"A storybook season, without the happy ending.
Charles Hudson began the year as a long reliever, but became a last-minute replacement in the Yankees home opener. He pitched a three-hit masterpiece and started the year with six straight victories. This streak included the first nine-inning shutout of his career. Then the roof fell in.
In his next seven appearances, including two in relief, he struggled with his control and was optioned to Columbus. Hudson returned to the bullpen in July, and in August ran off a string of 22 scoreless innings. But while he had flashes of excellence, he was inconsistent from appearance to appearance.
Despite everything, the hard-throwing righty led the team with six complete games and two shutouts, was second on the club with 100 strikeouts, and third with 11 wins. If the Yankees can work out Hudson's problems of 1987, he could mean the difference in their 1988 pennant hopes."
-The New York Yankees Official 1988 Yearbook
"Charles began the 1987 season strongly, going 6-0 in his first eight games with a 2.02 ERA (13 ER, 58 IP) with 44 hits, 19 walks and 35 strikeouts [1.09 WHIP]. His 6-0 start was the best by any Yankee pitcher since Tommy John began 1980 with a 7-0 record. Of those eight games (through May 15), seven were starts, with his first appearance of the year in a relief role on April 8 at Detroit. In that game, Charles pitched 4.1 innings in relief of Tommy John, retiring all 13 batters he faced with three strikeouts, and received credit for the Yankees' 6-5 win over the Tigers.
That earned Charles a start for his Yankee Stadium debut, on April 13 against Cleveland (the home opener), and he threw a complete game, allowing the Indians just three hits (all solo home runs) while recording 10 strikeouts to receive credit for the Yankees' 11-3 victory. The 10 strikeouts was his season high and matched his career strikeout high, set on October 2, 1985 at Montreal while with the Phillies. In addition, the 3-hitter matched his career low-hit game, July 20, 1983 while with the Phillies.
In his next outing on April 19 against Kansas City, also at Yankee Stadium (Game 1), Charles recorded New York's first complete game shutout of the year, blanking the Royals on seven hits, three walks and seven strikeouts, winning 5-0. It was the first nine-inning shutout of his career, having thrown a rain-shortened shutout as a Phillie in 1984, and the first complete game shutout by a Yankee at Yankee Stadium since Ed Whitson shut out Texas 6-0 on July 12, 1985. With that complete game, Charles became the first Yankee to throw back-to-back complete games since Phil Niekro did so on September 13 and 18, 1985 against Toronto and Detroit, respectively.
When Tommy John, Pat Clements and Dave Righetti combined on a 1-0 shutout in Game 2 of that doubleheader following Charles' shutout, it marked the 14th time in their history the Yankees won a doubleheader via shutouts in both games, with the previous instance occurring on September 25, 1977 when Ron Guidry and a combined Ed Figueroa-Sparky Lyle shutout stopped the Blue Jays at Toronto. Charles threw back-to-back complete games again on May 4 at Chicago, winning 6-1, and on May 10 against Minnesota, also winning 6-1; that game also marked his third complete game in his first three Yankee Stadium starts.
In his next seven appearances (five starts) after his 6-0 start, however, from May 20 through July 19, Charles went 1-2 with a 7.50 ERA (20 ER, 24 IP). Included in those games was an 0-2 record and a 9.47 ERA (20 ER, 19 IP) in his five starts. As a result he was optioned to Columbus on June 20. At the time of his option, Charles was 6-2 with a 3.62 ERA (15 G, 12 GS, 82 IP, 79 H, 34 R, 33 ER, 9 HR, 30 BB, 53 K [1.33 WHIP]).
While with the Clippers he appeared in five games (two starts), going 0-2 with a 6.07 ERA. Charles was recalled from Columbus on July 6, and in his 20 games with the Yankees through the end of the season following his recall (including four starts), he went 4-5 with a 3.59 ERA (72.2 IP, 58 H, 29 R, 29 ER, 10 HR, 27 BB, 47 K [1.18 WHIP].
He threw 21 scoreless innings in six outings between August 3 and August 24, and ran the string to a career high 22.1 innings before [yielding a run] on August 28. Included in that span was eight shutout innings in relief of Tommy John (who was forced to leave after one inning pitched with a stomach disorder) on August 19 at Seattle, gaining credit for the win as John and Hudson combined for an 8-0, 5-hit shutout.
In his final five outings of the year (two starts, three relief appearances) he was 2-1, allowing seven earned runs in 30 innings pitched (2.10 ERA). Charles threw his second shutout of the season on September 29 against Boston, limiting the Red Sox to four hits in a 6-0 Yankee win, becoming the first Yankee pitcher to throw two complete game shutouts in Yankee Stadium [in the same season] since both Dave Righetti and Ron Guidry threw two apiece in 1983. In his next start on October 4 against Baltimore, his last one in 1987, he threw another complete game, a 4-2 loss but his sixth complete game of the year and the third time in '87 he had back-to-back complete games.
