Billy Pierce
Encyclopedia
Walter William Pierce is a former left-handed starting pitcher
in Major League Baseball
who played most of his career for the Chicago White Sox
. He was the team's star pitcher between 1952 and 1961, and was named the American League
's top pitcher
in 1956 and 1957 after being runner-up in both 1953 and 1955. A seven-time All-Star
, he led the American League (AL) in complete game
s three times despite his slight build, and in wins
, earned run average
(ERA) and strikeout
s once each. He pitched four one-hitters and seven two-hitters in his career, and on June 27, 1958 came within one batter of becoming the first left-hander in 78 years to throw a perfect game
.
He was one of the principal figures in Chicago's fierce rivalry with the New York Yankees
; particularly notable were his matchups with Whitey Ford
, with the two left-handers opposing one another as starters 14 times from 1955 to 1960. Pierce's record suffered from pitching so much against New York – who he faced more often than any other team – when the Yankees dynasty was at its peak; although his career record against New York was only 25–37, that was still slightly better than the 27–41 mark compiled by National League
(NL) championship teams over 11 World Series
against the Yankees during the same period.
After joining the San Francisco Giants
in 1962, Pierce played a pivotal role in helping them win the NL pennant, going 12–0 in home games and getting a three-hit shutout
and a save in a three-game tie-breaker
against the Los Angeles Dodgers
to clinch the title. His 1,999 career strikeouts were the fifth most by a left-hander when he retired, and his AL total of 1,842 ranked ninth in league history. He also ranked tenth among left-handers in career wins (211), sixth in games started
(432) and games pitched
(585), eighth in shutouts (38) and ninth in innings pitched
(3,306⅔). He holds the White Sox franchise record for career strikeouts (1,796), and his club marks of 186 wins, 2,931 innings and 390 starts are team records for a left-hander.
, and showed his first interest in baseball at age ten. He recalled: "I refused to have my tonsils removed
. My folks offered me a major league baseball and a good glove
if I'd have the operation. I took the payola. It really was a thrill to throw around that 'league' ball." After starting out as a first baseman
, he switched to pitching to emulate his hero, Detroit Tigers
star Tommy Bridges
, who like Pierce had a slight build. He attended Highland Park Community High School
where his teammates included future major league pitcher Ted Gray
, and pitched six shutouts as a junior in 1944, earning the nickname "Mr. Zero". He was the starting and winning pitcher in an East-West All-American Boys' Game sponsored by Esquire
magazine, held on August 7, 1944 at the Polo Grounds
in New York, with Connie Mack
managing Pierce's East All-Stars; one reporter wrote, "His fast ball
was amazing when one considers that he only weighs 140 pounds. In civilian attire he seemed very slender." The West team included catcher
and future Hall of Fame center fielder
Richie Ashburn
, who was hitless in two at bat
s against Pierce. The game was held as a benefit for World War II
community memorials, and two days prior to the event the participating players were guests of Babe Ruth
on his weekly radio program. Pierce was voted the game's outstanding player, winning a four-year scholarship to the college of his choice. Detroit Free Press
sports editor Dale Stafford, who chaperoned him to New York, later told a fellow writer, "I never saw such a clean-living youngster. On our trip to New York for the East-West game, Billy kept a diary. One morning I found it open to this entry: 'Here it is ten o'clock and Mr. Stafford still hasn't gone to bed.'" Pierce downplayed the experience of pitching in a major league stadium, stating, "I was not nervous at the Polo Grounds, as I've pitched several games in Briggs Stadium back home. I've worked out there with the Tigers, and they, the Red Sox
and the Phillies
have been interested in me. But my folks and I decided that I'd make up my mind about playing pro ball after I graduated from high school." After considering studying medicine at the University of Michigan
, he signed with his hometown Tigers for a bonus of $15,000.
, but sat on the bench before making his major league debut in June 1945, just a few weeks after his 18th birthday. He made three relief
appearances that month and two more in September after a two-month stint with the Buffalo Bisons
of the International League
under manager Bucky Harris
, and was on the Detroit roster for the team's victory in the 1945 World Series
although he did not appear in any games. He had a remarkably unassuming presence; Paul Richards
, then a catcher for the Tigers, later recalled occasionally going to his neighborhood drugstore. One day, Pierce went up to him at practice and asked why Richards never talked to him at the store, with Richards replying that he didn't know what Pierce was talking about; Pierce answered that the drugstore was his family's, and Richards slowly realized that Pierce had been the clerk behind the counter each time he went in.
