The Main Event
- Al Holland (born 1952) – Hard-throwing left-handed closer acquired by the Phillies in December 1982. He saved a then franchise record 25 games in the 1983 pennant winning season and won the NL Relief Man of the Year award; he passed away on July 4, 2026 at the age of 73 in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
Al Holland was born August 16, 1952, in Roanoke, Virginia, and became one of baseball’s most feared relief pitchers during a ten-season major league career spent with the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, California Angels, and New York Yankees. Holland is remembered above all as the hard-throwing closer nicknamed “Mr. T,” who anchored the Phillies bullpen during their 1983 National League pennant run.
From Roanoke to North Carolina A&T
Alfred Willis Holland was the oldest of four boys, all of whom eventually played football at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. Al starred in football, basketball, and baseball at Lucy Addison High School in Roanoke before enrolling at North Carolina A&T in the fall of 1971. He arrived on campus as a quarterback, found success as a left-footed punter, took snaps under center, and eventually settled in at running back, leading the Aggies in rushing as a freshman.
Holland’s real gift, though, was pitching. As a freshman in 1972, he led the nation with 143 strikeouts and finished second nationally with a 0.54 ERA, highlighted by a 25 strikeout no-hitter against rival North Carolina Central in which only one ball was hit into fair territory. He never posted a season ERA above 1.03 in four years with the Aggies. He threw a no-hitter in every one of his college seasons, finishing his college career with a 0.95 ERA and 105 strikeouts as a junior and a 0.26 ERA with 118 strikeouts as a senior. He was twice named an NAIA All-American and earned his degree in Recreation, a fallback plan in case professional baseball didn’t work out. Despite his dominance, Holland twice turned down mid-round draft offers — from the Texas Rangers in 1974 and the San Diego Padres in early 1975 — to finish school.
Signing With the Pirates and a Slow Climb
Undrafted in the June 1975 draft, Holland attended a Pittsburgh Pirates tryout camp in Charlotte, North Carolina, impressed scout Branch Rickey III, and signed that June. He made his major-league debut on September 5, 1977, throwing a scoreless inning against the Phillies, but appeared in just one more game for Pittsburgh before spending most of 1978 and 1979 in the minors. On June 28, 1979 — four years to the day after he signed — the Pirates traded Holland, Ed Whitson, and Fred Breining to the San Francisco Giants for Bill Madlock, Lenny Randle, and Dave Roberts.
The trade jump-started Holland’s career. He made the Giants’ Opening Day roster in 1980 and posted a 1.75 ERA in 54 appearances, finishing seventh in NL Rookie of the Year voting. In 1981, after a rocky start, he began throwing a slider taught to him by Giants bullpen coach John Van Ornum. “Until now, I’ve been a one-dimensional pitcher,” he said at the time. “People don’t jump on the slider.”
Manager Frank Robinson brought Holland back from a brief 1982 stint as a starter to short relief, later marveling that Holland would pop up in the bullpen and start warming up any time the phone rang, whether or not it was for him — he simply wanted the ball.
Trade to Philadelphia and Becoming “Mr. T”
On December 14, 1982, the Giants sent Holland and second baseman Joe Morgan to the Phillies for pitchers Mike Krukow, Mark Davis, and a minor leaguer. A shoulder injury delayed his Phillies debut until May 1, but once healthy, Holland quickly became a fixture in high-leverage innings. His nickname traced to a chance moment in the Veterans Stadium tunnel, when teammate Ed Farmer spotted Holland’s gold chains and said, “Here comes Mr. T,” a nod to the menacing A-Team actor. The name stuck, and Holland — scowling on the mound, engaging and thoughtful off it — embraced the persona.
Holland’s 1983 season remains one of the best by any reliever in Phillies history: an 8-4 record, a then franchise record 25 saves, a 2.26 ERA, and 100 strikeouts in just 91⅔ innings — making him only the seventh left-hander ever to reach 100 strikeouts in a season with no starts. He closed out Steve Carlton‘s 300th career win in September, then helped the Phillies clinch the NL East at Wrigley Field.
In the NLCS against the Dodgers, he escaped a bases loaded jam in Game 1 and struck out Bill Russell to clinch the pennant in Game 4, leaping into Mike Schmidt‘s arms in celebration. He saved Philadelphia’s Game 1 win over Baltimore in the World Series, though the Orioles went on to win the series in five games. Holland’s season earned him the NL Rolaids Relief Man of the Year award and top-ten finishes in both Cy Young and MVP voting.
Pitching Style and Velocity
Holland pitched the way he once ran the football: straight ahead, with little deception. “If I’m going to run the football, I don’t trick anyone. I try to run over him,” he said of his approach. “Just aim for the middle, rare back, and let it fly.”