His six complete games and two shutouts led the Yankees and he was second on the club with 100 strikeouts. Charles finished with a record of 11-7 in 35 games (16 starts) and a 3.61 ERA, and his 11 wins was the third highest total on the team. His six complete games led the Yankees and was the most by a Yankee pitcher since Ron Guidry (11) and Phil Niekro (7) in 1985. He achieved single season bests in wins and complete games. Charles allowed 19 home runs, 12 of which (including the first five) were solo. As a starter he was 6-5 with a 4.12 ERA (45 ER, 98.1 IP), while as a reliever he was 5-2 with a 2.88 ERA (18 ER, 56.1 IP).
In 1981, his first pro season, Charles was 5-5 with a 3.83 ERA in 14 games with Helena. He posted a 15-5 record and a 1.85 ERA in 1982 with Peninsula of the Carolina League. He led the league in ERA, wins and shutouts, was named Carolina League Pitcher of the Year and was a Carolina League All-Star.
Charles recorded his first major league win at Pittsburgh on June 19, 1983. On July 20 against Houston, he had a no-hitter through 8.1 innings broken up by Craig Reynolds' bloop single, eventually giving up three hits, which is tied for the lowest-hit complete game of his career. He also had a career high five-game winning streak.
He beat the Dodgers 7-2 in Game Three of the '83 National League Championship Series, allowing just four hits in nine innings while becoming the first rookie to hurl a complete game in NLCS history. Charles was 0-2 with an 8.64 ERA in two starts in the '83 World Series against the Orioles. He was named to the Baseball Digest Rookie Team.
Charles posted his first career shutout on July 5, 1984 against Atlanta in a rain-shortened seven-inning game. He suffered a fractured rib on August 9 and missed 22 days of the season. He started switch-hitting in '84 and doubled off Dennis Eckersley in his first major league at-bat as a left-handed hitter on July 30.
In 1985 Charles set season highs in games (33), innings pitched (193.0) and strikeouts (122). He struck out a career high 10 batters at Montreal on October 2 and had the second longest consecutive scoreless inning streak on the Phillie staff (16.2 innings).
He started the season in the bullpen, where he was 0-2 with a 2.60 ERA, and moved into the starting rotation on May 14, replacing Jerry Koosman. Charles was 8-11, 3.85 ERA in 26 starts. He experienced six one-run losses and four two-run losses, and in his 11 losses as a starter the Phillies scored 27 runs, an average of 2.45 per game. He was the starting pitcher in the Phils' record-setting 26-7 game against the Mets on June 11 and had three hits on August 18 at Chicago.
He was used by the Phillies as a reliever in his first two games in 1986, going 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA, then made 23 straight starts. Charles was sent back to the bullpen on September 2 for the remainder of the season. As a starter in those 23 games he was 6-10 with a 5.24 ERA and gave up all 20 of his homers as a starter. The Phillies scored just 25 runs in his 10 losses, an average of 2.5 runs per game. In his 10 games as a reliever, he was 1-0 with no saves and a 3.10 ERA.
Through June 10 Charles was 4-3 with a 3.88 ERA over his first 11 games, but had a career high six-game losing streak from June 15 through July 10 with a 7.16 ERA. Over his next five starts, from July 20 through August 9, he was 3-1 with a 3.03 ERA. Charles made three more starts after that without a decision and then came out of the bullpen in his final eight appearances without a decision or a save.
In his 9-3 victory at Cincinnati on July 20, he had season highs of eight innings pitched and seven strikeouts; he also went eight innings in a 2-0 loss to Montreal on June 15. Charles' best outing came on May 31 against San Diego, hurling seven shutout innings and giving up five hits to gain credit for the Phillies' 1-0 victory. His longest outing as a reliever was three innings, on three occasions: April 7 at Cincinnati (Opening Day), September 8 at Chicago and September 17 against St. Louis. Overall in 1986 he was 7-10 with a 4.94 ERA.
Charles was acquired by the Yankees in December 1986 from the Phillies with pitcher Jeff Knox in exchange for outfielder Mike Easler and infielder Tom Barrett.
Charles is a graduate of South Oak Cliff (Dallas, TX) High School where he played baseball. He was converted from shortstop to pitcher at Prairie View A & M (TX) University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in business management. Charles pitched in the NAIA playoffs in 1980 and 1981.
His hobbies are backgammon, chess and dominoes and his favorite spectator sports are basketball and football. His favorite team growing up was the Dallas Cowboys, his favorite player was Drew Pearson and his favorite ballpark is Dodger Stadium. His favorite entertainers are Eddie Murphy, Clint Eastwood and Stevie Wonder."
-1988 New York Yankees Information Guide
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