Belcher to Get Half of Original Demand

By BILL PLASCHKE

March 9, 1990 12 AM PT

Tim Belcher, the two-year Dodger pitcher who is deeply involved in his union’s fight to return arbitration rights to two-year players, is expected to have his contract unilaterally renewed by the Dodgers today at about $450,000, half of his original demand.

“A renewal is a pretty safe assumption,” an unhappy Belcher said Thursday night. “And there is nothing I can do about it.”

Belcher, whose $225,000 contract last season was also a renewal, was asking for $900,000 based upon his 15-12 record and 2.82 earned-run average, which included a major league-leading eight shutouts. His 200 strikeouts ranked second in the National League, while opponents’ .217 batting average against him ranked eighth.

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Bill Plaschke

Bill Plaschke, an L.A. Times sports columnist since 1996, is a member of the National Sports Media Hall of Fame and California Sports Hall of Fame. He has been named national Sports Columnist of the Year nine times by the Associated Press, and twice by the Society of Professional Journalists and National Headliner Awards. He is the author of six books, including a collection of his columns entitled “Plaschke: Good Sports, Spoilsports, Foul Balls and Oddballs.” Plaschke is also a panelist on the popular ESPN daily talk show, “Around the Horn.” He is in the national Big Brothers/Big Sisters Alumni Hall of Fame and has been named Man of the Year by the Los Angeles Big Brothers/Big Sisters as well as receiving a Pursuit of Justice Award from the California Women’s Law Center. Plaschke has appeared in a movie (“Ali”), a dramatic HBO series (“Luck”) and, in a crowning cultural moment he still does not quite understand, his name can be found in a rap song “Females Welcome” by Asher Roth.

Belcher to Get Half of Original Demand

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