Earl Byrne

From BR Bullpen

Earl Patrick Byrne

  • Bats Left, Throws Left
  • Height 6' 1", Weight 180 lb.

BR Register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Earl Byrne peaked at AAA and was on the Australian national team.

He had a rough pro debut with the Melbourne Bushrangers in the 1991-1992 Australian Baseball League, giving up 12 walks and 12 runs (all earned) in 5 2/3 IP. [1] He allowed nine runs in nine innings in 1992-1993 and was 0-1 with a 8.03 ERA and 2.11 WHIP for the 1993-1994 Canberra Bushrangers. He left the team following an ugly court case with the team owner. [2]

Signed by the Chicago Cubs, he had a better US debut, going 1-1 with a 1.64 ERA in four outings for the 1994 GCL Cubs. He was 2-5 with a 5.82 ERA for the 1994-1995 Melbourne Monarchs. He was 4-3 with a 4.65 ERA for the '95 Rockford Cubbies. In 1995-1996, he threw a one-hitter against the rival Melbourne Reds and finished 6-4 with a 4.17 ERA, striking out 75 in 73 1/3 IP. He was two strikeouts behind league leader John Challinor. [3]

The southpaw split 1996 between the Daytona Cubs (1-4, Sv, 3.38 in 18 G) and Orlando Cubs 91-2, 5.59 in 11 G). He was 2-1 with a save and a 3.38 ERA in the 1996-1997 ABL, battling arm injuries. [4] With Orlando in 1997, he was 5-5 with a 3.95 ERA. He was 7th among Cubs farmhands in strikeouts (128, between Brian McNichol and Kennie Steenstra) and 4th in walks (73, between Javier Martínez and Courtney Duncan). He led the Southern League in K, one ahead of Scott Eyre, and tied Cam Smith for 4th in walks, despite not making the top 15 in innings pitched (he had 130).

Byrne was 5-5 with a 6.18 ERA for Melbourne in 1997-1998 and was second to Shayne Bennett in K rate. [5] He split 1998 between the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (5-5, 4.83 in 15 G) and Iowa Cubs (3-3, 6.34 in 10 G) in his last US season. He tied Kyle Lohse and Nate Teut for 9th in the Cubs system in losses and just missed the top ten in wins. His 65 walks were 4th, between Phil Norton and Steve Rain, while his 128 strikeouts tied Jeff Yoder for 7th.

With the Monarchs in 1998-1999, he was 4-4 with a 4.41 ERA; he was 5th with 58 K and third in strikeout rate, behind Mike Nakamura and Matt Herges. [6] That won him a spot on Australia's team for the 1999 Intercontinental Cup. He was 0-1 with a 7.94 ERA, taking their lone loss as his nation won its first (and through 2024, only) global baseball title. His defeat came at the hands of Taiyo Fujita of Japan. [7]

In the ABL's initial ten-year run before folding (it was revived in the 2010s), he was 12th in IP (344 1/3, between Shane Tonkin and Bob Nilsson, 16th in games pitched (94, between Mark Respondek and Adrian Meagher), tied for 20th in wins (19, even with Challinor), tied for 16th in losses (20, tied with Challinor, Darren Fidge, Grahame Cassel and Troy Martin), 14th in hits allowed (345, between Simon Eissens and Nilsson), 11th in runs allowed (236, between Kim Jessop and Eissens), 7th in earned runs (210, between Tonkin and Jessop), 5th in strikeouts (326, between David White and Troy Scoble), 1st in walks (220, 66 more than runner-up John Boothby), tied for 9th in balks (5), 10th in wild pitches (15), 8th in starts (58, between Peter Jacobsson and Keith Wenban) and tied for 14th in opponent average (.250, even with Eissens). [8]

He wrapped up his career by going 2-1 with a 3.80 ERA for the Victoria Aces in the 1999-2000 International Baseball League of Australia, the short-lived successor to the ABL. [9]

Sources[edit]

  1. Flintoff & Dunn Australian Baseball Almanac
  2. ibid.
  3. ibid.
  4. ibid.
  5. ibid.
  6. ibid.
  7. Defunct IBAF site
  8. Flintoff & Dunn Australian Baseball Almanac
  9. ibid.

Related Sites[edit]