Dan Plesac

Daniel Thomas Plesac (Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [ˈdænˈplêsats], born February 4, 1962) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher with an 18-year career from 1986 to 2003. He played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Philadelphia Phillies.

High School

Dan attended Crown Point High School in Crown Point, Indiana where excelled in baseball, basketball, football and track.

College

Plesac played college baseball for the NC State Wolfpack in the early 1980s. Plesac was inducted to the North Carolina State Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.

Major Leagues

A hard thrower with a mid-90 mph fastball and nasty slider, Plesac was originally a starting pitcher before becoming the closer of the Milwaukee Brewers. Plesac served primarily as a left-handed specialist from the mid-1990s until the end of his career, pitching for the Blue Jays twice, the Diamondbacks, and the Phillies.

He was elected to the American League All-Star team three times (1987, 1988 and 1989). He ended with a 65–71 record and a 3.64 ERA in 1,064 games and 1,072 innings pitched. In 1988, Plesac recorded three saves against the Reds in a weekend series immediately preceding the 1988 All Star Game in Cincinnati. Due to travel complications, he flew to Cincinnati on the Reds team chartered plane.