1979 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR
"Guidry put together one of the greatest seasons of all time. He won the AL Cy Young Award and was 13-0 at one point when most of the Yankee pitchers were losing. He led the league in victories, winning percentage, ERA and shutouts, and won the sudden-death showdown with Boston that put the Yankees in the playoffs.
Born in Lafayette, Louisiana, Guidry overpowers hitters with his blazing fastball and throws incredibly hard for his size. He's also an excellent fielding pitcher.
Guidry was once being groomed to replace Sparky Lyle as a left-handed reliever. He got his chance as a starter in '77 because of an injury to Catfish Hunter.
He's the premier pitcher in the AL."
-Phil Pepe and Jim Hawkins, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1979 Edition
"The awards and recognition keep coming in. Ron Guidry had a season in 1978 that few, if any, in baseball history have equaled. 25-3, .893 winning percentage, 1.74 ERA, nine shutouts: all marks that led the majors. Thirteen straight wins to start the season, 248 strikeouts, including 18 in one game: all Yankee club marks. The Cy Young Award, Sporting News Player of the Year and Man of the Year, A.P. Male Athlete of the Year ... the list goes on and on!
Yes, Ron Guidry had a remarkable year. And through it all, he remains a remarkable young man. Ron seems unaffected by the adulation that goes with the kind of season he had. He's the same down-to-earth Louisiana country boy that came up through the Yankee farm system. Hunting, hiking, touch football and working around the house remain his off-season passions. Not forgetting his devotion to his family and friends.
That's Ron Guidry: the Ragin' Cajun, the Man with the Golden Arm, the Gator, Louisiana Lightnin'. The clapping and cheering each time he throws to a batter with two strikes, the wild excitement when that batter swings and misses and heads for the security of his dugout, the standing ovation Ron receives as he trots off the field after each victory (a 37-4 record, including postseason play, since August 10, 1977). By any name, he is indeed a remarkable athlete ... and a remarkable man."
-The New York Yankees Official 1979 Yearbook
"It was one of the most remarkable years a pitcher in the history of baseball has ever had. Ron Guidry became the best there was in 1978. He led the major leagues in wins (25), winning percentage (.893), ERA (1.74) and shutouts (9). He was second in the American League in strikeouts with 248 and third in the majors.
Guidry started the season with a Yankee record 13 straight wins, breaking the mark previously held by Atley Donald, the scout who signed Ron. He also finished with a blaze, winning three straight to close out the season, giving up just three runs in the three games. Three of Ron's last five wins were 2-hit shutouts.
Four times last year Guidry posted back-to-back shutouts. His nine shutouts on the year set the Yankee record and were the most in a season by an American League left-hander since 1916 when Babe Ruth also had nine (the American League record for left-handers).
Ron won 10 of his last 11, and 12 of his last 14 regular-season decisions, with seven of those 12 being shutouts. He completed eight of his last 13 starts, and 10 of his last 16. Ron also won eight of his last nine regular-season decisions in 1977, giving him 33 wins in his last 37 regular-season decisions. Add a 4-0 postseason mark from 1977 and '78, and he has gone 37-4 since August 10, 1977.
The Yanks won 30 of the 35 games Ron started last year, and in the five they lost, they scored only seven runs. 15 of Ron's 25 wins followed a Yankee loss. He stopped two three-game losing streaks and a four-game losing streak. The American League batted just .193 against Ron last year; as a whole the league batted. 261. He had three 2-hitters and two 3-hitters last year. All three of his losses came at the hands of a left-handed pitcher named Mike: Flanagan for the Orioles, Willis for the Blue Jays and Caldwell for the Brewers.
Ron struck out 10 or more in a game eight times last year, including an 18-strikeout performance against the Angels on June 17 that set a Yankee club record, breaking Bob Shawkey's mark of 15 that had stood since 1919, and setting an American League record for left-handers. His 248 strikeouts set a new Yankee record for K's in a season; Jack Chesbro previously held the record with 239 in 1904. Ron was the first Yankee since Al Downing (217 in 1964) to strike out more than 200 batters in a season, and he's only the seventh in Yankee history to K more than 200 in a season.
He finished with a .893 percentage (25-3), giving him the best winning percentage by a 20-game winner in baseball history, surpassing Lefty Grove (31-4, .886 in 1931). His 1.74 ERA was the lowest by a left-hander since Sandy Koufax's 1.73 in 1966. It was the second lowest ERA by a left-hander in American League history (Dutch Leonard had a 1.01 in 1914).
Guidry was named the American League's Player of the Month in both June and September and was also the Player of the Week twice. He was a unanimous choice as the Cy Young Award winner, collecting all 28 first place votes; the only other unanimous winner in A.L. history was Denny McLain in 1968. Ron received numerous other awards following the 1978 season: the Sporting News Major League Player of the Year; Sporting News Man of the Year; the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year; Baseball Quarterly Performer of the Year; Baseball Digest Major League Player of the Year; Baseball Bulletin Pitcher of the Year; Seagrams Seven Crowns of Sport Award; Remington Rifle Award; Most Cooperative by the New York Press Photographers; New York Baseball Writers Player of the Year; co-winner of the Joe Cronin Award for Distinguished Achievement; and he was named to the All-Star teams of the Sporting News, A.P., U.P.I. and Baseball Bulletin.
The 1978 season followed a year of firsts for Ronnie in 1977. He picked up his first major league win, his first major league complete game and his first shutout. Ron had his problems in spring training of 1977, but came on and basically held the Yankee pitching together when injuries and ineffectiveness hit the staff. 1977 was Ron's first full season with the Yankees, as he was back and forth between the Yankees and Syracuse for the 1975 and '76 seasons. He was used in relief in six of his first seven appearances in '77 and started his first game of the year, and only his second lifetime, on April 29 against Seattle. When he started on May 17 at Oakland, it was the first of 24 straight starts the rest of the year, and he's been starting ever since. A starter his first three years in pro ball, Ron became a relief pitcher in 1974 at West Haven. The following year at Syracuse he struck out 76 in 63 innings.
Guidry finished second to Jim Rice in the MVP voting last year. In 1977 he finished 18th but was the first starting pitcher named. He was seventh in the Cy Young voting in '77, but the first left-handed starter named.
Ron is very popular in his hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana. There was no baseball team at his high school, so he ran track and was named the outstanding track man at Northside High in 1967 and 1968; Ron has great running speed and has scored four runs as pinch runner the last two years. In college he hurled a no-hitter at the University of Southwestern Louisiana.
Of French ancestry, Ron enjoys chess and hunting in his spare time. He lists the Royals' George Brett as his toughest individual opponent.
Ron pitched the Yanks' division clinching win against the Red Sox last year, and clinched the ALCS against the Royals. His World Series win followed two Yankee losses."
-New York Yankees 1979 Media Guide
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