"Not as lucky in '79 as he was the year before- nor as successful. He settled for a mere 18 wins. Hampered by a pulled muscle in his back early in the season, Guidry won 11 in a row after the All-Star break to prove his stunning '78 performance was no fluke. He volunteered for bullpen duty early when Gossage was injured.
Born in Lafayette, Louisiana, Guidry possesses an outstanding curve as well as a blazing fastball and throws remarkably hard for his slender build and size. An excellent fielder, Ron was being groomed to replace Sparky Lyle in the bullpen when the Yankees saw the light and made him a starter. He won just about every pitching award imaginable in '78."
-Jim Hawkins, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1980 Edition
"When the final gun sounds, Ron Guidry will pack his bags and head southwest to the Bayou Country. Carefully setting up his prey, much as he does on the mound, this Cajun boy will enjoy the simple pleasures of hunting and fishing. Louisiana's gain will be New York's loss, but that's not quite for a while.
Ron Guidry, a.k.a. Louisiana Lightning, looks toward 1980 with a red hot fastball and a sharp-breaking slider. His valuable left arm intends to keep the Yankees in business much the same way it has done over the past several seasons. 1977: 16-7 record with a 2.82 ERA. 1978: 25-3 record with an .893 winning percentage, 1.74 ERA and nine shutouts ... all league leading statistics. Two hundred forty-eight strikeouts, including 18 in one game, and 13 straight victories ... all Yankee records. Cy Young Award, Sporting News Athlete of the Year and Man of the Year Award. 1979: 18-8 record, another league leading ERA at 2.78 and 201 strikeouts. It makes one want to come out to the Stadium early to cheer the Gator as he takes his warm-ups in the bullpen.
Confidence! That's something New Yorkers are proud of and that's something Ron Guidry exudes each time he heads to the mound. He knows there is going to be business to take care of before it's time to hunt and fish, and he hopes to be setting up his prey well into October ... on the mound and not on the Bayou."
-The New York Yankees Official 1980 Yearbook
"Following what was one of the most remarkable years a pitcher in the history of baseball has ever had, Guidry finished strong in 1979 to register his second straight great year of pitching for the Yankees.
The year started slowly for Ron. He got off to a 2-2 start and then volunteered to go the bullpen after the Yankees were unable to come up with a replacement for the injured Rich Gossage. Ron relieved against the A's on May 6 and shut them out on two hits for the final 3.2 innings, and got credit for the win as the Yanks scored in the bottom of the 10th to win, 6-5. His next relief appearance came on May 8 against the Mariners, and he shut them out without a hit over the final two innings to save a 5-3 win for Jim Beattie. After not pitching for seven days, it was decided to put Ron back in the starting rotation on May 16 against the Tigers, and he responded with a complete game 6-2 win.
He stayed in the starting rotation the rest of the year. Guidry then dropped five of his next seven decisions and was 6-7 on July 15, after which he took off on an 11-game winning streak, starting with a 12-4 win over the A's on July 21. He would not lose again until September 21, when he dropped a complete game 3-2 decision to the Blue Jays. Ron's 11 straight wins were in consecutive starts from July 21 to September 13. Prior to the streak, he had lost three straight, which represented the longest losing streak of his career (Ron had a 13-game win streak to start the 1978 season). After losing to the Jays to stop the streak, he then beat the Indians 6-3 for his 18th win and 15th complete game of the year, finishing with 12 wins in his last 13 decisions.
Guidry actually deserved a lot better last year; in his eight losses the Yanks were shut out three times and scored just one run three times, and his other two losses were both by one run. Since he returned to the starting rotation on May 16, Ron was 15-6 with a 2.98 ERA. He was 12-1 after the All-Star Game; in 1978 he was 12-2 and was 10-2 in 1977, so he is 34-5 after the All-Star Game the last three years.
Ron finished the season with 201 strikeouts (second to Nolan Ryan's 223), making him the first Yankee pitcher in history to record two 200-strikeout seasons. He led the league in ERA with 2.78, was fourth in wins with 18 and eighth in complete games with 15. Ron had seven 10+ strikeout games in '79 and his K high last year was 13 (May 16 vs. Detroit). He was named to the United Press International All-Star team. He even played center field for an inning on September 29 against Toronto.
To repeat, Ron had one of the best years ever had by a pitcher in the 1978 season. He led the major leagues in wins with 25, winning percentage (.893), ERA (1.74) and shutouts (9). He was second in strikeouts with 248. He started the season with a Yankee record 13 straight wins, breaking the record previously held by Atley Donald, the Yankee scout who signed him. Four times in '78 Ron 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 AL record for left-handers). He won 12 of his last 14 regular-season decisions, with seven of those 12 being shutouts. He completed eight of his last 13, and 10 of his last 16. The Yanks won 30 of the 35 games Ron started in '78, and in the five they lost they scored only seven runs. 15 of his 25 wins followed Yankee losses. The A.L. batted just .193 against him.
Guidry struck out 10 or more in a game eight times, including an 18-strikeout performance against the Angels on June 17 which broke Bob Shawkey's Yankee record of 15, that had stood since 1919, and set an A.L. record for left-handers. He pitched the Yanks' Eastern Division clinching win against the Red Sox, and the pennant clinching win against the Royals.
The list of Guidry's 1978 milestones seems endless. His 248 strikeouts set a new all-time Yankee mark for K's in a season; Jack Chesbro previously held the record with 239 in 1904. He was the first Yankee since Al Downing (217 in 1964) to strike out more than 200 in a season. His .893 winning percentage (25-3) was the best by a 20-game winner in baseball history. His 1.74 ERA was the lowest by a left-hander since Sandy Koufax's 1.73 in 1966. Per nine innings in '78, Ron had the following averages: hits-6.14, runs-2.00, earned runs-1.74, walks-2.36 and K's-8.16. In only two innings all year did he give up more than two runs. He had two 3-hitters and three 2-hitters (lifetime he has five 2-hitters).
The American League's Player of the Month in both June and September of '78, Ron was a unanimous choice as the league's Cy Young Award winner, collecting all 28 first place votes; the only other unanimous winner was Denny McLain in 1968. Other major 1978 awards won by Guidry were: Sporting News Major League Player of the Year, Sporting News Man of the Year, Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year; Baseball Quarterly Performer of the Year, Baseball Digest Player of the Year and Baseball Bulletin Player of the Year. He was named to the All-Star teams of the Sporting News, AP and UPI.
The 1978 season followed a year of firsts for Ron in 1977. He picked up his first major league win, first complete game and first shutout. He had his problems in spring training of '77, but came on and held the Yankee pitching together when injuries and ineffectiveness hit the staff. 1977 was Ron's first full season with the Yankees; he was back and forth between the Yanks and Syracuse for the 1975 and 1976 seasons. He was used in relief in six of his first seven appearances in '77, then finished the year with 24 straight starts. Ron finished 18th in the MVP voting in '77 but was the first starting pitcher named (he was runner-up to Jim Rice in '78).
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 is very popular in his hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana. There was no baseball team at his high school, so Ron ran track and was named the outstanding track man at Northside High in 1967 and 1968; he has great running speed and has scored four runs for the Yankees as a pinch runner. He hurled a no-hitter for the University of Southwestern Louisiana.
Of French ancestry, Ron enjoys chess and hunting in his spare time. He says his 18 strikeout performance against the Angels was his greatest thrill in baseball, and lists the Royals' George Brett as his toughest opponent."
-New York Yankees 1980 Media Guide
No comments:
Post a Comment