Terry Leach: Former 1980's Mets Pitcher (1981/ 1985-1989)

Terry Hester Leach was born on March 13, 1954, in Selma, Alabama. 

His father Cecil had been a college football player at Auburn University. Cecil & his wife Alma had two other sons who were respectively fourteen & seven years older than little Terry.

The six-foot right-handed pitcher went to Auburn University pitching for the Tigers in the 1976 College World Series.

Leach had originally signed a contract with the Boston Red Sox but that deal got voided. The following year he signed with the Atlanta Braves. He struggled in the Braves minor leagues, going 19-23 getting released in July 1980.

Mets Career: A week later he was picked up by the New York Mets. 

Pitching Style: Leach was a side armed throwing pitcher with a unique style. In his pitching motion, he would bend down low scraping his knee, which he kept padded, on the ground. 

In 1981 Leach was 10-3 pitching at both AA Jackson & AAA Tidewater for the Mets getting called up in August of that year.

MLB Debut: On August 12th, Leach made his MLB debut at Wrigley Field with the Mets ahead 4-2 in the 7th inning in relief of Ed Lynch. He blew the save allowing a two run HR to the veteran Hawaiian native Mike Lum.

Leach pitched as a middle reliever thru the rest of the season. On September 9th he came into the game & pitched 3.1 innings of scoreless relief at Pittsburgh earning a win in the Mets 5-3 victory.

Leach would appear in 21 games that season, going 1-1 with a 2.55 ERA. He made on start, finished off three games, struck out 16 & walked 12 in 35.1 innings of work.

1982: Leach began the year at AAA Tidewater where he was 4-1 with a 2.96 ERA & five saves in 30 appearances. 

On June 29th, he was called back up to the Mets staff, pitching four scoreless innings of relief in Montreal to earn himself a victory. 

In July he collected three saves & hold.  On August 1st he gave up a 10th inning HR to Bill Madlock taking a loss to the Pirates at Shea Stadium. He made just one start on the season & it was a memorable one.

Ten Inning One Hit Shut Out: On October 1st in Philadelphia, Leach threw a ten inning, one hit shutout in a 1-0 victory over the Phils John Denny. The only hit was a 5th inning triple from Luis Aguayo. Along the way Leach struck out seven batters & walked six. 

Mets One Hitter Trivia: This was the 13th one hit game tossed by Mets pitchers in franchise history & the first since Tom Seaver's  fifth career Mets one hitter in April 1977.

The only run of the game was driven in by Hubbie Brooks on a sac fly RBI in the top of the 10th inning off pitcher Porfi Altamirano. 

On the season Leach was 2-1 with three saves and a 4.17 ERA in 21 appearances. He struck out 30 batters walking 18 in 45 innings of work.

Terry Leach spent the next two years at AAA Tidewater, getting to the World Series with them in 1983. In 1984 Terry had an impressive 11-4 season matching Bill Latham for the team lead in victories.

The Cubs were so impressed with Leach they traded two minor leaguers for him that season. But when Jim Frey took over as Cub manager, he wanted Leach to stop his side arm pitching which was a problem for Leach & he was  uncomfortable with the change. He was then traded to Atlanta for Ron Meredith eventually getting released & got resigned by the Mets.

1985: Davey Johnson who had managed Leach at AAA Tidewater knew he was versatile & had a rubber arm.  In 1985 Leach was back with the Mets in a totally new exciting electric Shea Stadium pitching for a much better team than he had three years ago. 

After making seven relief appearances & collecting two holds he got a start. On July 21st at Shea he gave up three runs (two earned) to the Braves in six innings & got the win in what turned out to be a wild 15-10 game.

Three Hit Shut Out: On August 22nd in New York, he had another memorable start throwing a three-hit shutout over the Vida Blue & the Giants. Terry struck out three & walked one in the 7-0 victory.

On August 29th, he gave up a walk off HR to the Giants Chili Davis in a 4-3 loss at Candlestick
Park. In September & October he pitched in four games in relief , making two more starts going 1-1. 

On the year he was 3-4 posting a 2.91 ERA with 30 strike outs & 14 walks in 55 innings in 22 appearances with four starts. 

Moniker: Leach earned the nickname Jack, as in a Jack of all trades.

Quotes- Manager Davey Johnson: "He just wants the ball. He doesn't want to give it up when he's on the hill & if he's not on the hill he cant wait to get there."

1986 Mets Championship Season: Leach began the season with the Mets but after six games was back at AAA Tidewater where he went 4-4 with a 2.49 ERA. 

He expected to be back when the September rosters expanded but got injured at Tidewater not being able to pitch. 

No Championship Ring: Terry was one of four Mets along with Randy Myers, Dave Magadan & Barry Lyons who did not get a Championship ring after the team won the World Series. Nine years later after years of pressure by Randy Myers, Fred Wilpon finally gave in, realizing the players contributions & split the cost with him.

1987: After the Championship season, there was expectations for a repeat. But throughout the season, the Mets staff suffered injuries, David Cone would miss two months of action & Bobby Ojeda would be out for four months. Another major set back was when Dwight Gooden had to enter drug rehab missing the first two months of the season. 

For 33 year old Terry Leach, he got a full-time chance to pitch & it was the first year he spent Opening day with the team after six seasons.

He began pitching in relief for the first two months of April & May. From May 22nd to May 29th, he earned three victories pitching out of the bullpen.

As Rick Aguilera also went down with injury, Leach was placed on the starting staff making spot starts, getting his first start on June 1st. He went up against Fernando Valenzuela at Dodger Stadium, allowing one run on four hits in six innings of work, to earn his fourth win of the year to get to 4-0 sporting a 1.98 ERA.

