MSL to MLB: Memories of Willie Hernandez Include Connection with Maine South's Dave Bergman
Trade Cemented Their Legacies with 1984 World Champion Detroit Tigers
The passing of Willie Hernandez on Monday at age 69 brought back memories of some of the amazing young arms that came through the Cubs bullpen in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It also brought to mind his connection to baseball in this area with Maine South product Dave Bergman.
The left-handed Hernandez is best-known for his amazing 1984 season where he won the rare World Series-Cy Young Award-Most Valuable Player combination in the same year. The only others to achieve the feat are Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax with the 1963 Dodgers and Denny McLain with the 1968 Tigers.
Hernandez’s signature screwball was never better than 1984 when he was 9-3 with a 1.92 ERA and 32 saves in 80 appearances. He allowed only 96 hits and 36 walks with 112 strikeouts in 140⅓ innings and it was a different era for closers as 21 of his saves were more than 1 inning. His only blown save was in his second-to-last appearance where he didn’t give up a hit but a game-tying sacrifice fly.
Hernandez joined the Cubs in 1977 at age 22 and was far from a fan favorite at the Friendly Confines when he was sent to Philadelphia early in the 1983 season for pitcher Dick Ruthven. During Hernandez’s time on the North Side here were some of the up-and-coming, 20-something relievers he spent time with in the bullpen down the left-field line:
Hall of Famer, Cy Young winner and six-time all-star Bruce Sutter
Hall of Famer and seven-time all-star Lee Smith
Three-time all-star Jay Howell
All-star Bill Caudill
All-star Donnie Moore
12-year lefty Craig Lefferts
Naturally, with the exception of Smith in 1984, none of it meshed into team success at 1060 W. Addison. The best days individually for Hernandez, a three-time all-star, and Howell, Caudill, Moore and Lefferts occurred after they left town. Hernandez entered the 1984 season with 27 career saves.
Hernandez helped the 1983 Phillies reach the World Series where they lost to the Orioles. That’s a painful memory for White Sox fans after losing the ALCS to the Orioles, but the high expectations of both teams put the Tigers, who finished 92-70 and 6 games behind the Orioles, and manager Sparky Anderson in pursuit of lefty relief help for 1984.
In late March, the Tigers were able to pry Hernandez from the Phillies. They also grabbed another lefty thrower and hitter in Bergman, who had just been picked up by Philadelphia literally a few hours earlier in a trade from San Francisco.
Bergman, who passed away from cancer in 2015, was the first of six Maine South products to play big-league baseball along with high school teammate and outfielder Joe Zdeb, infielders Jim Walewander and Adam Rosales, outfielder Jim Rushford and pitcher Brian Schlitter. Zdeb was considered the bigger prospect as he was taken in the fourth round of the 1971 draft and signed with the Kansas City Royals. Bergman was taken in the 12th round by his hometown Cubs but opted to go to Illinois State, where he became a member of the school’s athletic hall of fame and had his No. 12 jersey retired.
The late George Verber coached Bergman in baseball and basketball at Maine South.
“His biggest asset was that he was a tremendously hard worker,” Verber said in Bergman’s Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) biography. “He was the first one to practice and the last one to leave. In all the years I coached I never had anyone work harder than Dave.”
After earning All-American honors in his junior year at ISU, Bergman was drafted in the second round by the Yankees in the June 1974 draft and a year later he made his big-league debut. He would eventually establish himself as a slick-fielding first baseman with the Astros and Giants. He wasn’t a big power guy in his 17-year career - although one of his 54 homers is one of the most memorable from the ‘84 Tigers season - but he wasn’t an easy out as he hit .258 with only 347 strikeouts in 2,679 career at-bats.
He also wasn’t too happy initially about going to the Tigers in the deal that sent first baseman John Wockenfuss and outfield prospect Glenn Wilson to the Phillies. Bergman was coming off his best year in the bigs (.286, 6 homers, 24 RBI in 140 at-bats) when the Giants traded him to the Phillies for outfielder Alejandro Sanchez.
In his SABR biography, Bergman is quoted as telling the Detroit Free Press: “The trade to the Tigers didn’t please me at first. I thought I had done a good job with San Francisco last year, and then all of a sudden I’m being traded for a minor leaguer.”
To say it went better than Bergman, Hernandez and the Tigers could have imagined is an understatement. Bergman became a solid contributor and hit .273 with 7 homers and 44 RBI in 120 games as the Tigers won 35 of their first 40 and finished 104-58. Bergman was rushing in from first base to mob Hernandez after his third save of that postseason finished off the Padres in 5 games in the World Series.
“That was just a collective team effort,” Bergman said in his SABR biography. “We went to the ballpark every day knowing that we were going to win. … We had everyone pulling the cart in the same direction.”
