R.I.P. Bill Campbell
Longtime big league reliever Bill Campbell passed away on Friday at the age of 74.
January 6, 2023
By Danny Gallagher
Canadian Baseball Network
Bill Campbell began his adult baseball career at age 19 with the Neilburg Monarchs of the Northern Saskatchewan League in 1966.
And he finished his big-league career in 1987 with another Canadian team, the Montreal Expos.
He's the only known Expos player to serve in the Vietnam War. He was enlisted in the U.S. Army about a year after he left Neilburg and was in Vietnam for just under 12 months on jungle patrol and as a radio/teletype operator.
Soup Campbell was one of the finest relief pitchers in major-league history. He's the only player in the majors to record at least 17 wins and 17 saves in the same season, a feat he accomplished with the Minnesota Twins in 1976, going 17-5 with 20 saves in a league-leading 78 appearances in 167 2/3 innings.
Only Pittsburgh Pirates’ ace reliever and former Expo Elroy Face had a season with more wins without a start when he marveled with a 18-1 record in 1959.
Campbell died Jan. 6 in hospice care in the Chicago area where he lived. He had been suffering from cancer.
At the tail end of his career at age 38, Campbell caught on with the Expos, signing a contract during spring training on March 6, 1987. He made the roster out of West Palm Beach and pitched in 10 regular-season games with middling results before he was released May 1. His last strikeout victim in his long career was Gary Carter in Campbell's final outing on April 30.
Campbell's stint with in Neilburg was memorable. He flew into Edmonton from California on June 18 and then he was picked up at the Husky bus stop by teammates Glen Brockhoff and Larry Flecik and a friend Glen Hinch in Lloydminster which straddles the Saskatchewan/Alberta border.
"Bill didn't have a dime in his pocket. We paid for his hamburger and a Coca Cola. Then, we had a few beers at the Neilburg Hotel, the only bar in town. It was a Saturday night,'' Brockhoff said.
The next day, June 19, Campbell made his debut with Neilburg and it was a memorable one. He fired a no-hitter, one batter short of a perfect game in a seven-inning game, the nightcap of a doubleheader. He struck out 10 to lead the Monarchs to a 5-0 victory over North Battleford. Jay Johnston reached on an error in the seventh to break up the perfect game. Campbell finished that season with a 5-3 record and a 3.46 ERA. He also batted .270 with four homers and 13 RBI in 23 games.
At the 1966 Saskatoon Exhibition Tournament, Campbell fanned 14 batters and hit two triples as Neilburg won the championship.
"Campbell was 6-foot-3, real slim and he could throw hard. He had a great slider and curveball,'' Flecik said.
When Brockhoff Campbell him pitch that no-hitter, he knew right then and there he had major-league stuff.
"Oh, he was an awful good American in this town,'' Brockhoff said. "What impressed me in batting practice was when he was in the outfield. He was unbelievable. He'd catch fly balls behind his back. He was really good. If the ball was hit over the fence, he'd jump over the short, wooden fence and catch the ball.
Several years after leaving Vietnam, Campbell was signed as a free agent by the Twins at a Dennys restaurant in Ponoma, Calif., the same Dennys where Bob James was signed by the Expos in 1976. After leaving the Twins, Campbell spent time with the Red Sox, Cubs, Phillies, Cardinals, Tigers and then the Expos.
Campbell is survived by his wife Linda, a professor of psychology at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois, and three children.
Danny Gallagher's story about Campbell contains information obtained from a chapter in his book Around The Horn, which is due for release in mid-January, 2023.