He was built like the fullback he had once been — a stocky 5-foot-11 and well over 200 pounds — and relied overwhelmingly on a hard, high-effort fastball, mixing in the slider he’d picked up in 1981 and rarely bothering with a curveball he considered nearly useless. Radar gun readings weren’t routinely published in the early 1980s, so no precise, well-documented velocity figures survive, but by every contemporary account his fastball was among the era’s hardest, and he pitched almost as a true one-pitch power reliever, daring hitters to catch up to it.
All-Star Season and Decline
Holland made his only All-Star team in 1984, though he did not appear in the game. He broke his own single-season franchise saves record with 29 that year, but a heavy workload wore him down, and his ERA nearly doubled after the All-Star break. In April 1985, with his weight becoming a point of contention with Phillies management, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for reliever Kent Tekulve, then dealt again that August to the California Angels.
Final Seasons and a Career-Ending Injury
Holland’s later career was complicated by his peripheral involvement in the mid-1980s Pittsburgh drug trials; he accepted a fine and community service in lieu of a suspension. He signed with the Yankees in 1986 under owner George Steinbrenner and pitched sparingly through 1987. On August 9, 1987, facing Kirk Gibson in Detroit, Holland blew out his elbow — tearing muscles and ligaments — and never threw another professional pitch. He finished his career with a 34-30 record, 78 saves, and a 2.98 ERA across 384 games.
Life After Baseball and Legacy
After a brief run in the Senior Professional Baseball Association in 1989, Holland returned to Roanoke, coached at William Fleming High School, and later worked as a minor-league pitching coach in the St. Louis Cardinals system. North Carolina A&T inducted him into its athletics hall of fame in 1994, and he joined the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 1993 and the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015; the school retired his number 17 in 2020. Holland often said he wanted his tombstone to read simply, “Give me the ball” — a fitting epitaph for a pitcher who spent his career asking for exactly that.
Philadelphia Baseball Events for August 16
- August 16, 1902 – The Athletics move into first place to stay, beating the Chicago White Sox 2-1 before 18,675 fans.
- August 16, 1909 – The A’s rough up Washington’s Walter Johnson for six runs in five innings and win 6-1; Johnson hits his first career home run off Harry Krause, who will go on to lead the AL in ERA that season.
- August 16, 1911 – Outfielder Sherry Magee returns to the lineup after being provisionally reinstated by NL president T.J. Lynch, ending a 36-game suspension for striking an umpire.
- August 16, 1915 – Left-hander Rube Bressler pitches a one-hitter, blanking the Yankees 2-0 at the Polo Grounds; at age 20, he becomes the youngest pitcher to shut out the Yankees on less than two hits.
- August 16, 1930 – Lefty Grove (20-4) wins his sixth straight decision, beating the Browns 4-2 in Philadelphia.
- August 16, 1968 – Dick Allen walks in all five plate appearances, setting a team record and tying the NL mark, but the Phillies lose to Los Angeles 7-5.
- August 16, 1969 – Rick Wise shuts out Houston for the Phillies’ fourth straight shutout, part of a 39-inning pitching staff scoreless streak.
- August 16, 1977 – The Phillies beat Montreal 7-5 to cap a 13-game winning streak.
- August 16, 1986 – Tom Hume and Kent Tekulve combine on a one-hitter to beat the Pirates 6-0.
- August 16, 1996 – “The Fan,” a film about a man’s obsession with a famous ballplayer and featuring John Kruk, opens in theaters.
- August 16, 2006 – At Single-A Clearwater, Julio De La Cruz throws a complete-game no-hitter against Sarasota.
- August 16, 2011 – Steve Carlton and Jimmy Rollins unveil a statue of late broadcaster Harry Kalas at Citizens Bank Park.
- August 16, 2014 – The Phillies receive Jesumel Valentin from the Dodgers as one of two players to be named later in the Roberto Hernandez trade.
- August 16, 2016 – Chase Utley makes his first appearance at Citizens Bank Park as a visiting player and hits two home runs, including a grand slam, leading the Dodgers to a 15-5 win as the crowd gives him multiple curtain calls.
Philadelphia Baseball Birthdays for August 16
- Ed Mayer (born 1865) – Third baseman/outfielder whose entire two-year big-league career (1890-91) was spent with the Phillies, batting .222 with 167 hits over 188 games.
- Willie Jones (born 1925) – “Puddin’ Head” Jones anchored third base for the Phillies from 1947-1959, was a key member of the 1950 “Whiz Kids” NL pennant winners, and earned back-to-back All-Star selections in 1950-51.
- Greg Jelks (born 1961) – Infielder who made his only major-league appearances with the Phillies in 1987, going 1-for-11 in 10 games after a strong AAA season at Maine.
- J.C. Ramirez (born 1988) – Right-handed reliever who made his major-league debut with the Phillies in 2013, three-plus years after being acquired from Seattle in the Cliff Lee trade.
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