Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Don Sutton, right, congratulates relief pitcher Pete Ladd after the two combined to beat the California Angels 5-3 in the ALCS on Oct. 8, 1982 in Milwaukee. Ladd, a Portland native, died on Oct. 19. Associated Press photo
Portland native Pete Ladd, a major league pitcher for three teams from 1979-86 and a member of the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame, has died. He was 67.
Ladd was a resident of New Gloucester when he died on Oct. 19. News reports said he died after a short battle with cancer.
Ladd compiled a 17-23 record while pitching for the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers and Seattle Mariners. He is best known for his time with Milwaukee, helping the Brewers to advance to the 1982 World Series by saving the deciding Game 5 of the American League Championship Series against the California Angels. All but one of his 205 major league pitching appearances were as a reliever.
Ladd was born in Portland on July 17, 1956, but he never played high school baseball here; his family moved to Atlanta before his freshman year. He played college baseball at the University of Mississippi before being selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 25th round of the 1977 draft. Boston traded Ladd in June 1979 to Houston, where he made his major league debut that season.
While in the major leagues, Ladd worked in the offseason as a probation and parole officer at the Cumberland County Jail, according to a biography by the Society of American Baseball Research. At the time of his 2009 induction to the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame, he was working for Hancock Lumber in Yarmouth, according to a Sun Journal story from that year.
UPDATE: This story was corrected on Oct. 27 at 1:50 p.m. to show that Pete Ladd worked at Hancock Lumber in Yarmouth.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.