Chuck Tanner sang his submarine reliever’s praises, saying, “Teke made my job easier.

I wasn’t driving with my motion.

For instance, he gave up 11 runs during consecutive outings on July 7 and 8.After a successful 1983 season (18 saves, 1.64 ERA), Tekulve sought a four-year deal from the Pirates.

Pinch-hitter Pat Kelly batted, with the Pirates one out from the Series victory. Tekulve was never comfortable with his role.

He ended a personal 10-game losing streak that dated back to August 29, 1980, with a win on May 26 against Chicago. It was a season of adjustment for him.

The Pirates won the second game, 3-2. Their last four games of the season were against the Phillies, and Tekulve won both games of a doubleheader on September 29 before picking up his 31st save on October 1. He received an oil painting of himself pitching, a golf cart, a crystal bowl, and a lifetime pass to Pirates games. “I thought that, ‘I hope his legs don’t fail him now, but he’s made those plays all year and somehow I knew he would get it,” Tekulve said after the game.In the bottom of the ninth Tekulve struck out Gary Roenicke and Doug DeCinces.

The ninth inning with the Pirates leading came to be known as Tekulve Time.Seeing Tekulve coming in from the bullpen was a familiar sight to Pirates fans. His father drove a truck for the Kroger grocery-store chain, and his mother was a purchasing agent for Mercy Hospital in Hamilton, Ohio.

At the age of 40 he became the oldest pitcher to lead the league in appearances.

Parker slipped a couple of times. Tekulve pitched in the first two games, throwing 2⅔ shutout innings.The World Series started at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore on October 10. Tekulve was pitching with two outs in the ninth and left-hander Grant Jackson was warming up in the pen.

Tekulve was especially effective in September, posting a 1.64 ERA in 14 games.

He began the 1975 season with Charleston, but was recalled in June, and pitched in 34 games for the Pirates. Next he intentionally walked Ken Singleton, loading the bases and bringing up Eddie Murray, who was on a 0-for-20 streak.

He recorded a 0.94 ERA during his senior year and was selected to the All-Ohio Athletic Conference second team. Kent played Little League and Babe Ruth League. It seems that he is making excuses for himself. “The Pirates extend their congratulations to Kent Tekulve and Linda Taylor, who have just announced their engagement.” Teke was engaged!

Bedlam broke out. In 64 games pitched, he went 5-3, with a 2.45 ERA and nine saves. He has been married to Linda Taylor since October 30, 1976. He has been married to Linda Taylor since October 30, 1976.

And I like that challenge.”After the season, Gossage became a free agent and signed with the New York Yankees. When he got there, he was not asked to pitch. )Roger Angell defined the team’s character thusly: “All year at Three Rivers Stadium the loudspeakers blasted out the Pirates’ theme song during the seventh inning stretch – a thumping, catchy, disco rock number, ‘We Are Family’ by Sister Sledge!” Pittsburgh squared off against Cincinnati for the National League pennant. Murray hit a line drive to right field, the kind Dave Parker normally caught easily.

(The press box at Don Schaly Stadium was renamed the Kent Tekulve Media Building in 1994. They have two children. He was 10-1 with a 3.06 ERA and seven saves in 72 games. “I was so wrapped up in the game that it didn’t hit me until the ball was in the air and Omar [Moreno, Pirates center fielder] caught it.

His wife, Linda, was given a gold necklace with 27 diamonds representing Tekulve’s uniform number when a Pirate.Tekulve could not stay away from baseball.

They were far apart in negotiations, and Tekulve became a free agent. He made the team and was signed to a one-year contract. )No one drafted Tekulve after his college career, although he was invited to a tryout at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh in July 1969.

He returned to the Western Pennsylvania area as the general manager and pitching coach of the Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League in 2003, and in 2006 became an advance scout for the Pirates.

His first win came on May 27, when he gave up a tie-breaking homer to John Grubb of the Padres in the top of the ninth, then the Pirates’ Richie Hebner hit a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the inning.

(Tekulve’s Pittsburgh record of 94 appearances in 1979 was tied by Salomon Torres in 2006.) It seemed logical for Jackson to come in. Tekulve spent over two hours signing everything from pillowcases to sales receipts.

Tekulve was 27 years old when he broke into the big leagues on May 20, 1974, with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He became a member of the Phillies broadcast team in 1991, and stayed on until 1997.