#RememberThatCub: Rod “Shooter” Beck
Rodney Roy Beck-8/3/68–6/23/2007
At the end of the 1998 regular season the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants were tied for the National League Wildcard spot. A one game tiebreaker was played at Wrigley Field. The Cubs dominated most of the game, taking a 5–0 lead into the top of the ninth. Kevin Tapani allowed successive hits to Brett Mayne and Bill Mueller to start the inning. Terry Mulholland relieved Tapani and promptly allowed a single to Stan Javier that scored Mayne. Ellis Burks walked and the bases were loaded. Barry Bonds was coming to the plate and things looked grim. Bonds lined out to deep left and it was 5–2. Javier advanced to third on the play. Rod Beck was summoned to try and put out the fire. On the heels of 51 saves in the season, this was going to be an epic battle against the team he spent most of his career with. He retired Jeff Kent and Javier scored to cut the lead to 5–3. But Beck retired Joe Carter to end the game. Although the Cubs went on to be swept by Atlanta, that final save of the season for Beck was a memorable one.
In September of 2006 Rod Beck came back to Wrigley Field to throw out the first pitch before a Cubs-Giants game and sing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch. It would be his final visit to the friendly confines. Rod “Shooter” Beck was battling addiction and he was losing the fight. Nine months later his life ended at the age of 38 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Rod Beck’s career spanned thirteen seasons with four teams. He was drafted by the Oakland A’s in 1986. Prior to the 1998 season he was traded to the San Francisco Giants. On May 6th, 1991 Beck made his major league debut against the Montreal Expos. It was a forgettable performance. In 52.1 innings that year he compiled a 3.78 ERA while striking out 38 and walking 13. In the 1991 season he replaced Dave Righetti as the closer and notched 17 saves with a 1.76 ERA. In 1993 he recorded 24 consecutive saves on his way to a total of 48. At the time it was a Giants franchise record. He also appeared in his first all-star game that year. He would return to the all-star game in 1994 and again in 1997. Beck spent a total of 7 seasons in San Francisco. He recorded a total of 199 saves for the Giants.
Prior to the 1998 season Beck signed a free-agent contract with the Chicago Cubs. In that first season he recorded 51 saves and helped lead the Cubs to the playoffs. But in 1999 he battled injury and was eventually traded to Boston. After the 2001 season Beck had Tommy John surgery.
After recovering from the surgery he bounced around the minors and eventually re-signed with the Cubs. He was assigned to AAA Iowa in Des Moines, Iowa.
If you had attended a game in Des Moines at Sec Taylor Stadium in 2003 you would have seen a 36 foot Winnebago sitting beyond the center field fence. This was “Shooter’s” home while playing with the Iowa Cubs. With 266 career saves in the majors, Beck was eager to be called up by the big club. He performed well in spring training with a 2.16 ERA in 8 1/3 innings, but his fastball that once timed out at 98 m.p.h. for the Giants a decade ago had lost about 20 m.p.h. of zip after the surgery.
“I thought I was only going to be down here [in Des Moines] two weeks, or three weeks, maybe,” Beck said. “So I figured, rather than coming down here and getting an apartment with some furniture and paying the phone bill, I’d just take my own stuff. I called the people here and asked them about bringing the RV. They said `Sure, we’ll find somewhere for you to put it.’” — Rod Beck(Fred Mitchell, Chicago Tribune, 2003)
Beck was a popular addition with his young teammates. He never made it back to Wrigley Field until that day in September of 2015. He did pitch for the San Diego Padres for two more years.
Rod Beck drank, he smoked Kools, and eventually cocaine and heroine became a part of his routine. At the same time he was a blue collar guy and rather then ask a clubhouse attendant to pick up his shower towel he would ask him to go smoke with him. Tim Wakefield said he was humble, had a huge heart, and was full of life.
The mullet haired, fu manchu mustached, pendulum armed closer was unable to save the most important game. The game of life.
Rod Beck had two jerseys hanging in his living room. One was a Beck Cubs jersey and the other was a Padres Hoffman jersey. Written on the back of Hoffman’s jersey was this inscription:
Shooter, We all know we’re lucky to be able to play this game. But it’s the game that’s lucky to have players like you who play hard and play it right, all the best, Hoffy — Trevor Hoffman(Amy K. Nelson via ESPN)
In June of 2007 Rod Beck lost his battle with the disease of addiction. He was 38 years old.
Although spending only two seasons with Chicago, Rod Beck was laid to rest in his Cubs uniform.
“The best fun I ever had was with the ’98 Cubs,” Beck said. “That’s because there’s been so much futility with the Cubs. To win the wild card and make the playoffs … the way the city treated us was great. — Rod Beck
Rod “Shooter” Beck will always be a part of the Chicago Cubs family.
Doug Preszler is the type of person who can be a Cubs fan and an Iowa fan while living in South Dakota. He is a man who cares not for regional loyalty. He can be found on Twitter here, telling tales of the Dakotan Cubs fan’s existence.
