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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – If you’ve watched the TV show Cheers, you know the character Sam Malone. He’s a too-young-to-be-retired baseball pitcher whose career ended because of alcoholism. He beat his addiction, and now owns a bar.
The Sam Malone character is based on a real person: Sam McDowell.
He was a wiz kid pitcher who turned pro at age 18. But he was a drinker. He once described himself as the meanest, most miserable drunk in baseball. No one wanted to be his roommate, because “looking after Sam” was a pain-in-the-neck. On the road, if fans recognized him he’d brawl with them. Being a starting pitcher, he’d always have a few days off after a start. It was an open secret that he’d be drunk and the ballpark. One of his stunts was jumping from hotel room balconies into the swimming pool.
He was a four time all-star and had a 20-win season for the Indians in 1970. But his drinking was well known. After brief stints with the Giants, Yankees, and Pirates he was out of baseball.
Alcoholism was devastating to Sam McDowell’s life. His wife left him and took his two children with her. He literally drank his money away, and had to move back in with his parents.
In 1978 he went to a residential treatment center. He would eventually go back to college and earn a degree as an addiction therapist. He worked with other players who were addicts with the Blue Jays and Rangers, and was eventually hired by Major League Baseball as a players’ counselor. He never revealed the names of the athletes that he worked with; he said he saved the careers of 20 or 30 ballplayers.
Sam McDowell looked back at his life, and said that alcoholism was miserable, but was also a blessing to him. Only when he stopped being a drunk could be begin living the life he was supposed to live: helping others.
It’s believed he had 30 years of sobriety.
Sam McDowell died of natural causes on Monday at age 84.
Chris Conley
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