In 1980, his first season exclusively as a reliever, the mild-looking, bespectacled
Hume was named co-winner (with Rollie Fingers) of the NL Fireman of the Year Award
(9-10, 2.56, 78 games, 25 saves). That off-season, he and Reds teammate Bill Bonham
and their wives were trapped in a Las Vegas hotel fire and had to be rescued from
the roof.
Hume's nine relief wins in 1981 led the NL. Forced out for two months
of the 1982 season after he injured his knee by catching his foot in a turf seam
in Montreal, he never again recorded more than nine saves in a season, and was generally
reduced to the role of set-up man. Hume's first ML hit was a home run. In 183 more
at-bats, he never hit another.
(JCA)
FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
»January 12, 1972:
In the secondary phase of the January draft, the Reds pick JC pitcher Tom Hume, the Braves get Sam Bowen, and the Red Sox, picking 1,653, take Roy Smalley. Duane Kuiper is picked by the Indians.
»May 2, 1980: Paced by Lenny Randle's double and homer in the inning, the Cubs score eight runs in the 12th to beat the Reds, 12–4. Bruce Sutter picks up the easy win over Tom Hume.
»May 14, 1982:
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th, Pittsburgh's Lee Lacy greets Reds reliever Tom Hume with a grand slam home run. But in the celebration. Lacy passes teammate Omar Moreno between 1B and 2B. Lacy gets only a single and three ribbies, but the Bucs pull out a victory, 8–7.
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