Ron Guidry

Sport: Baseball

Induction Year: 1992

University: UL-Lafayette

Induction Year: 1992

Reggie Jackson called Ron Guidry, a unanimous choice for the American League Cy Young Award in 1978, “the truest Yankee” of the modern era.

On July 19, 1978, the New York Yankees trailed the Boston Red Sox by 14 games. In the next two weeks, Yankees manager Billy martin was fired and Bob Lemon—who had been fired by the Chicago White Sox one month earlier—took over the club on the night that Guidry notched his 15th pitching victory in 16 decisions.

“How many times in one season can a team ask one man to save them?” was the question posed by writer Phil Pepe in The Sporting News as the Yankees made a 39-15 run to catch the Red Sox with 20 games to play. “How many times can one man come up with the big effort in the big game?”

Nobody had to ask Guidry to step forward on Sunday, Oct. 1—the day before a one-game playoff with the Red Sox. Guidry, who had pitched Thursday night, solved Lemon’s pitching dilemma by walking into the manager’s office and announcing, “I’ll take the ball.”

“It was like something out of an old war movie,” Jackson recalled.

His 5-4 victory over the Red Sox—with only three days rest—was highlighted by Bucky Dent’s three-run homer and Jackson’s 26th homer of the season. It gave Guidry a 25-3 record, a major league record winning percentage for 20-game winners. His 1.74 earned run average was the best in the major leagues since3 Sandy Koufax had a 1.73 ERA in 1966, and the best by an American League lefthander since 1914.

With all the shenanigans involving owner George Steinbrenner, Martin, Jackson and other characters that turned Yankee Stadium into the “Bronx Zoo” in the late 1970s, Guidry was a tower of strength who never got involved in controversy—on or off the field.

“Ron Guidry has always carried himself above everything that has gone on in this clubhouse,” said teammate Dave Righetti.

When the Yankees won back-to-back World Series titles n 1977 and 1978, Guidry was 41-10 in regular-season play and 4-0 in post-season games. His 248 strikeouts in 1978 broke a Yankee record that had stood since 1904. In 14 season with the Yankees, he posted a 170-91 record with a 3.29 earned run average. He was second to Whitey Ford on the Yankees’ rotation.

In addition to his record winning percentage, Guidry tied the American League record for most shutouts by a left-handed pitcher with nine in 1978. One of them was a 7-0 romp past the Red Sox in a crucial September series—the first shutout at Fenway Park by a lefthander since 1974.

The record he tied was set by Babe Ruth when he was pitching for the Boston Red Sox in 1917.

Only Ford and Red Ruffing pitched longer for the Yankees than the 5-11, 160-pound Guidry. He was the only key player on the 1977 and 1978 championship teams who never played professional baseball in another organization.

Guidry started playing baseball when he was seven years old. He was watching a Little League team practice near his home his home, and a fly ball got past an outfielder and rolled to his feet. When the players yelled at him to throw the ball back, he did—with the ball sailing about 250 feet before hitting the top of the backstop. Suddenly, two of the coaches ran toward him. The boy was afraid he had done something wrong, but they only wanted his name.

There was one problem: his mom. She didn’t want Ron to play baseball because he was mall for his age, and her brother had suffered a broken leg while he was pitching. But after the coaches contacted Roland Guidry, he asked his son if he would like to play baseball—and assured him that he would handle the problem with mom at the proper time.

For a month, Ron Guidry’s participation in baseball practice sessions was the best-kept secret in their home. When she found out about it on the day of the first game, Grace Guidry overcame her fears and went to the game.

At Lafayette’s Northside High, Guidry was better known for his fast feet than his fastball. He ran the 100-yard dash in 9.8 seconds, and had a college scholarship offer in track. But baseball, which he played during the summer on American Legion teams, was his game. His pitching ability earned him a scholarship to Southwestern Louisiana, where he was 6-1 as a freshman and 7-4 as a sophomore. He pitched a two-hit shutout against Tulane, which was ranked No. 4 in the nation, and allowed only three hits in four innings against LSU.

The following February, Guidry decided drop out of school so that he would be eligible for the professional draft. Most pro scouts didn’t know it, but Yankees scout Atley Donald—who had been checking out Guidry for a couple of years—stayed in touch with USL coach Bob Banna and knew Guidry was available. The Yankee picked him in the third round.

He pitched at Johnson City, Fort Lauderdale, Kinston, West Haven and Syracuse before making his major league debut with the Yankees against the Red Sox on July 27, 1975. He met catcher Thurman Munson on the mound in the seventh inning, and told Munson he threw a slider and fastball. “OK,” said Munson, “one’s fastball and two’s a slider.”

One finger was enough for Munson in three shutout innings, but Guidry pitched only 16 innings for the Yankees that season and 16 more in the next season. When he was sent back to Syracuse in 1976, Guidry packed his bags and headed home before his wife, Bonnie, talked him out of it.

A year later, he started the 1977 season with the Yankees and was 16-7 in his first full year in the big leagues. Then he beat the Kansas City Royals 6-2 in the second game of the American League Championship Series and beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 in the fourth game of the World Series.

When Guidry won his first 13 games in 1978, he broke a club record that had been set by Atley Donald in 1939.