In 1987, Wally Ritchie was an unheralded, twenty-one year pitcher with an underwhelming 84-mile-an-hour fastball and a weird, herky-jerky pitching motion. He was only beginning his third year as a professional, had just become a reliever the year before, and had never pitched in a league higher than AA. Many of the Phillies front office personnel were not even aware of his existence. But the 1987 Phillies were desperate for pitching, left-handed pitching in particular. So toward the end of spring training, they gave Wally Ritchie a look. He pitched in two games and hurled four shut out innings, striking out six batters. He was so unheralded that he had to wear Mike Maddox's uniform when he pitched, but the Phillies brass were impressed and Wally Ritchie put himself on the team's radar.
Pitching coach Claude Osteen was effusive in his praise. "That's the best pitching I've seen all spring. He's got an unbelievable change up. He didn't throw a ball above the knees unless he wanted to." Even Mets Vice-President, Joe McIlvaine was impressed. "That's a big-league change-up the kid throws." The Philadelphia Inquirer headline read, "The Phillies Have Found a New Phenom." Speaking for himself the "phenom" said, "It sure has been an exciting week. A lot sure happened in just a few days. Today pitching in this game (against the Mets) was sure a big step." It sure was!
Perhaps it was his youth. Perhaps it was his underdog status. Perhaps it was his genuine modesty. Maybe it was his funky pitching motion or his goofy grin. Maybe it was just because he seemed able to get batters out when so many Phillies pitchers could not. Whatever it was Wally Ritchie captured the imagination of the Phillies faithful and became an instant folk hero.
Two days after his debut, Ritchie burnished his legend by striking out Reds slugger, Eric Davis with two men on, after Davis had bombed three home runs off Phillies pitching. In fact, Ritchie did not allow a run in his first five outings over 7 2/3 innings. The legend grew. The chants of "Wall-eee, Wall-eee" greeted his every appearance on the mound. Jayson Stark of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote a feature article about him. Newspapers started calling him Wally Wonder.
On May 15, he thrilled the Veterans Stadium crowd with his first and only major league hit in his first major league at bat. It was a single to left field, that was greeted with more chants of "Wall-ee, Wall-ee." All of a sudden, as the Phillies team struggled along at 10 games under .500, the fans had found a hero. Wally Ritchie was the perfect Philadelphia hero, a shy, unassuming, soft-spoken kid with a below average fastball, and an above average change up, who just wanted to pitch and get hitters out.
But Wally Wonderland could not last.
Ritchie finally gave up his first run on May 13, a home run to Ozzie Virgil of the Atlanta Braves. Wally World mania faded quickly when he was sent down to the minors in mid-June after a stretch of ineffectiveness, but he was back up by the end of June and pitched creditably for the remainder of the season, finishing with a 3.75 ERA in 49 games and 62 /1/3 innings. He allowed only four of 25 inherited runners to score. Ritchie posted his first win with 2/3 innings relief on June 3 and earned his first save on June 29th, just after being recalled, with three innings of perfect relief against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Wally Rtchie was up and down with the Phillies over the next five seasons. He never managed to establish himself as a go-to reliever for any of the five Phillies managers he played for (Felske, Elia, Vukovich, Leyva, Fregosi), but he was usually effective when he did get to pitch. He ended his career with a 6-5 record and 3.14 ERA over 147 appearances.
Wally mania did not last long in Philadelphia, but while it did, it gave the hero starved fans something to root for in that often dispiriting 1987 season.
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