1986 Profile: Dennis Rasmussen

"The 1985 season was a tough one for Dennis Rasmussen. For the first time in his career he began the year on a major league roster, but by June he had lost his effectiveness. He was consistently getting burned by the long ball, and his outings were getting shorter and shorter. By July he was optioned to Triple-A Columbus but returned to New York in September to finish at 3-5.
'It was that type of year- very disappointing,' the big left-hander admitted, 'and yet not disappointing from the point of view of how I threw the ball. I just never got the desired results in New York or Columbus.'
Desire and results. Rasmussen had those winning ingredients in 1984 when he was 9-6, and this year he's going to make sure he stirs them up once again."

-The New York Yankees Official 1986 Yearbook

"Rasmussen started the season with a major league club for the first time in five years as a pro. He threw his second career complete game on May 3 against Kansas City, allowing one run on five hits while notching his first win, and his other complete game came in a 4-1 loss at Seattle on May 22. Dennis struck out a season high seven batters on July 10 against Kansas City.
He was hurt by the longball, yielding an average of one home run for every 10.1 innings pitched, and allowed four home runs on June 14 against Detroit. When optioned to Columbus on July 23, Dennis was 3-5 with a 3.87 ERA. He was 0-3 with a 3.80 ERA at Columbus and was recalled on September 1, making four relief appearances through the season's end, going 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA.
Dennis is known as a fastball pitcher, but gets many of his strikeouts with a big breaking curve ball. In 1982 he finished second in the Pacific Coast League with 162 strikeouts for Spokane, and in 1983 was the ace of the Columbus [Yankees' AAA] staff, leading the International League in strikeouts and tying for the league lead in both wins and starts; he struck out 14 batters in a game at Charleston. Dennis made his first major league start on May 23, 1983 striking out a career high 10 batters in eight innings of 2-hit shutout ball to gain his first major league win.
Dennis grew up in Lakewood, Colorado where he was a baseball and basketball star at Bear Creek High School. He played college baseball and basketball at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. He played with Kevin McKenna (Indiana Pacers '83-'84) and against Larry Bird and Dave Corzine. Dennis is a grandson of Bill Brubaker, an infielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Braves, 1932-40 and 1943."

-1986 New York Yankees Information Guide