Corbett Knew He Was Ready for Challenge : Angel Reliever Has Had to Overcome Doubts and Near-Tragedy to Prevail

If there seemed to be tears in his eyes and a tremor in his voice as he stood at his locker Saturday night, Doug Corbett was to be excused.

This was a long way from Edmonton, from the uncertainty and frustration of recent summers in the Angel organization.

A long way from hearing Buzzie Bavasi, the then general manager, saying he couldn’t pitch for a pennant contender because he couldn’t cope with pressure.

A long way from thinking that there are other ways to earn a living, as he did when sent out in 1983--or was it 1984 and 1985, when he also rode the shuttle to Canada.

This was a hitless stint of 3 innings that allowed the Angels to rally dramatically from a 3-0 deficit Saturday night and ultimately defeat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3, in 11 innings.

The win that gave the Angels a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-seven playoffs for the American League pennant went to Corbett, who first struck out Don Baylor with two on and one out in the eighth, got Rich Gedman to ground into a force play with the bases loaded in the same inning, then retired the last 10 Red Sox in order.

“All the tough times I’ve gone through here,” Corbett said, the emotion evident, “this was my way to say think you for staying with me.

“I went out there with only one thing in mind . . . to glorify God no matter what happened.”

Corbett called it the highlight of his career. He had asked for the opportunity even before the game began--a measure of his reborn confidence.

How far has Corbett come?

“I can only tell you what he told me before the game,” Manager Gene Mauch said. “He came to me and said he was ready if I needed him.

“He’s built up his attitude to the point where it was when he first came here.”

That was in May 1982, in the trade that sent touted Tom Brunansky to the Minnesota Twins.

Mauch had lobbied for the trade, having watched Corbett save 30 games in his previous two seasons with the Minnesota Twins, who were managed by Mauch during that period.

The trade soon became the most criticized in Angel history.

Corbett went 1-7 with 8 saves that season. Over the next three, he saved a total of four games, spending part of each of those seasons in Canada.

Were the Angels ever close to releasing him?

“A couple years ago it was among our range of options,” General Manager Mike Port said, “but we kept thinking that with regular work Doug could regain his form.

“He deserves a lot of credit because he never complained, he was never a problem. He never went down there and big-leagued it.”

The low point, Corbett said, was when he was sent out in late April of ’83. John McNamara, who now manages the team Corbett beat, was the Angel manager then.

“I made the decision easy for him,” Corbett acknowledged. “I certainly wasn’t thinking about that tonight. I was only thinking about doing my job.”

Corbett said he considered pursuing a new job that April because, “I was real down on myself.”

It was at that point, however, that he came in contact with St. Paul hynotherapist Harvey Misel and began a process called visualization that the pitcher now credits with helping restore his confidence.

It was later that year, on Christmas Eve, that his infant son, Jason, a flu victim, had to be rushed to a hospital after Corbett himself provided resuscitation when he found Jason had stopped breathing.

The youngster recovered, and the incident gave Corbett a new perspective, a new set of priorities. Life and death no longer related to the winning or losing of a baseball game. He no longer felt the pressure he once did.

Parlaying all of that with a knee operation that restored his physical stability at the end of last season, Corbett began making significant strides in spring training and became a prominent factor in the club’s eventual success during the periods when Donnie Moore was unavailable because of his shoulder problems.

“He and Terry Forster carried the bullpen at times,” pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said. “Once Doug started getting some saves again, you could see his confidence grow. He felt he could close games rather than just filling a role.”

Corbett saved 10 games, more than twice his total of the previous three years.

“I feel good about my contributions to the club,” he said. “This has been a very good year for me.”

It got better Saturday night, when the Angels won it in what would have been Corbett’s final inning. Moore was scheduled to pitch the 12th.

“Every pitch is important in a playoff game,” Corbett said, “but I was just trying to stay within myself and use my ability. I figured we could come back. We’ve done it all year.”

A measure of the effectiveness with which Corbett had done it is this: “Gene and I talked even before the playoffs began, and he said I’d be a big part of it. I said I’d be ready. Isn’t that what every relief pitcher wants to hear?”

Particularly when there were years when he didn’t.