That included a memorable April 7 game against the White Sox at old Comiskey Park in the NBC Game of the Week. Bergman came in for defense in the seventh inning of Jack Morris’ no-hitter and made two tough backhand plays on a liner by Tom Paciorek and a hard grounder near the line by pinch hitter Jerry Hairston.
The trade with Hernandez helped turn Detroit into Bergman’s home. He played for the Tigers until he retired in January 1993 and stayed in the area as he became a financial advisor, raised his family and got involved with many charitable and philanthropic causes.
His connections to local baseball weren’t totally separated. Bergman’s brother Jeff also played at Illinois State and has been a baseball and softball instructor for years. Jeff Bergman’s son and Dave’s nephew Luke was a Daily Herald All-Area shortstop on Prospect’s Class 4A third-place finisher in 2011 and he hit a dramatic walk-off solo homer in the seventh inning of a regional championship game at Fremd.
Apparently it ran in the family because Dave Bergman’s first homer with the Tigers in early June 1984 had the added drama of coming on ABC’s Monday Night Baseball with Al Michaels, Howard Cosell and retired Hall of Fame Orioles manager Earl Weaver on the broadcast. The hard-charging Blue Jays had a chance to cut the Tigers’ division lead to 3½ games when Bergman came up in the bottom of the 10th inning of a 3-3 tie with two on and two out.
Bergman finally won a classic 13-pitch battle when he golfed a low slider from Roy Lee Jackson into the right field upper deck at historic Tiger Stadium. Bergman joked to the Detroit Free Press, “it was getting near midnight. Somebody had to get a hit.”
Naturally, Willie Hernandez and Dave Bergman were linked in the magical moment in Tigers’ history. Hernandez didn’t get the win but he made it possible with 3 innings of scoreless relief.
From Maine South to the Majors
Dave Bergman
An 0-for-18 start didn’t discourage Bergman as he wound up with a solid 17-year career with the Yankees, Astros, Giants and Tigers from 1975-92. Strong glove at first and good contact hitter made him valuable as he finished with .258 average. Key cog for ‘84 World Series champion Tigers, also got into the postseason with ‘87 Tigers and ‘80 Astros and got first MLB hit in 4 at-bats with ‘77 World Champion Yankees.
Adam Rosales
Rosales’ versatility was a big asset as he played all four infield spots and hit .226 with 48 HR in an 11-year career with the Reds, A’s, Rangers, Padres, Diamondbacks and Cleveland (2008-18). Was a 12th-round draft pick out of Western Michigan by the Reds in 2005. One of his best seasons was with the 2016 Padres when he hit .229 with 13 HR and 35 RBI in 214 at-bats.
Jim Rushford
A study in perseverance as Rushford was undrafted out of San Diego State and played four years of independent ball - including 1999 with the Schaumburg Flyers - before making the Brewers’ organization. The 2022 September callup for the Brewers hit .143 in 77 big-league at-bats but homered off one-time 20-game winner Rick Helling at Arizona.
Brian Schlitter
Schlitter went 3-6 with a 5.40 ERA in 84 appearances - 78 with the Cubs in 2010 and 2014-15 and 6 with the 2019 A’s. Made 61 relief appearances in 2014 and one of his wins came in relief on the South Side against the White Sox. He was still pitching this summer with the Chicago Dogs in independent ball.
Jim Walewander
Walewander was part of Maine South’s memorable 1979 Class AA basketball state champs and saw action in the 83-67 title-game upset of unbeaten and top-ranked Quincy. Walewander hit .215 in 242 career at-bats with the Tigers, Yankees and Angels but the rookie infielder found himself in the middle of the Tigers’ dramatic comeback in the final week of the season to overtake the Blue Jays for the AL East title. Walewander scored the winning run in the 12th inning of a 3-2 win over Toronto in Game 161 and had a play at third base for the second out in the ninth of Frank Tanana’s 1-0 division clincher the next day. He doubled in his first MLB at-bat off Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven and in the same game fellow alum Dave Bergman homered and doubled.
Joe Zdeb
Zdeb had also signed to play college football at Missouri but opted for pro baseball after he was drafted in the 4th round by the Royals in 1971. Outfielder hit .272 in 345 at-bats in 1977-79 during the Royals’ early glory days and his first year (.297, 2 HR, 23 RBI) was his best for the AL West champions. Also played 4 games in ALCS. Was traded to White Sox before ‘80 season but split time in Triple-A with them and Mets, retired, and like Bergman, became a financial advisor. Zdeb’s father Carl was a principal at Conant for more than 20 years and an administrator in District 211.
And Glen Van Proyen, who coached Maine South to a second-place finish in the one-class state baseball tournament in 1966, spent the bulk of his five decades as a scout with the Dodgers and also with the Cubs. He signed three All-Stars in Buffalo Grove grad Mike Marshall, 1983 White Sox Rookie of the Year Ron Kittle and Matt Herges.