Books and articles about Ron Guidry

Although Guidry won over 20 games three times in his career, he is remembered for having one of the greatest single seasons ever. He was 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA in 1978, won the Cy Young Award unanimously, and finished second to Boston's Jim Rice in AL MVP voting. Guidry set club records that year in strikeouts (248) and consecutive wins at the start of a season (13). He called his Yankee-record 18 strikeouts against California on June 17 of that season "perhaps my greatest single thrill." He started the AL East playoff game on October 2, 1978 against Boston and won 5-4 in what was "probably the most tension-packed game I ever played in." Guidry was named TSN Player of the Year and Man of the Year and the Associated Press 's Male Athlete of the Year, and he made every all-star team. His nine shutouts tied Babe Ruth's AL record for a lefthander.

SHOPPING » Look for Ron Guidry books at BN.com » Look for Ron Guidry books at Amazon.com Your purchases keep BaseballLibrary.com online. Thank you!

RELATED LINKS » 1981: The Sixteenth Man » 1983: The Pine Tar Game Finally Ends Book Excerpts » Bill James: Does Guidry belong in the Hall of Fame? Corrections » July 22, 2002 (#32) Around the Web » Stottlemyre to help Yankees from arizonarepublic.com » Ron Guidry from baseball-reference.com » Heinie Groh from thediamondangle.com Jump directly to Library content from any website!

During the 1970s, Yankee management made a policy of acquiring pitchers through trades and free agent signings. As a result, Guidry did not find a regular place in the Yankee rotation until 1977, when he was 26 years old. Even then, there were those who felt that the 5'11" 160-lb lefty was too small to pitch effectively and last in the major leagues. Guidry dispelled the notion by going 16-7 that year and perfecting the wicked slider that became his bread and butter pitch. He went on to lead the majors in victories from 1977 through 1987 with 168, posting records of 18-8 (1979), 21-9 (1983), and 22-6 (1985). He is fourth on the all-time Yankee victory list (170), second in strikeouts (1,778), sixth in games and innings, and tied for sixth in shutouts (26). Guidry compiled a 5-2 postseason record, 3-1 in World Series play.

Guidry's success and durability were attributable in part to the fact that he was an outstanding athlete. He won five straight Gold Glove awards (1982-1986) and was twice used briefly in the outfield.

Guidry was slow to recover from elbow surgery following the 1988 season, and he started 1989 on the disabled list before beginning a rehabilitation assignment in June at Triple-A. When he didn't impress the Yankee management with his performance at Columbus, he retired from baseball on July 12, 1989.

