On X/Twitter, Danny Gallagher describes himself as an Expos historian with 11 books about the franchise. 

On Friday morning, he posted a tweet about former Twins closer Jeff Reardon. The tweet shows a picture of the 70-year-old following the surgery. He’s still got his signature beard. He has his blanket or robe on but his chest. You can see the large incision down the center of his chest and electrodes stuck in various places around his chest. I won’t show that photo here as I would imagine not everyone would want to see it. (Gallagher notes in a subsequent tweet that the photo came from Reardon’s Facebook page). 

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Reardon spent three of his 16 major league seasons with the Minnesota Twins. He joined the team right before the start of the 1987 season. Six weeks into his Twins career, he had a 10.80 ERA. However, over the remainder of the season, he had a 3.03 ERA. Overall, he went 8-8 with a 4.48 ERA and 31 saves. 

He pitched in four World Series games that season and gave up no runs over 5 2/3 innings. In Game 7, Frank Viola gave up two runs in the second inning. That was it. He gave up two runs on six hits over eight innings. But when the Twins had a 4-2 lead over the Cardinals after eight innings Viola had thrown 95 pitches, and a case could be made for him to go out for the ninth. However, Tom Kelly later said that they were going to do what they did all year which was go to Reardon in that situation. Reardon got Tom Herr to fly out to centerfield. Curt Ford pinch hit and popped up to third base. And we all love seeing Willie McGee grounding to Gary Gaetti at third base. The Gold Glove winner threw across the diamond to Kent Hrbek. The Twins were World Champions. The image of Hrbek leaping into the air, and the bench racing out to the middle of the diamond where teammates embraced in celebration. 

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Reardon spent two more seasons with the Twins. In 1988, he was at his best and made an All-Star appearance. He went 2-4 with a 2.47 ERA and had 42 saves. In 1989, he went 5-4 with a 4.07 ERA and 31 saves. 

The Terminator, as he was affectionately nicknamed, made his big-league debut with the Mets in 1979. He was traded to the Expos during the shortened 1981 season. He was an All Star for Montreal in 1985 and 1986. In February of 1987, he came to the Twins with catcher Tom Nieto in exchange for LHPs Neal Heaton and Yorkis Perez, RHP Al Cardwood, and former first-round pick catcher Jeff Reed.

Following the 1989 season, he became a free agent and signed a four-year contract with the Red Sox and made one All-Star appearance for Boston. In August of 1992, he was traded to the Atlanta Braves. 

Then things got weird for The Bearded One. In 1993, he signed with the Reds. In 1994, he signed with the New York Yankees. Both teams did not allow players to have beards, so Reardon shaved and was left with only his mustache. 

When he retired in 1994, Reardon was the All-Time leader with 367 Saves. 

Join us in wishing Jeff Reardon good health following his quadruple bypass surgery. 

 

© RVR Photos-Imagn Images (photo of Reardon)

 

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