx: 11-year big-league pitcher Walt Terrell, who had a 13-start Yankees career. **Charles Walter Terrell***Born:*May 11, 1958 (Jeffersonville, IN) *Yankees Tenure:*1989 Born to a factory worker and seamstress in rural Indiana, Walt Terrell grew up without either indoor plumbing or a telephone for a good chunk of his childhood, receiving the former in 1965 and the latter in 1967. Despite this, the 6-foot-7 Terrell proved to be a remarkable athlete from a young age, playing high school baseball, football, and basketball. Off the back of a strong senior season, in which he threw a no-hitter and posted a batting average above .300, he went on to attend Morehead State University in Kentucky, where he learned a changeup — and how to truly pitch, not simply throw the ball — from coach Steve Hamilton, a 12-year Major Leaguer who spent eight seasons with the Yankees. Originally drafted in the 15th round of the 1979 draft by the , Terrell returned to college for his senior season. In the short term, this cost him draft stock, as he wound up going to the in the 33rd round the following year. In the long term, however, this turned out to be the right move: when he finally took ta professional mound that summer, he hit the ground running, steadily climbing through the system. When he was traded, along with Ron Darling, to the Mets in April 1982 for Lee Mazzilli, he was immediately added to the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate, and made his debut that September when rosters expanded. Terrell started the 1983 season back in the minors, but returned to The Show for good that June. For the next year and a half, he was a mainstay in the rotation in Queens. At that point, though, his time with the Mets came to an end, as he was traded to the Detroit Tigers on December 7, 1984. He would go on to spend four seasons there. Across the first three, he was one of Detroit’s most reliable pitchers, averaging 34 starts per season while posting a perfectly league average 4.14 ERA. An ankle injury and underperformance ruined his 1988 campaign, however, prompting the Tigers to trade him to the a few weeks after the season ended. Terrell was an effective middle-of-the-rotation starter in , going 5-13 with a 4.01 ERA (88 ERA+) in 19 starts as a member of the Padres. With the Padres in fourth place and 9.5 games behind the first place Giants in the NL West, San Diego opted to flip the impending free agent at the deadline for struggling Yankees third baseman Mike Pagliarulo and pitcher Don Schulze. The Yankees undoubtedly hoped Terrell would provide a jolt to the middle of their rotation as they tried to battle back in the division. That, unfortunately, did not happen. He allowed four runs or more in six of his first seven starts, getting tagged with the loss in four of them. Below is one such blow-up, when the “Why Not” Orioles—stunning contenders in ’89 after record-setting misery in ’88—got to him for five runs on eleven hits in six innings of work on August 26th: In truth, Terrell only had one major highlight with the Yankees, a five-hit complete-game shutout at Fenway Park against Wade Boggs and the . That ended his season on a high note at the very least. That offseason, Terrell was interested in a return to the Bronx, but ultimately signed a three-year contract with the for $3.6 million. That contract lasted all of 16 starts, as the Pirates released him in the middle of July after he started his Pirates career with a 2-7 record and a 5.88 ERA. The Tigers picked him up, and he spent the last two and a half years of his career with them. He signed a minor league deal with the ahead of the 1993 season, but failed to make the team out of spring training and, when it was clear that the team had no interest in bringing him up, retired in July. After his career, Terrell moved to Kentucky and, according to SABR, worked for Pepsi and coached high school and travel baseball. In 2005, he was inducted into the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame. *See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series *.