All-Time Indians: Bud Black

Bud Black had a short career with the Indians, but was extremely successful during a time that was among the worst in Indians pitching. In addition, he owns the distinction of being one of the many players from the 1988 Indians team to eventually become a manager.

While the teams of the mid to late 1980’s certainly weren’t successful (they lost over 100  games in 1985 and 1987), they somehow were a breeding ground for future leadership. Black would be one of the best managers to come out of the system, but among his 1988 teammates, Terry Francona, Ron Washington, John Farrell and Dave Clark all eventually became MLB managers and Brook Jacoby remains a Major League coach as well. It’s possibly that playing through such adversity helped allow these players understand those better who would be playing under them in the future.

The 1988 season was actually deep into Black’s career as he was drafted twice in 1977, then again in 1979 before he finally signed. Choosing the Mariners, Black would work through the minors for his first two professional seasons before making his debut in 1981, a short two appearance stint. With no real Major League trial, he was sent to Kansas City as a player to be named later for Manny Castillo.

After six and a half solid seasons for the Royals, Black was traded mid-season before hitting free agency to the Indians for Pat Tabler on June 3rd, 1988. At this point in the season, the Indians were 33-19 and Black didn’t immediately help, with a 5.03 ERA (the worst of his career) in 59 innings. By July 15th, they had fallen back to .500, falling from second in the east and 1.5 games back to fifth and 8.5. Eventually, they would fall to sixth place, 11 games out of first, the perfect example of that adversity mentioned earlier.

While Tabler was under team control through 1990, making the deal seam like a steal at the time, Black came back to the Indians as a free agent after the 1988 season to a two year, $1.375M deal. He more than made up for his disappointing 1988 campaign in 1989 with a 3.36 ERA across 221.1 innings. Along with Ferrell, Greg Swindell and Tom Candiotti, the Indians had a strong starting rotation base for the first time since 1981 and 1982. At the same time, Doug Jones and Jesse Orosco had two of the best seasons for Indians relievers ever leading to 135 less runs allowed than the previous season and over 300 less compared to the 1987 campaign. At 4.04 runs allowed per game, it was the best season for the Indians from 1976 through 2005.

The 1990 season would be more of the same for Black as he held a 3.53 ERA through 29 starts and 191 innings. Candiotti had another good season, but otherwise, Black was the Indians only reliable starter and despite the Indians having no chance at the post-season, the Indians held on to Black to the bitter end, trading him to Toronto on September 16th. The Blue Jays were attempting to win their second straight division title (they’d come up just short before winning the next three straight) and while Black wouldn’t have been able to pitch in the post-season, he made two starts down the stretch as the Jays came up just short.

More importantly, Black became the Blue Jays outgoing free agent and they received the 16th overall pick in the 1991 draft from San Francisco which they used to draft and sign Shawn Greene (call him another who was almost an Indian). Coming back to Cleveland in the deal for Black were Mauro Gozzo, Steve Cummings and Alex Sanchez, the three of whom played a total of four games (7.2 innings, all by Gozzo) for the Indians. Essentially, since Black’s final two starts of the season were meaningless for the Indians, they traded a first round draft pick in 1991 for three players they never used. Greene would go on to come in 5th in the Rookie of the Year (1995), win a Gold Glove, Silver Slugger and come in the top ten in MVP voting three times with a career WAR of 34.5. Of course, the Indians did alright with their 1991 first round pick, grabbing Manny Ramirez with the 13th overall.

Back to Black, he signed a four year, $10M deal with San Francisco that was generally less successful than his time with the Royals or Indians, although he was still a consistent starter for two years, averaging over 190 innings per season before age caught up to him in 1993. He would make just 16 starts that season and ten the next before hitting free agency a final time, signing with the Indians for the second time heading into the 1995 season.

For his final stint, he wasn’t signed until April 25th, two days before the delayed start of the season. He would make just ten more starts before his release and the subsequent end of his playing career. With an ERA nearing seven and a K/9 below seven, Black was released after allowing 18 runs (15 earned) in his final 14 innings. While he didn’t get to play in the post-season with the Indians that year, he already had his ring thanks to the 1985 Royals.

Black didn’t take much time off, joining the Indians front office after his playing days as an assistant to GM John Hart. In 1998, he became the Indians AAA pitching coach for the Bisons and performed so well the Angels signed him to do the same for their MLB squad in 2000. After a few years and a World Series victory in 2002, he was tabbed to be the manager of the San Diego Padres for the 2007 season. There he took over the team that had lost the NLCS in consecutive seasons under Bruce Bochy and finished in third in his first season, just 1.5 games out of the NL West lead. After poor seasons in 2008 and 2009, Black had his team back on top in 2010 when he won 90 games and finished just two behind the eventual World Champion Giants.

Black would stay manager of the Padres through the 2015 season, ultimately finishing with a 639-713 record, incredibly impressive given the teams he was dealt. His excellence was recognized nationally, finishing in the top 8 in Manager of the Year voting five times and winning the award in 2010. After being fired early in 2015, Black joined the Angels front office for the 2016 season before signing on with the Rockies to be their manager going into the 2017 season.