Bob Lacey

Four years after he repeated as an All-City baseball pitcher at Palo Verde High School, lefty Bob Lacey was promoted from Class AA Birmingham to his hometown AAA Tucson Toros.
Talk about a debut.
The 6-foot 5-inch Lacey pitched a four-hitter to shut out the Albuquerque Dodgers 1-0 that night at Hi Corbett Field, pushing the Toros to within one game of the Pacific Coast League lead. He only needed 90 pitches in a complete game that took a rare one hour and 47 minutes.
“When a kid pitches a game like that,’’ said Tucson manager Hank Aguirre, “it pumps us up as high as the sky.’’
Lacey wasn’t new to the Tucson baseball community.
He was a first-team all-city choice in 1970 and 1971 at Palo Verde, putting himself in a class with fellow future big-league players Ron Hassey of Tucson High and Paul Moskau of Rincon.
Lacey made a name for himself in the summers of 1968 and 1969, striking out 19 batters in an American Legion game, and later pitching the Tucson All-Stars to the Colt League western championship game in Los Angeles, striking out 17 batters for coach Jim Wing, a Pima County Sports Hall of Famer.
Major League scouts noticed. In the winter draft of 1972, the Oakland A’s – then baseball’s reigning powerhouse – selected Lacey with the 10th pick. Five years later, in May 1977, Lacey reached the big leagues, in Oakland. He pitched for the Toros in 1975 and 1976, becoming a top prospect.
Lacey stayed in MLB through the 1984 season, appearing in 284 games. In 1978, he led the American League with 74 appearances, winning eight games and saving five more.
Lacey was at times a controversial character. In a 1977 game against that year’s World Series champion New York Yankees, he struck out Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson twice. Jackson was furious and motioned for Lacey to meet him halfway between the mound and home plate.
A’s owner Charles Finley, who had lost Jackson to free agency a year earlier, was so impressed he gave Lacey a raise from $19,000 to $35,000.
Lacey was a reliever through his entire big league career. He made just two starts. He later spent time pitching for the San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Indians, California Angels and Texas Rangers.
He remained active in baseball after his retirement from the big leagues, serving as a player-manager of the Greenville Bluesmen in the Texas-Louisiana League at age 44. He has lived in Phoenix since.