Pierce was sent back to Buffalo for the 1946 season, now with Gabby Hartnett
as his manager (Harris having moved to the team's front office), but missed most of the year with a back injury which was attributed to overwork. After the 1947 season in Buffalo, where Richards was now his manager, he returned to Detroit in 1948, spending most of the season in the bullpen but making five starts and posting a 3–0 record; he had yet added very little weight since his high school days, being still at 148 pounds. He made his first start, and earned his first major league victory, on August 8 against the Washington Senators
, pitching 7⅔ innings and striking out six in a 6–5 victory in which he also drove in
a run with a triple
and scored. However, Pierce also issued 51 walks
in 55⅓ innings that year, and concerns about his pitching control led the Tigers to trade him to the White Sox on November 10 for catcher Aaron Robinson
and $10,000, in what most baseball historians consider to be one of the most one-sided trades in baseball history. Talks had initially centered on Chicago acquiring Pierce's high school teammate Ted Gray, although sources differ as to whether it was White Sox general manager
Frank Lane
or his Detroit counterpart Billy Evans
who switched the focus to Pierce; the Tigers tried to call off the deal one day after it was completed upon fully realizing what they had given up, even offering $50,000 to get Pierce back, but Lane had no intention of giving up the steal he had accomplished in his first trade as general manager.
. On May 29, 1949, in just his sixth start with Chicago (and the 11th of his career), the 22-year-old Pierce was matched against 42-year-old Negro league
legend Satchel Paige
in a road game against the defending World Series champion Cleveland Indians
. The pitchers' duel went into the 11th inning, when Pierce walked leadoff hitter Ken Keltner
, followed by two bunt singles. After Pierce was replaced by a reliever and the next batter lined to shortstop
Luke Appling
, Lou Boudreau
singled to give Cleveland a 2–1 win; Pierce had himself scored Chicago's only run after singling in the eighth inning. And on June 15, 1950 against the World Series champion Yankees, Pierce got his first career shutout – a 5–0 one-hitter, interrupted by rain delays in the second, fourth and fifth innings totaling over an hour and a half, with the only hit being Billy Johnson's single in the fifth inning.
starter seven times (1951–52, 1954, 1956–59), and started the home opener in 1953 and 1961. He had an outstanding fastball
and an excellent curveball
, and in 1951 added the slider
(for which he used his motion for the curve rather than the fastball) as a third strong pitch, as well as a changeup
. He worked quickly with an over-the-top motion, dropping his back shoulder in a style similar to that later used by Sandy Koufax
. In 1957, Paul Richards noted of Pierce's early style: "He had a tendency to windmill in his delivery, which makes the ball spin too much and takes the life out of it. He flashed his curve-the Yankees always knew when he was throwing a curve. But mainly Bill didn't want to throw anything but fast balls in the old days. He laughed at the change-of-pace and the slider, so most of the strong right-hand hitters were laying back for him, waiting for a fast ball down the middle." After Pierce finally tried the slider against the Yankees, to great effect, Richards noted, "Then, for a while there, he began throwing nothing but sliders. He finally learned about that, too. Even today Pierce will pitch a whole ball game and almost never throw anything but fast balls. But only on certain days." Yankees star Joe DiMaggio
was among those praising Pierce's ability, reportedly remarking, "That little so-and-so is a marvel. So little – and all that speed. And I mean speed! He got me out of there on a fastball in the ninth that I'd have needed a telescope to see." Richards became Chicago's manager in 1951, and worked with Pierce to develop his two new pitches and slow down his pace, as well as significantly improve his control; Pierce later recalled, "I learned to control my fastball better [...] Developing the slider helped me tremendously because it gave me a third out pitch. I threw it almost as hard as my fastball, but I could throw it for strikes better than the fast ball or good curve ... Richards made me work on it, and it took me about two years before it was consistent." After issuing 249 walks in 391 innings in 1949–1950, Pierce gave up only 73 walks in 240 innings in 1951, and only averaged more than 3 walks per 9 innings in three seasons afterward. His 1951 ERA of 3.03 was fourth best in the league, and he ranked sixth in 1952 with a mark of 2.57. On September 21, 1952 he broke Doc White
's 1907 club record of 141 strikeouts by a left-hander, ending the season with 144.
