Former Twins “fireman” Bill Campbell passes away at the age of 74

Bill Campbell took a last look around Met Stadium in 1976 before leaving the Twins as a free agent. Star Tribune File Photo

Bill Campbell was born on August 9, 1948 in Highland Park, Michigan. Campbell passed away on January 6, 2023 in the Chicago, Illinois area where he was under hospice care after a long battle with brain cancer.

Bill “Soup” Campbell was one of those rare amateur free agent signings post 1965 when the June Amateur free agent draft came into existence and he was signed by the Minnesota Twins on September 25, 1970 according to Baseball-Reference but his SABR BIO has him signing in 1971. Campbell pitched for the Minnesota Twins from 1973-1976. While in Minnesota, Campbell had a 32-21 record while recording his first 51 of 126 career saves. Of those 51 Twins saves, 33 were more than one one inning. His ERA as a Twin was 3.13 and during his stay in Minnesota he never had more hits than innings pitched. “Soup” never gave in to a hitter, as his HR9 mark of 0.6 and BB9 of 3.6 would indicate.

I normally write a more complete bio myself but I like Campbell’s SABR BIO and it is so complete I will just leave it at that. I did an interview with Bill Campbell that you can listen to at https://twinstrivia.com/interview-archives/bill-campbell-interview/

From left, Randy Hundley, Eric Soderholm, history professor Tom DePalma and Bill Campbell share stories during professor DePalma’s “History of Baseball” class at Harper College in 2008. Credit Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com

Campbell is survived by his wife Linda, a professor at Harper College, three children, Emily, Marnie and Joseph, and four grandchildren. Twinstrivia.com would like to pass on our condolences to the Bill Campbell family, friend’s and fans. Thank you for the great memories.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/bill-campbell-passes-away.html

Former Twins ironman reliever Bill Campbell dies at 74

Bill Campbell Obit at RIPBaseball.com

1 comment

  1. Great tribute, John.
    As you know, Campbell signed as free agent with Red Sox in 1977.
    It was the Red Sox’ first entree into the
    big money free agent sweepstakes.
    For diehards like me, it was a mixed blessing.
    Back then, ticket prices were usually hiked 25 or 50 cents with the bleacher pricing left alone. To compensate for this signing, the Sox raised ticket prices one dollar which included the bleachers. As a bleacher creature during my young pecuniary days, that was a big hit going from a dollar admission to two dollars!
    Plus, Campbell got off to a somewhat rocky start at the beginning of the year and some of us questioned whether it was money well spent.
    He ultimately led the league in saves, but his best years were behind him after that.
    RIP, “Soup” Campbell.

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