James Gorman Thomas III (born December 12, 1950 in Charleston, South Carolina) is a former Major League Baseball center fielder and right-handed hitter who played in the American League with the Milwaukee Brewers (1973–76, 1978–83, 1986), Cleveland Indians (1983) and Seattle Mariners (1984–86).

One of the most popular players in Brewers history, and affectionately known as "Stormin' Gorman", Thomas hit more home runs during the period 1978-1983 than any other player in the American League with 197. His frequent strikeouts and low batting average overshadowed some of his career accomplishments. Thomas was a premier center fielder, with a wide range and strong arm until undergoing rotator cuff surgery in 1984, which limited his duties and led to his being utilized primarily as a designated hitter for the remainder of his career.

Thomas was the first player selected by the Seattle Pilots in the June 1969 draft. In the minors he won two home run titles, and made his Major League debut with Milwaukee in 1973. He belted his first home run against Jim Palmer, but was optioned to the Triple-A Sacramento Solons in the Pacific Coast League. After hitting 51 homers with Sacramento in 1974, he returned to the big league team at the end of September.

Gorman became an everyday center fielder for the Brewers in 1978 and clubbed 32 home runs to go along with 86 RBI. The next season (1979) Thomas enjoyed his best season in the Majors compiling career high numbers in home runs (45, tops in the AL), RBI (123), runs scored (97), hits (136), doubles (29), walks (98), on base percentage (.356), total bases (300), slugging percentage (.539) and OPS (.895).

In 1980, Thomas had another productive season, hitting 38 home runs to go along with 105 RBI, while playing in every game. Gorman followed that up in 1981 by finishing second in the AL in home runs with 21 and being named to the AL All-Star Team.

In 1982, Thomas hit an AL-high 39 home runs (tying with Reggie Jackson for the league lead) and drove in 112 runs to help the Brewers win the American League Championship and face the Cardinals in the World Series. Ultimately, the Brewers lost to the Cardinals in seven games, with Thomas striking out against Bruce Sutter to end the Series.

During the next season, he was involved in a controversial trade that sent him to the Indians in exchange for Rick Manning. He also played with the Mariners and returned to Milwaukee in 1986 for a last run.

Thomas was a career .225 hitter with 268 home runs and 782 RBI in 1435 games. An All-Star in 1981, he was considered for the MVP Award in 1979 (7th) and 1982 (8th). In 1982, Gorman was named an Outfielder on The Sporting News AL All-Star Team and also was selected as The Sporting News AL Comeback Player of the Year in 1985 as a member of the Seattle Mariners. At present, he works under a personal services contract with the Brewers to make appearances in the community and welcome visitors to Gorman's Grill at Miller Park.

Gorman Thomas was featured on the 1989 Holiday Bowl episode of Cheap Seats in a trivia segment titled "Mormon, Foreman, or Gorman."

Thomas was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003.

See also[link]

• List of top 300 Major League Baseball home run hitters
• List of Major League Baseball home run champions

External links[link]

• Baseball Library
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube

David Eugene LaRoche (born May 14, 1948 in Colorado Springs, Colorado) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. LaRoche is currently the pitching coach for the Toronto Blue Jays' Triple-A affiliate, the Las Vegas 51s.

He is the father of current Washington Nationals first baseman Adam LaRoche, and Cleveland Indians third baseman Andy LaRoche.

LaRoche made his debut for the California Angels in 1970 and went on to pitch 14 seasons in the major leagues. LaRoche is most famous for throwing his own variant of the eephus pitch, which he called 'La Lob.' Over his career, LaRoche went 65-58, with 819 strikeouts in 1,049 1/3 innings pitched. He has a career 3.53 ERA.

During his time as a player representative for the Minnesota Twins LaRoche had a reputation as a troublemaker. According to Bert Blyleven, "A reporter asked him why he wanted to be player rep and Dave said, 'Because all the player reps under Calvin Griffith get traded.'" ^[1]

LaRoche is of Mexican descent. According to his son Andy, Dave LaRoche's surname was Garcia, however, he changed it to LaRoche at age seven, the last name of his stepfather. "La Roche is French, but I have no French in me," Andy LaRoche said. "My grandfather was 100% Mexican." ^[2]

See also[link]

• List of second generation Major League Baseball players
• List of Major League Baseball all-time saves leaders

References[link]

External links[link]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube

Peter Linwood Ladd (born June 17, 1956) is a former professional baseball pitcher. Ladd pitched in all or part of six seasons in Major League Baseball between 1979 and 1986. Mainly used as a relief pitcher, Ladd started just one game out of 205 total games pitched. He played collegiately at University of Mississippi, Oxford.^[1]

Ladd was originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 25th round of the 1977 Major League Baseball Draft. He was traded to the Houston Astros in June 1979 as part of a deal for Bob Watson, and made his major league debut for Houston two months later. After spending the next two seasons in the Astros' farm system, Ladd was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for Rickey Keeton.

Ladd spent the first half of 1982 with the Vancouver Canadians. He was called up to the majors in July, and posted a 1–3 record with a 4.00 earned run average in 16 games down the stretch. Despite his lack of experience, Ladd was named the Brewers' closer for the 1982 postseason following an injury to Rollie Fingers. He appeared three times (3.1 innings pitched) without giving up a baserunner while notching 5 strikeouts and picked up a pair of saves in the Brewers' win over the California Angels in the ALCS, including pitching the series clinching ground ball to Rod Carew in Game 5. After allowing the go-ahead run to score in relief of Bob McClure in game 2 of the World Series, he did not appear again in a series that went seven games in a loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

While serving as the closer during the 1983, Ladd saved 25 games in 44 appearances with a 2.55 ERA. He pitched two more seasons for the Brewers before being released. His final major league season was with the Seattle Mariners in 1986. In 1987, he pitched his last professional season for the Albuquerque Dukes in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization.

Sources[link]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)