And considering the great pitching Oakland has had over the years: Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter, Dave Stewart, Eckersley, Hudson, Mulder and Zito, that is saying something. 

RIP Bob Welch. 

Heart attack, apparently.  Very sad to go so young.  According to one site, he was slated to be in Oakland later this summer for the 25th anniversary of the A's 1989 championship.  

Wow...indeed RIP Bob.

Coming of age as a baseball fan in the late 70s, I remember Welch as a young fireballer (yep he was...though in later years much less so) who couldn't crack the vaunted Dodger rotation initially.  His battles with Reggie Jackson in the 1978 World Series were legendary. 

Welch struck out Reggie with 2 on in the 9th to close out a 1-run win in game 2:
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1978/B10110LAN1978.htm

Reggie singled off of him in the 10th to set up Piniella's game-winning hit in game 4:
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1978/B10140NYA1978.htm

And then the coup de grace...Reggie took him deep in the finale:
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1978/B10170LAN1978.htm

Roger Angell's description of those games in his masterpiece Late Innings are, as always with Angell, worth reading.

Spot on, contrarian23.

That World Series game 2 confrontation between Welch and Reggie Jackson still ranks among my all time favorite pitcher vs. batter moments.  It would have been excellent even if it were a regular season game.  But of course, being that it was in the 9th inning of a World Series game with two outs and the Yankees one run down, it just makes it that much more memorable.  The rookie versus the legendary showman vet, throwing nothing but heat.  Great theatre!

Whether if you haven't seen the at bat in awhile or if you have never seen it, do yourself a favor and check it out.  You could probably find it easy enough on your own, but here is one place where you can see it:

www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24584947/video-21-year-old-bob-welch-vs-reggie-jackson-in-78-world-series

Thanks for the link HOB!  Even though I am a lifelong Yankee fan and remember the painful moment watching it live... I couldn't help smiling the entire time watching the clip.  A great WS moment!

Thanks contrarian, I was about to post the game 2 video and saw you had done it. Like mensu1954 a lifelong Yankees fan, I remember that Series very well. 

Sorry, houseofbayne, you actually posted the video, contrarian23 the box scores.thanks both of you.

Here is the entirety of game 6 - Reggie's at-bat v. Welch is at 1:50:00. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViXI5rHNHVo