The 1982 Milwaukee Brewers won the American League pennant with a high-powered offense, decent starting pitching, and a shutdown, future Hall-of-Fame closer—Rollie Fingers. After beating a very talented California Angels club in the American League Championship Series, the Brewers appeared to have the upper hand over their World Series opponent, the St. Louis Cardinals. Except for one problem: Fingers was compromised. The extent of his injury only became clear after the Runnin’ Redbirds had dealt Harvey’s Wallbangers a crushing defeat. 

In December 1980, the Cardinals’ new general manager, Whitey Herzog, acquired Fingers from the San Diego Padres in a massive 12-player swap. After trading for another closer, Bruce Sutter, Herzog then flipped Fingers to the Brewers in a seven-player deal that also sent Ted Simmons and ’82 Cy Young Award winner Pete Vuckovich to Milwaukee.

In the strike-shortened 1981 season, Fingers posted a microscopic 1.04 ERA while leading the junior circuit with 28 saves. He earned both the Cy Young and Most Valuable Player Awards. The handlebar-mustachioed hurler who owned three World Series rings from his time with the Oakland Athletics continued his late-inning dominance in ’82. He notched 29 saves and registered a 2.80 ERA before an injury derailed his season—and career.

Fingers entered the first game of a September 2 twin bill against the Cleveland Indians looking for his 30^th save of the season. A few pitches in, he felt a burning sensation in his right elbow. The veteran fireman tried to keep going, but he could barely get the ball to the plate. Fingers called time and told manager Harvey Kuenn, “I don’t think I can pitch right now.”¹

Fingers’s teammate George “Doc” Medich followed him into the clubhouse. Many baseball players through the years have been nicknamed “Doc,” but Medich actually deserved the moniker. He held a medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh. Medich examined Fingers’ arm and immediately understood the severity of the injury. “The flexor wad had detached and was about three inches down his forearm,” recalled Medich. “It was a season-ending injury. I said, ‘Oh, geezus.’ I was not only thinking about the rest of the season but this guy’s career.”²

The Brewers team physician held a more optimistic view than Medich and believed Fingers could heal with a couple weeks of rest. This was two years before the FDA approved MRI for medical use. Based on the opinion of the medical staff, the Brewers put Fingers on the World Series roster. “They kept me on hoping that I was going to be able to pitch,” Fingers recalled years later. “I told them, ‘Guys, there’s no way I can pitch.’ They should have just taken me off the list and added another guy.”³

The Brewers ostensibly played the World Series a man short. Fingers’ inability to pitch proved costly in Games Two and Seven. Kuenn instead used Bob McClure and Moose Haas—starters during the regular season—to pitch in key late-inning situations. McClure took the loss in both contests. In a Series that came down to the late innings of Game Seven, it’s easy to imagine a scenario in which a healthy Rollie Fingers could have swung the outcome to the Brewers.

Eight months after the World Series, Rollie Fingers finally underwent surgery with Dr. Frank Jobe to repair his torn flexor tendon. Fingers missed the entire 1983 campaign and pitched two more seasons in the majors, though he never returned to his All-Star form. And Milwaukee Brewers did not return to the World Series until 2026—this time with a healthy bullpen.

1. Rollie Fingers, interview by Tommy Canale, Before the Lights podcast, August 6, 2020. ↩︎
2. Author interview with George Medich, October 20, 2022. ↩︎
3. Fingers interview with Canale. ↩︎