NBC Hall of Famer Ron Guidry
Ron Guidry
Born August 28, 1950
Garyville (LA) Giants 1969
Liberal (KS) Bee Jays 1970
Inducted 1991
If there was an alternate storyline to the main character of Smalls in the movie “The Sandlot”, it very well could be the real story of how Ron Guidry got his start in baseball. Born on August 28, 1950, in Lafayette, Louisiana, he was raised by his very protective mother while his father worked. He rarely spent any time at the playground, but one day when he was eight, he told her he was walking to his grandma’s, but instead stopped at the park where he saw some boys playing baseball. While standing behind the outfielders, a ball was hit past him, and he picked it up and threw it all the way to the backstop. The whole team, including the coach, was amazed, and they came running out to him and he initially thought he had done something wrong. Instead, the coach wanted to know who he was, and after talking to his father, Guidry was added to the team. It wasn’t until his first game, however, that Ron and his dad told his mother that he was playing baseball, and even then, she was nervous about her son getting hurt because of his small size and could only bear to watch the first few games from the car. Eventually she was convinced, that her boy, who would later be nicknamed “Louisiana Lightning”, was something special.
He was a track star in high school, in addition to being a perennial All-Star on his American Legion baseball teams. He signed with University of Southern Louisiana out of high school and was 5th in the league in ERA (1.57) his freshman year of 1969. He then dominated the American Legion in that summer, going 9-0 with 149 strikeouts in just 78.1 innings. At a rate of just shy of two strikeouts per inning, he bookended the season with 22 strikeout performances, including one of them being in just 8 innings of work. As the season ended, he was still looking to pitch, and the NBC Louisiana state champion Garyville Giants added him to their roster just prior to the National. He didn’t see any action until the Giants were in the quarterfinals. Trailing 3-2 in the 9th inning with a runner on second, Guidry came into pitch and got the last out of the inning in the only batter he faced. Garyville failed to score in the bottom of the ninth and was eliminated, finishing with a 4-2 record. Unbeknownst to him at the time, that would be the only batter he would ever face in an NBC World Series game.
Following being named to the All-Conference team for a second straight collegiate year, in 1970, Guidry joined the Liberal Bee Jays in fellow NBC Hall of Famer Bob Cerv’s first year as their manager. The team was loaded with talent and Guidry entered the Kansas NBC state tournament with a 6-0 record. He struck out 9 while allowing only 3 hits in his first appearance as Liberal run ruled the Wichita Candlelighters in 5 innings 12-2. That game also featured Liberal’s largest home crowd ever at the time of 3,107. His following two starts took place at Lawrence Stadium, the home of the NBC, and he went the distance in both outings. He struck out 9 in a 2-0 win over the Sunflower Packers in a 4th round matchup, and then fanned 15 in the championship game and drove in 2 runs on sacrifice flies as the Bee Jays beat the Halstead Cowboys 11-3, and finished the tournament 7-0. Guidry’s 3-0 record with 33 strikeouts in 23 innings pitched helped earn him a unanimous selection to the Kansas All-State team. Even with his 9-0 record on the season, Guidry did not appear in the NBC World Series though he was on their roster. The Bee Jays finished third, losing in the semifinals to the eventual champion Grand Rapids (MI) Sullivans.
His time with the Bee Jays was his last amateur experience as the New York Yankees signed him to a professional contract in 1971. He would make his Major League debut in 1975 and became one of the best left handers of his era. His pinnacle season was 1978 going 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA, winning the Cy Young award and finishing second in the MVP voting. His .893 winning percentage is the best all-time for a single season of 20 wins or more. He also led the majors with 9 shutouts and won his second World Series that year.
The 4 time All-Star and 5 time Gold Glove winner spent his entire 14 year career with the Yankees finishing with a record of 170-91 and a 3.29 ERA. He is in the top 5 in franchise history in wins, strikeouts and WAR as well as in the top 10 in a number of other pitching categories. The Yankees retired his number 49 and dedicated a plaque to him in Monument Park in 2003. He worked as a coach or instructor in their organization for a number of years following his playing days, and he still annually attends the Yankees Old-Timers’ Day.