Former Baseball: Milestone moments – As good as Guidry

Lloyd Courtney, Oct. 29, 2015, La. Sports HOF (originally posted Oct. 22, 2015)

Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees pitches during a game in the 1987 season against the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park in Chicago. (Photo: Getty Images)

Editor’s Note: This is part of a weekly series looking at Louisiana Sports Hall of Famers and great moments in Louisiana sports history.

A career in pinstripes can make you look awfully thin, or maybe that was just Ron Guidry’s stature.

Either way, the flamethrower from Lafayette had his way with the American League to the tune of 170 wins in his 14-year career. However, it did not always come easy for the man known as “Louisiana Lightning.”

Before he went on to win 16 games in his first full season in the majors, he almost gave baseball up for good. Guidry was tired of the Yankees’ front office constantly shuffling him between the minor leagues and the big leagues, or using him as trade bait. So when he was reassigned, once more, to Syracuse, Guidry packed his bags; he was ready to call it a career and head back home.

If not for Guidry’s wife, Bonnie, stepping in to remind him she did not marry a quitter, the Yankees would undoubtedly be without a World Series or two.

Because without Ron Guidry in 1978, the Bronx Bombers would have been in an even bigger tailspin than they already were. New York was trailing their hated rival, the Boston Red Sox, by 14 games. Their manager, Billy Martin, had just gotten the axe.

The only thing that remained steady in the “Bronx Zoo” was Guidry, who had just recorded his 15th win in 16 outings. With Guidry pacing the Yankees on the mound, they made a miraculous comeback, going 39-15 in their next 54 games. And when it came down to a one-game playoff against those pesky Red Sox for a spot in the American League Championship Series, Guidry demanded to finish what he started. And he did, as the Yankees won 5-4 to clinch an ALCS birth, and eventually the World Series title.

Guidry finished the ’78 season in historic company. His 1.74 ERA was second only to the Sandy Koufax. His nine shutouts tied the American League record for lefties, which was held by Babe Ruth.

Guidry’s playoff tenacity was the stuff of legend, and he once again made it known in the 1981 World Series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He pitched seven innings, only allowing one run in his third and final World Series win.

For more on Louisiana’s sports history and Hall of Famers visit the LaSportsHall.com website. You can learn more at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum in downtown Natchitoches which is open Tuesday-Saturday.