Spillner attended Federal Way High School in Federal Way, Washington. He played for the San Diego Padres, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago White Sox. His first career win was a 5–4 victory over Cincinnati on May 23, 1974. He threw a three-hit, ten-strikeout complete game shutout against Houston on September 11, 1974. He led the Padres in strikeouts in 1975 (104).
After suffering through three losing seasons as a Padre starter, he was part of the major leagues' busiest bullpen in 1977: He and Dave Tomlin each had 76 appearances; Rollie Fingers, 78. A Cleveland starter in 1980, Spillner was 16–11 despite a 5.29 ERA. He was two outs away from a no-hitter on August 20 before rookie Leo Sutherland had a single off him in a 3–0 victory over the White Sox; the no-hitter would have been the first in the AL since Bert Blyleven's on September 22, 1977.[1] He had one fine year as an Indians reliever, going 12–10 (2.49) with 21 saves in 1982. On July 29 of that year, he entered a game with two outs and the bases loaded in the eleventh, induced Paul Molitor to fly out to end the inning, and picked up the win in a 12-inning, 5–1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.[2] At the end of July that year, The Toledo Blade called him "one of the league's best" relief pitchers, after he had a 1.93 ERA and 12 saves to that point.[3]
For his career, he compiled a 75–89 record, with a 4.21 ERA, 878 strikeouts and 50 saves in 556 appearances. Spillner, who relied mostly on a fastball, was prone to giving up home runs.
Baseball author Bill James wrote that Spillner was the worst hitting pitcher of the 1970s.[4] For his career, Spillner had a .077 batting average, with 10 hits in 130 at bats, no home runs, and one run batted in.[5]