On June 16th, Leach beat the Expos in Montreal & then closed out the month on June 27th, beating the Phillies at Veterans Stadium. By July, Leach was 6-0 with a 2.45 ERA in 23 appearances.

Two Hit Shut Out: On July 2nd  in Cincinnati, he tossed a memorable two hit 5-0 shutout in Cincinnati. In the 2nd inning he gave up a single to Ron Oester the did allow another hit until the 8th inning when Bo Diaz singled to left field. Both hits ended in double plays. Along the way he struck out three & walked two . Lenny Dykstra led the offense with a HR, as Howard Johnson & Rafael Santana collected two RBIs each.

On July 7th in the first game of a double header sweep in Atlanta, Leach gave up just one run to the Braves in six innings lowering his season ERA to 2.08 as he went to 8-0. 

On July 29th he was used in relief in between starts, collecting a hold in St. Louis. On August 1st, Terry earned his 9th straight winning decision as the Mets put up 12 runs for him in a 12-4 at Stade Olympique in Montreal.

On August 11th at Shea Stadium he beat the Expos again, pitching eight innings allowing two runs, to put him at 10-0 on the year reaching double figures for the first time in his career. 

Needless to say Terry Leach was an incredible surprise to the Mets helping them out in a time where they were short on pitching. By mid-August they were in second place five games behind the Cardinals.

On August 15th Leach took his first loss of the season, at Wrigley Field the Cubs got him for four runs on eleven hits, knocking him out of the game by the 5th inning. But this was to be the only loss he would suffer on the season. After making another start, he was put back in the bullpen for September when David Cone returned to action & most of the usual starters got healthy again.

The Mets got as close as 1.5 games on September 19th, but they couldn't catch the Cardinals & finished second three games back. In an era with no wild card the season was over.

Leach finished the year at 11-1 with a 3.23 ERA. He posted 61 strikeouts & 29 walks in 131 innings pitched. In 44 appearances he made 12 starts & finished off 12 games. He served up 14 HRs & 132 hits.

1988 Mets NL Eastern Champion Season: After an off season knee surgery, it was back to the bull pen full time where he had another fine season. 

On May 11th Leach came into a tied game in Houston in the 9th inning & earned the win when Kevin McReynolds won the game with a 10th inning RBI single off Dave Smith. 

On June 12th, he took a walk off loss in Montreal when former Mets teammate Hubie Brooks singled in the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning. Leach would blow a save in Pittsburgh although the Mets came back for a win. He go two more months before taking another loss.

On July 14th in Atlanta, he earned an extra inning win, when McReynolds again delivered the game winning hit. Leach picked up relief victories at Philadelphia & Wrigley Field to get to 5-1.

On August 24th, Terry relived Bob Ojeda in Los Angeles with the Mets down 1-0 to Orel Hershiser. Keith Hernandez & Kevin McReynolds soon provided RBIs putting the Mets ahead with Terry collecting the 2-1 win.

On August 31st at Shea, Terry took over for an injured Sid Fernandez in the 2nd inning of a game with the Padres. He gave up four runs in six innings taking his second loss of the year. 

On September 9th, he earned  his seventh victory in a win over the Expos at Shea. On September 17th, he earned his third & last save of the season. Five days later the Mets captured their second NL East title in three years.

On the season Leach went 7-2 with three saves while posting a 2.54 ERA. He struck out 51 batters walked 24 in 92 innings pitched in 52 appearances.

1988 Post Season- NLCS: In the 1988 NLCS loss to the Dodgers, Leach made three appearances. All coming in Mets losses. In the final Game #7 blanking, he pitched two scoreless innings. Overt all in five innings he gave up no runs on four hits & struck out four Dodgers.

1989: Leach appeared in just ten games with New York this season, all in relief with no decisions. On June 5th, he pitched in his last Mets game, getting shelled for eight runs in four innings including a HR by the Cubs Mitch Webster in a 15-2 debacle at Wrigley Field.

On June 9th, Leach was traded to the Kansas City Royals for a player to be named later ( minor leaguer Agueda Vasquez).

Mets Career Stats: In his seven-year Mets career Leach was 24-9 (.727 %) with three saves 194
strikeouts 104 walks three shut outs three complete games in 18 starts & 176 appearances.

He finished out the year with the Royals but was released in Spring Training the next year. 

In 1990 he signed with the Minnesota Twins pitching there for two seasons joining former Met teammate Rick Aguilera who had become one of the AL's top closers. In 1990 Terry was 2-5 with a pair of saves making 55 appearances. 

1991 Championship Season: In the 1991 Twins Championship season, he made 50 appearances going 1-2 with a 3.61 ERA. 

1991 World Series: In the 1991 ALCS win over the Toronto Blue Jays he did not appear. In the World Series win over the Braves, Terry made two appearances. In Game #3 loss he ended the 5th inning striking out Mark Lemke with the bases loaded. In Game #5 he gave up a run in the 5th inning, of the 14-5 loss in Atlanta.

 The Twins won the World Series in seven games giving Leach his second career Championship.

In 1992 he signed with the Chicago White Sox where he went 6-5 with a 1.95 ERA in 51 appearances. He finished his pitching career with the Sox, the following season. 

Career Stats: In an eleven-year career, Leach was 38-27 with ten Saves & a 3.15 ERA. He posted 331 Strikeouts with 197 walks in 700 innings pitched in 376 appearances with 21 starts & 138 games finished.

Retirement: In 2000 he wrote an autobiography titled: "Things Happen for a Reason: The True Story of an Itinerant Life in Baseball". 

Leach retired in Stuart Florida & worked as an interior designer.

Family: Leach met his wife Chris in Savannah daughter, whom they named their daughter after.

Honors: In 2022 Leach attended the Mets Old Timers Day festivities at Citi Field.