Milwaukee Brewers hero of the 1982 World Series run Pete Ladd has died

Pete Ladd, one of the unlikely heroes when the Milwaukee Brewers advanced to the 1982 World Series, has died after a brief battle with cancer, the team confirmed Saturday night.

Ladd was 67 years old.

He died Friday after suffering from cancer, according to a report from television station WMTW in Ladd's hometown of Portland, Maine.

"We learned today of the passing of Pete Ladd, a key member of the great Brewers teams of the early 1980s," the Brewers said in a statement. "Pete was a man with a big personality and an even bigger heart. Our thoughts and condolences go to his family."

Ladd, who up until that point had spent the majority of his baseball career in the minors, was thrust into the Brewers closer's role in 1982 when Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers suffered an arm injury.

Ladd was flawless in the American League Championship Series against the California Angels. In three games pitched, Ladd pitched 3 ⅓ perfect innings with five strikeouts and earned two saves, including the one that sent the Brewers to their only World Series.

Still rookie eligible, Ladd had appeared in only 16 regular-season games that season. Ladd entered Game 5 of the ALCS with a runner on and nobody out in the ninth, tasked with facing three players who wound up getting MVP votes that season: Bob Boone, Brian Downing and Rod Carew, with Reggie Jackson on deck if they reached.

Boone, who was batting ninth, sacrificed Ron Jackson to third, but leadoff hitter Downing grounded out to third and Carew grounded out to short to end it. Milwaukee, down 2-0 in the series, had rallied back for a 3-2 series win and secured what is still the franchise's only World Series appearance.

The Brewers became the first team to rally back from a 2-0 series deficit to win a best-of-five since the format was established in 1969.

Ladd also worked a 1-2-3 inning with three strikeouts in Game 1 and 1 ⅓ scoreless in Game 3 to close down a save, including the final out of the eighth to finally stop a three-run Angels rally.

Brewers manager Harvey Kuenn felt the ALCS MVP, which went to California's Fred Lynn in a losing effort, should have gone Ladd, who'd become better known for his size 15 shoes than his prowess on the mound.

Ladd pitched just one game in the Brewers' World Series loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, and it was memorable for a different reason.

Tied at 4-4 in the eighth inning of Game 2, Ladd's 3-2 pitch to Lonnie Smith was called a ball by umpire Bill Haller, a controversial close pitch that even Smith thought marked the second out of the inning.

"I think it was there," Smith said later. "The ump said it was outside. Umps are never wrong, they say. But I had no chance of hitting it."

A rattled Ladd lost it from there, walking Steve Braun on four pitches to force in what became the winning run in a 5-4 win for the Cardinals. The Brewers went on to lose the series in seven games.

Haller became a household name in Milwaukee, met with jeers and signs bearing his name when the series shifted back to Milwaukee.

"I deserved it," Haller said, speaking in St. Louis in 2007. "It was one of the worst games I ever worked."

Ladd would also serve as the team's closer during the 1983 season, when he accumulated 25 saves with a 2.44 ERA.

The native of Portland, Maine, pitched two more years with the Brewers before finishing his MLB career with the Seattle Mariners in 1986.

He made his Major League debut with Houston in 1979 but only appeared in 10 games and didn't reach the big leagues again until July 1982.

Ladd was 17-23 in 205 games pitched with 39 saves and a 4.14 ERA. He began his career with the Houston Astros in 1979 before being traded to the Brewers following the 1981 season. He returned to Milwaukee for multiple Brewers celebrations of the 1982 team, including in 2022 for the 40th anniversary.

Tributes poured in on social media for the pitcher, who was remembered fondly for his time with assisting at the Brewers Fantasy Camp in the offseason in Arizona.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Former Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Pete Ladd has died