[Baltimore Sun] Greg Arnold, former Orioles farmhand with a wild side, dies at 75
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Greg Arnold, the former Orioles farmhand who is believed to have inspired one of the main characters in the movie “Bull Durham,” died June 4 at his home in Pasadena. The Baltimore native, who had battled liver cancer for many years, was 75 years old.
Arnold was a hard-throwing, right-handed pitcher in the Orioles’ minor league system for five years. He played alongside such future Baltimore standouts as first baseman-outfielder Terry Crowley, second baseman Bobby Grich, catcher Johnny Oates and outfielder Don Baylor.
While climbing the ladder from Rookie League Bluefield to Triple-A Rochester, Arnold also played with a utility infielder named Ron Shelton, who, unbeknownst to teammates, was taking notes for an eventual movie script about minor league baseball.
Shelton became a screenwriter after his professional baseball career ended and his 1988 hit film “Bull Durham” was drawn from his experiences in the minors. Ebby Calvin “Nuke” LaLoosh, the top pitching prospect played by Tim Robbins, is largely based on Arnold.
Shelton has never confirmed or denied that was the case, but there are several similarities between LaLoosh and Arnold — beginning with the character’s description as a pitcher who throws tremendously hard but who is also very wild and somewhat immature.
Also, several scenes in the movie involving LaLoosh mirror real-life incidents that occurred during Arnold’s minor league career. However, there are some who think the LaLoosh character was also somewhat inspired by Steve Dalkowski, an Orioles minor leaguer from 1957 through 1965.
Dalkowski was a left-handed pitcher, while both Arnold and LaLoosh were right-handed. Also, Shelton never played with Dalkowski, but was teammates with Arnold at Bluefield (1967), Stockton (1968, 1969), Dallas Fort-Worth (1970) and Rochester (1971).
Arnold was always certain the character was modeled primarily on him and cited two scenes in particular that were replicated from his career. He said the wild pitch LaLoosh threw that hit the team mascot standing behind home plate was reminiscent of the time he faced New York Yankees great Mickey Mantle in an exhibition game in 1968.
“I was really nervous and I fired the first pitch over Mantle’s head and it hit the press box,” Arnold told Pat O’Malley of The Sun.
Another well known scene depicts catcher “Crash” Davis, the Kevin Costner character, flooding the field late at night so the next day’s game would be canceled. Arnold said that really happened because he got so drunk one night he didn’t think he could make his scheduled start the following day.
“At 2 a.m. I told Bobby Grich that I couldn’t pitch tomorrow. So I went and turned on all the sprinklers,” Arnold said.
Greg Arnold moonlighted as a singer doing covers of Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and Glen Campbell. (Courtesy photo)
Orioles Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer played briefly alongside Arnold while with Class A Miami at the beginning of the 1968 season. Arnold was fresh out of high school, while Palmer was 22 years old with three seasons in the big leagues under his belt.
Palmer did not pitch in the majors in 1968 while recovering from an arm injury and Miami was his first rehabilitation stop. Palmer said the Greg Arnold he got to know did resemble the Nuke LaLoosh character.
“Greg certainly had an electric arm. He was a really talented guy who was just immature,” Palmer said. “Greg had a mercurial personality and wore his emotions on his sleeve.”
Palmer recalled that Arnold hit a three-run homer early in the 1968 season and thereafter ignored the bunt sign whenever given by manager Harry Malmberg.
“Greg was definitely a little crazy. He marched to the beat of his own drum,” Palmer said.
Arnold went 6-0 with a 2.91 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 65 innings at Rookie League Bluefield in 1967. He notched 12 wins with a 2.81 ERA and 140 strikeouts between low Class A Miami and high Class A Stockton in 1968.
Unfortunately for Arnold, he was unable to find similar success at Double-A and Triple-A. A defining moment of his brief career came in 1970 during a second stint with Dallas-Fort Worth. Arnold punched an umpire during an argument about a balk call and was banned from the Texas League.
Arnold had one last moment of glory while with Rochester in 1971, pitching a seven-inning no-hitter in the opening game of a doubleheader against Charleston (West Virginia) on May 28. He was demoted to the bullpen a month later after starting the season 2-7 with a 4.78 ERA.
