Rocky Biddle owns the unique honour of having an awesome first name, a brutal surname and a single, solitary season where he delivered (sorta) as the closer for the Montreal Expos.
In the team’s second last year in Montreal, one would think they’d be all but flatlining but somehow, Les Expos pulled out 83 wins under the stinky eye of underrated bench boss, Frank Robinson. Vladimir Guerrero, Orlando Cabrera and Javier Vazquez are some of the talents who starred for the Expos that summer. And finishing 58 games that season was Chicago White Sox retread Rocky Biddle.
A former first round draft pick, Biddle was a key trading chip when the Sox acquired the lumpy Bartolo Colon in January 2003. Biddle became the Expos closer by default and racked up a decent 34 saves in his first season. However, other than the save total, his other stats were pretty pedestrian (4.65 ERA, 1.549 WHIP) and Biddle was quickly usurped in 2004 by college phenom Chad Cordero. A brief, rocky road to say the least!
Remarkably, Biddle's single season performance still slots him as 9th all-time on the Expos/Nationals saves lists, just after the semi-legendary Woodie Fryman.
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