Guidry was a good amateur drummer who kept a trap set at Yankee Stadium and once played with the Beach Boys during a postgame concert. (EG/CR)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » September 29, 1916: Boston Red Sox P Babe Ruth closes the season with his 23rd win, topping New York 3–0. It is his 9th shutout and reduces his ERA to 1.75. In 324 IP he gave up no home runs. The nine shutouts is a record for lefties that will be unmatched in the AL until Ron Guidry ties it in 1978. » April 29, 1977: Ron Guidry makes his a first start of the year and blanks the Mariners, 3–0, with relief help from Lyle. Thurman Munson belts a three run homer for New York, which moves into 2nd place. » May 17, 1977: Sparky Lyle, in relief of Ron Guidry, pitches six scoreless innings and the Yanks push across three runs in the 15th to defeat Oakland, 5–2. » May 22, 1977: Ron Guidry stops a 3-game Yankee losing streak with a 4-hitter to defeat the Orioles, 8–2. » May 28, 1977: A Stadium crowd of 54,881, on hand for Jacket Day, watch as the White Sox cuff Ron Guidry for 16 hits, enroute to a 9–4 win over the Yankees. » June 10, 1977: Ron Guidry, with relief help, stops the Twins, to give New York a 4–1 win. Willie Randolph's two-run double is the key blow. » June 16, 1977: Ron Guidry throws his first complete game, a 7–0 win over the Royals. » July 3, 1977: Ron Guidry scatters six hits and tosses his 2nd consecutive shutout, a 2–0 Yankee win over Detroit. Roy White breaks the scoreless game with a double in the 8th inning. » July 23, 1977: Paul Blair hits a 9th inning 3-run homer to give the Yankees Ron Guidry a 3–1 victory over the Brewers. » August 10, 1977: Billy Martin installs Reggie Jackson as the Yankees' regular clean-up hitter. The Yanks beat the A's 6–3, as Ron Guidry outpitches Vida Blue. Graig Nettles belts his 26th homer of the season. New York will win 40 of final 53 games, with Jackson contributing 13 home runs and 49 RBIs. » August 21, 1977: Graig Nettles' home run and double account for both Yankee runs in a 2–1 win over Texas. Ron Guidry picks up his 10th win of the year and Yankees cut the Red Sox lead to one-half game. » August 28, 1977: Ron Guidry fires his 3rd shut out of the year, a 1–0 whitewash of the Rangers. Guidry faces just 28 batters, allowing two hits. Graig Nettles scores the winning run after belting as triple. » October 6, 1977: Ron Guidry's 3-hitter gives the Yanks a series-evening 6–2 win over the Royals. Paul Splittorff works into the 9th for the win. » October 15, 1977: The Yankees win 4–2 to take a 3-1 advantage in the World Series. Reggie Jackson doubles and homers, and Ron Guidry notches a 4-hitter, striking out 7. » June 17, 1978: Ron Guidry strikes out 18 batters—15 in six innings—in a 4-hit 4–0 shutout of the Angels, setting an American League record for lefthanders. The victory raises the Yankee southpaw's record to 11–0. » June 27, 1978: New York's Graig Nettles belts a two-run homer in the 14th to give the Yankees a 6–4 win over the Red Sox. Dick Drago serves up Nettles' 13th homer of the year. Sparky Lyle (6–1) wins in relief. Ron Guidry (13-0) starts for NY and gives up eight hits in six innings. » July 2, 1978: Ron Guidry wins his 13th consecutive game, the best start in Yankee history, in beating Detroit, 3–2. With the Yankees down 2–0, Mickey Rivers long drive to right is caught by a fan reaching down to take it away from Detroit's Mickey Stanley. The fan drops the ball and Stanley, waiting for an interference call, fails to retrieve. Rivers motors for an inside-the-park homer and New York ties the game 2–2, eventually winning it. » July 7, 1978: The Brewers Mike Caldwell beats the Yankees Ron Guidry 6–0. For Guidry (13-1), it is his first loss of the season. Caldwell shut out the Yankees nine days earlier, and will shut them out again on September 19th. » August 4, 1978: Baltimore and Mike Flanagan hand Ron Guidry his 2nd loss of the year, stopping the Yankees, 2–1. » August 25, 1978: With four amateur umps officiating, Ron Guidry posts his 18th win, beating the A's 7–1. Reggie Jackson's home run drives in his 1,001st career RBI. The win keeps the Yankees seven 1/2 games behind the Red Sox. » September 4, 1978: Behind Ron Guidry's 20th win, the Yankees take the first game against Detroit 9–1. New York scores eight in the 7th. Detroit wins the 2nd 5–4 to keep New York five games behind Boston. » September 9, 1978: Ron Guidry (21–2) gives up two singles in the 1st inning and that's it. New York sends 12 runners to the plate and scores seven runs in the 4th inning to win 7–0 against