Greg Arnold, a Baltimore native who played in the minor leagues for the Orioles, is believed to be the inspiration for the character of Nuke LaLoosh in the movie “Bull Durham.” (Courtesy photo)
When that experiment failed, Orioles director of player personnel Harry Dalton ordered Arnold to report to Single-A Raleigh-Durham. Arnold opted to retire instead and returned to Baltimore to pursue a promising career as a singer.
O’Malley, a sportswriter for The Sun for 33 years, first met Arnold when the latter was a teenager. Arnold played for the H&H Realty 16-and-under baseball team that O’Malley coached at the Sixth Street Field in Brooklyn. O’Malley was responsible for switching the youngster from infielder to pitcher.
There were no radar guns in the 1960s, but longtime Orioles scout George Henderson estimates that Arnold threw in the high 90s mph. “Among the scouts, Greg was as highly touted as Jim Palmer,” Henderson once said.
Arnold starred at Southern High in Baltimore, and by the time he was a senior there would be 20 to 30 scouts in attendance whenever he pitched, according to O’Malley.
“Greg Arnold is the most talented baseball player I know that didn’t make the major leagues. In my opinion, he threw harder than any pitcher to ever come out of the Baltimore area,” said O’Malley, who was a scout with the St. Louis Cardinals when Arnold was in high school.
George Kazmarek, a 1965 graduate of Mount Saint Joseph, played with Arnold for the Leone’s summer league team led by legendary coach Walter Youse. Kazmarek, an outfielder who spent seven seasons in the New York Mets organization, called Arnold “an incredibly talented pitcher.”
It was Youse who signed Arnold directly out of high school after he was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the third round (50th overall pick) of the 1967 MLB Amateur Draft.
“Greg had the stuff to pitch in the big leagues. He threw the fastball as hard as Tom Seaver and was probably in the top percentile for velocity during that era,” Kazmarek said. “Unfortunately, he just did not have the discipline and focus that was required. It’s a shame because he had the talent to make the majors.”
Kazmarek played minor league baseball at the same time as Arnold and heard all the wacky stories about his often bizarre behavior. There was a time when Arnold started for Rochester in Winnipeg and learned that Tom Jones was appearing at a nearby convention center.
Six innings into the game, Arnold told manager Joe Altobelli his arm had tightened up and needed to be relieved, then snuck out of the clubhouse to attend the concert.
“Everything about Greg was larger than life. He was a real character and certainly lived life to the fullest,” Kazmarek said.
Greg Arnold, a well known Elvis impersonator, is shown performing during the annual Severna Park Parade. (Courtesy photo)
Arnold’s career as an entertainer began at the same time as his professional baseball career. He moonlighted as a singer doing covers of Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and Glen Campbell. Back home in Baltimore, he fronted a popular band named Muddy River Line.
For many years, Arnold hosted an annual Opening Day party at Henny Macks Inn in Glen Burnie and personally provided the musical entertainment.
Arnold, who resided in Anne Arundel County for the last 25 years of his life, owned a home improvement business for a while before founding Chesapeake Productions. He was CEO of the company that did television advertising. He performed considerable volunteer work through an organization known as the Health Hero Network, a nonprofit that undertook community service projects.
“Greg was the type of person who wanted to help wherever he could. He was a very kind, caring individual who worked hard to uplift those in need,” Mandy Arnold said of her husband.
Mandy Arnold is the president and CEO of Partners in Care, a local nonprofit that supports seniors. She said Greg put considerable effort into raising funds and awareness for the organization.
Greg and Mandy Arnold lived in Severna Park for 22 years before moving to a home in the Bahama Beach neighborhood of Pasadena.
In addition to his wife of 34 years, Arnold is survived by three sons — Gregory (Valerie) Brooks Arnold of Pasadena and David (Donna) Arnold of Ferndale and Noland Arnold of Baltimore. He is also survived by two sisters, Maria Marsteller of Severna Park and Barbara Goodale of Annapolis.
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