Major League Baseball Player, Coach. For seventeen seasons (1978 to 1994), he was a pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics. Born Robert Lynn Welch, he attended Hazel Park High School in Michigan and played collegiate baseball at Eastern Michigan University where he first displayed his fierce fastball. Selected by the Dodgers during the 1st-round of the 1977 Amateur Draft, he marked his Major League debut on June 20, 1978. He pitched in 23 games that year and divided his time between the bullpen and starting rotation, as he totaled a 7 win, 4 loss record with an impressive 2.02 ERA. During the 1978 National League Championship Series, he yielded a win over the Phillies and in the 1978 World Series, he was tagged with a loss as the Dodgers dropped the Fall Classic to the Yankees. His World Series highlight was perhaps a marathon at bat in which he struck out slugger Reggie Jackson to preserve a win in game two. He experienced a world championship with the Dodgers in 1981. After joining Oakland in 1988, Welch enjoyed more success as a key contributor to the Athletics' starting rotation during their pennant-winning years (1988 to 1990), including their world championship season in 1989. He produced 27 winning in 1990 and earned All-Star status as well as the Cy Young Award. In 506 regular season games, he compiled a 211 win, 146 loss record with a 3.47 lifetime ERA in 3,092 innings pitched. He totaled 6 World Series contests. After retiring as a player, he served as pitching coach with Arizona State University. Additionally, he served as pitching coach with the Arizona Diamondbacks during their world championship year of 2001 and later served as a coach with the Dodgers' organization.