Hall of Fame Baseball Player. He was signed by the Chicago Cubs in 1971 as an undrafted free agent relief pitcher. He played for 3 different teams in Major League Baseball (MLB) during his 12 year career that included the Chicago Cubs (1976-1980), the St. Louis Cardinals (1981-1984) and the Atlanta Braves (1985-1986, 1988). He was selected in the 21st round of the June 1970 MLB draft by the Washington Senators but chose to attend college at Old Dominion University. After joining the Cubs he first played on their minor league team, the Gulf Coast League Cubs. After being almost released by the Cubs organization he was able to discover a new pitch called the split-finger fastball that was a modification of the forkball. After spending 5 years in the minor league on teams of the Cubs he made his major league debut with them on May 9, 1976. During his time on the mound with the Cubs as a relief pitcher he had a win-loss record of 6-3 and 10 saves. He was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals where he played from 1981 until 1984. In 1985 he joined the Atlanta Braves as a free agent where he played from 1985 until 1988. He made his last appearance in major league baseball on September 9, 1988 with the Atlanta Braves. The Braves released him in November of 1989 due to a severely torn rotator cuff. In his career in professional baseball he was part of the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals World Series Championship team, he played in 6 All-Star games (1977-1981, 1984), won the NL Cy Young Award (1979), was the winner of 4 NL Rolaids Relief Man Award (1979, 1981, 1982, 1984), was the National League's saves leader 5 times (1979-1982, 1984), inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame, had his number 42 retired by the Cardinals, was inducted into the Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. His career stats were a 68–71 win-loss record, 2.83 ERA, 861 strikeouts and 300 saves. After he retired from the field he was hired as a minor league consultant for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2010.