Dennis Eckersley and cut the Boston lead to a single game. For Guidry, it is his 7th shutout of the year, and the first lefty shutout in Fenway since 1974 (Ken Holtzman, August 5th). With the Brewers' victory over the Twins, Milwaukee trails by just four 1/2 games. » September 20, 1978: The Yanks split a pair with Toronto, with Ron Guidry losing his 3rd game of the year. Lefty Mike Willis wins the duel with Guidry, 8–1. » September 24, 1978: Ron Guidry (23–3) gains his 3rd 2-hit shutout of the month, 4–0 over the Indians. The two Indian hits are by Duane Kuiper, the 2nd time this year that he has recorded the only hits in a game. The Yankees ace also two-hitted the Red Sox on September 9th (7–0) and 15th (4–0). It is Guidry's 9th shutout of the year, a Yankee record, and ties the American League record for southpaws set by Boston lefty Babe Ruth in 1916. The Red Sox stay one game in back of New York by topping Toronto 7–6. » October 7, 1978: Veteran Roy White leads the Yanks to victory, snapping a 1–1 tie with a home run in the 6th inning. New York gains its 3rd straight championship series over Kansas City. Graig Nettles' homer accounts for the other run, as Ron Guidry shuts down the Royals. » October 13, 1978: Graig Nettles's spectacular defense at 3B highlights the Yankees' first World Series win 5–1. Ron Guidry goes nine innings and gets the victory. » November 1, 1978: Ron Guidry is the unanimous choice for the American League Cy Young Award. The southpaw led the league in wins, percentage, shutouts (9), and ERA (1.74). » November 7, 1978: Boston's Jim Rice outpoints New York's Ron Guidry, 353-291, to win the American League MVP Award. Rice led the league in hits (213), triples (15), home runs (46), RBI (139), and slugging (.600), and became the first AL player to accumulate 400 total bases in a season since Joe DiMaggio in 1937. » April 5, 1979: At Yankee Stadium, 52,719 see Milwaukee jump on Ron Guidry for four runs in the 6th inning and beat New York 5–1. It's the most runs the Cy Young winner has allowed since 1977. The Yanks get singles from their first three hitters, but manage to score just one run in the first off Mike Caldwell. » September 8, 1979: Greg Nettles hits an 8th inning home run to help the Yankees and Ron Guidry beat Detroit, 5–4. It is Guidry's 10th straight win. » April 10, 1980: At Arlington Stadium, Jon Matlack and the Yankees Ron Guidry both pitch shutout ball for nine innings before being lifted. In the 12th, Goose Gossage relieves with Mickey Rivers on 3rd and Richie Zisk at the plate. His first pitch is wild allowing Rivers to score the games on run. Gossage also lost the '78 Opener when Zisk took him deep in the 9th. Each team manages just four hits in the contest with Bob Watson and Jim Sundberg each collecting three of them. » October 20, 1981: In a World Series rematch of the 1978 teams, the Yankees take Game One over the Dodgers 5–3. Bob Watson's 3-run homer in the first is the big blow as Ron Guidry goes seven innings for the win. Goose Gossage closes down a Dodger rally in the 8th. » October 25, 1981: Back-to-back home runs by Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager off Yankee ace Ron Guidry give the Dodgers their 3rd consecutive win 2–1. » December 15, 1981: Free-agent P Ron Guidry re-signs with the Yankees for a reported $3.6 million over four years. » April 11, 1982: At Yankee Stadium, the Yankees finally open with a 7–6 loss to Chicago in 12 innings, then drop a 2–0 nitecap. The grounds crew is feted because of their efforts in getting the snow-covered field ready, and grounds crew chief Esposito tosses out the first ball. Jerry Koosman and Ron Guidry are the starters but Koosman gives up six runs in five 2/3 inning and Guidry four runs in four innings to earn showers. Goose Gossage, the last of four pitchers, gives up a leadoff triple to Bill Almon in the 12th and Ron LeFlore drives him home with one of his three hits on the day. Kevin Hickey wins with an inning of relief. » June 14, 1982: The Yankees Ron Guidry stops the Red Sox to run his record to 8–1. For the rest of the season, however, Guidry will be just 6–7 with a 4.47 ERA. » April 5, 1983: At Seattle, the Mariners open with a 5–4 win over the Yankees. Gaylord Perry makes his 9th Opening Day start, but the win goes to reliever Bryan Clark. Richie Zisk, a Yankee Opening Day nemesis, hits a two-run homer in Seattle's 4-run 3rd inning to chase Ron Guidry. New York chases Perry in the 6th with back-to back homers by Dave Winfield and Steve Kemp. Steve Henderson scores the winner in the 7th when he hits his 