"Rawley found a permanent home in the Yankee rotation, but with streaky results- he was 5-1 in August, including four straight wins, but finished with a 0-4 mark in September. He established career highs in virtually every department.
He spent his first four years in the majors with Seattle, where he made only four starts in 205 appearances. Rawley was finally put into the rotation with the Yankees on July 5, 1982 and has remained there since, yet still ranks second on the Mariner all-time save list with 36.
A victim of strange injuries, Rawley broke his hand in a fight after his brother was attacked outside a bar during the 1980 season. He broke his left foot while playing basketball in January 1981. Rawley has a pilot's license.
Born in Racine, Wisconsin, Rawley attended Indian Hills Community College where he played for Pat Daugherty, who was also his first manager in pro ball, and was in the minors with the Montreal and Cincinnati organizations before joining the Mariners in 1978. Rawley was acquired by the Yankees prior to the 1982 season for pitchers Gene Nelson and Bill Caudill and outfielder Bobby Brown."
-Tracy Ringolsby, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1984 Edition
"He labored in relative obscurity for four years with the Seattle Mariners. He got his big break when the Yankees acquired him in April 1982. He knew his job ... go to the bullpen. He did his job ... until Joe Altobelli, Jeff Torborg and Clyde King decided he could be a starter.
So he started, and despite a tendency to be streaky, Shane Rawley has given the Yankees 25 wins in the past two years.
'I knew what it was to play for the Yankees when I got here,' Rawley says, 'but I might have underestimated the mental toughness that you need in New York, playing with a team that always wants to win. At times, you tend to try too hard, but thanks to Ronnie (Guidry) and the coaches, I've learned to give it my best, and if I win, I win.
'My main thought is to keep the team in the game and not give up the big inning early in the game. This team has enough firepower to win games in the late innings. If you do your job, they'll do their job.'
'The thing that impresses me about Shane,' says coach Jeff Torborg, 'is that he gets stronger as the game goes on. We clock him, and he throws faster in the late innings than he does in the early innings. We never realized it took him so long to get warm and loose. When he first came here, I saw him warm up and said: 'My Lord, he has a dead arm.' '
Rawley quickly dispelled that fallacy. He has one of the livest arms in the game. He couldn't throw the ball straight if his life depended on it. It moves everyplace, and opposing batters know it.
This year he is not in obscurity- he is a mainstay on the starting staff of the New York Yankees, hungry again."
-The New York Yankees Official 1984 Yearbook
"Rawley proved in 1983 he could handle a starting role and established highs in wins, innings pitched, complete games and strikeouts. He began the season with three straight wins and won four in a row from August 14 to August 31. Shane pitched his first major league shutout in his first start on April 10 at Toronto and also shut out the Twins at Yankee Stadium on July 19.
Used primarily as a starter in the minors, starting 79 of 85 minor league appearances, Shane was used primarily as a reliever in the majors for his first five seasons. He missed the final two weeks of the 1980 season with a severely strained muscle behind his left shoulder, then suffered a broken left foot in late January 1981 and underwent surgery. Shane missed most of spring training that year and opened the season with Seattle on the DL, yet was named AL Player of the Week September 21-27 (2-0, four saves, eight innings, no earned runs). In 1982, with the Yankees, he was placed in the starting rotation in mid-season, winning seven and losing seven but winning five of his last seven decisions.
Rawley graduated from William Horlick (WI) High in 1973. He was a three-time MVP in baseball while also earning honors in basketball. He attended Indian Hills C.C. (Centerville, IA) where he pitched for coach Pat Daugherty, also his first manager in pro ball. Signed to his first pro contract by the Expos' Bob Oldis, Shane earned his pilot's license in 1980."
-1984 New York Yankees Information Guide
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