3rd single, steals second, takes 3rd on a grounder and scores on a sac fly. » August 18, 1983: In the continuation of the "Pine Tar Game," Hal McRae strikes out for the last KC out and Dan Quisenberry retires the Yankees in order in the bottom of the 9th to preserve the Royals' 5–4 victory. The conclusion takes just 12 minutes (and 16 pitches) and, as the only game scheduled at the Stadium, is witnessed by a crowd of 1,245. An odd feature of the game is lefty Don Mattingly playing 2B and pitcher Ron Guidry in CF, as the Yanks try to cover all the options. » April 3, 1984: After rain washes out yesterday's opener at Royals Stadium, Yul Bryner tosses out the first ball and Kansas City opens with a 4–2 win over the Yankees. The threat of snow holds the crowd to just 10,006. Bud Black, with relief help from Dan Quisenberry, tops Ron Guidry, still winless in Openers. Onix Concepcion hits Guidry's first pitch of the game for a homer, while Dave Winfield has a two-run homer for New York. » June 25, 1984: At Yankee Stadium, Dave Winfield hits five singles and drives in four runs to lead New York to a 7–3 win over Detroit. Ron Guidry (6-5) is the beneficiary of Winfield's hitting. Dave is now hitting .750 against Detroit this year. Winfield has three five-hit games this month, tying a record set by Ty Cobb. » August 7, 1984: The White Sox and Yankees split a doubleheader with Chicago's 6–3 triumph in Game One stopping New York's 8-game win streak. LaMarr Hoyt is the winner. Ron Guidry strikes out 13 to win the nitecap, 7–0. He finishes with a flourish, striking out the side on nine pitches in the 9th. » November 27, 1984: The 1984 American League Gold Glove team is announced, and it is made up of the same nine players as the 1983 team: catcher Lance Parrish, 1B Eddie Murray, 2B Lou Whitaker, 3B Buddy Bell, SS Alan Trammell, outfielders Dwight Evans, Dave Winfield, and Dwayne Murphy, and pitcher Ron Guidry. » July 9, 1985: New York's Ron Guidry works eight 2/3 innings to win his 10th straight, beating the Royals, 6–4. Guidry allows nine hits and strikes out 1. » July 20, 1985: Scattering seven hits, Ron Guidry wins his 12th straight, beating the Twins 8–3. Don Mattingly has a 2-run homer and a 2-run double for the Yanks. » July 31, 1985: The Indians end Ron Guidry's win streak at 12 games, beating the Yankees, 6–5. Guidry and Waddell, the winner, each go 6+ innings. » September 22, 1985: Ron Guidry becomes the American League's first 20-game winner this season as the Yankees beat Baltimore 5–4. » April 8, 1986: The Royals are the first defending champions—besides the Yankees—in 61 years to open at Yankee Stadium, and they start the season on the wrong foot by losing, 4–2. New York scores all four runs off starter Bud Black, who gives up a three-run homer to Butch Wynegar in the 2nd. Hal McRae accounts for both KC runs with a two-run homer off starter Ron Guidry, one of two hits Guidry gives up in five innings. Guidry wins his first opener with relief help from Rod Scurry and Dave Righetti. » January 8, 1987: Ten free agents (Tim Raines, Lance Parrish, Bob Horner, Andre Dawson, Rich Gedman, Ron Guidry, Bob Boone, Doyle Alexander, Toby Harrah, and Gary Roenicke) fail to meet a midnight deadline and thus will not be allowed to re-sign with their former clubs until May 1st if they are not offered contracts by new teams. The general lack of interest in the players will become the focus of the Players' Association's first anti-collusion suit against the owners. » May 1, 1987: Free-agents Ron Guidry (Yankees), Rich Gedman (Red Sox), Bob Boone (Angels), and Tim Raines (Expos) all re-sign with their former clubs on the first day that they are allowed to do so. Doyle Alexander will re-sign with the Braves on May 5th. » September 27, 1992: Mariners P Randy Johnson ties an American League record for lefthanders by striking out 18 Texas Rangers in a 3–2 Mariners' loss. Ron Guidry of the Yankees set the mark against California on June 17, 1978. » March 1, 1996: The Yankees christen Legends Field, their new $30 million 31-acre complex near the Tampa Airport. The field has the exact dimensions of the stadium in the Bronx. On hand to see Phil Rizzuto toss out the first ball are former Yanks Whitey Ford, Catfish Hunter, Ron Guidry, and Chris Chambliss, who then watch the new Yankees beat the American League Champion Indians, 5–2. » September 4, 1996: Andy Pettitte wins his 20th as the Yankees prevail over the A's, 10–3. Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez solo in the 4th inning. The Yanks last 20-game winner was Ron Guidry in 1985.