On April 16, 1953 against the St. Louis Browns
(the second game of the season, and Chicago's home opener) Pierce pitched his second one-hitter, a 1–0 victory in which he allowed only a seventh-inning double
by Bobby Young
; the White Sox gained only two singles in the contest, and scored on a walk, sacrifice hit
, error
and sacrifice fly
. Pierce was chosen to start the All-Star Game for the AL – the first White Sox pitcher ever to do so – and allowed only one hit through three innings (a single by Stan Musial
). Boston Red Sox
star Ted Williams
recalled of the game: "It was a hot day at Crosley Field
and I remember being so concerned for little Billy Pierce of the White Sox. Billy probably threw harder than anybody for a guy his size, he had a real big delivery, nice to look at, and he had overcome a lot. I understand he had had epilepsy
, and I was really pulling for him. He was a nervous little guy, and here he was starting his first All-Star game in a bandbox park that's tough to pitch in, and against Robin Roberts to boot. Pierce held them in the palm of his hand that day. He threw the ball right by everybody."
During the early 1950s, Richards preferred to arrange his rotation so that Pierce started only every fifth or sixth day, holding him back against weaker teams but using him more often for big games against the powerful Yankees and Indians. Catcher Sherm Lollar
later observed that although it was essentially a compliment to Pierce's ability, he might have picked up more victories and won 20 games sooner in his career had he faced each opponent more equally. With a 1–0 two-hitter at Washington on August 3, in which the White Sox won on an unearned run
in the ninth inning with a hit batter
, error and sacrifice fly, Pierce began a streak of 39⅔ consecutive scoreless innings – the longest such streak in the AL between 1926, when Ted Lyons had a 41-inning streak for the White Sox, and 1968; it remains the fifth longest ever by a left-hander, and the longest by an AL southpaw since 1905. The streak ended when he allowed two unearned runs against the Browns in the sixth inning on August 19; two additional earned runs in the tenth inning ended his streak, dating to July 29, of 49⅔ innings without an earned run, and gave him a 4–3 loss. He led the league in strikeouts (186) and was second in ERA (2.72), and on September 27 started for the White Sox in the final game in Browns history, winning 2–1 in 11 innings at St. Louis. His seven shutouts that season were the second most by an AL left-hander since 1916, matched only by Hal Newhouser
's 1945 total of eight.
on June 3. He did not pitch again until June 20, but a lack of arm strength caused him to be ineffective in that start before slowly coming back with two relief appearances and another poor start, finally picking up wins with consecutive 3–0 shutouts on July 5 and July 11, the latter being his fourth career two-hitter. It was later reported that the tooth problem had possibly existed as early as spring training, when Pierce initially suffered arm problems. But although he recorded only nine wins that season, he was one of just four pitchers to defeat the Indians three times as they racked up a league-record 111 victories, after also having been one of four pitchers to defeat the champion Yankees four times in 1953.
Playing the Yankees on June 25, 1953, he was part of a rare defensive shift; leading 4–2 in the ninth inning, he was moved to first base, with Harry Dorish
entering in relief. Pinch hitter
Don Bollweg
barely beat out a bunt single to first base, but Pierce than recorded a putout
on Gil McDougald
's grounder to third base. He then retook the mound, and after issuing a walk, gained the final two outs to finish the victory; the White Sox set an AL record by using five first basemen in the game. Pierce was also an excellent baserunner
, and was used as a pinch runner
30 times between 1949 and 1957 – even scoring as a substitute for three-time stolen base
champion Minnie Miñoso in a 5–4 victory over the Yankees on June 22, 1956.
and Bob Lemon
of the Indians. In the All-Star Game he allowed only one baserunner through three innings (a leadoff single by Red Schoendienst
, who was thrown out on a steal attempt); he staked the AL to a 4–0 lead, but the National League came back for a 6–5 win in 10 innings after scoring five runs off Whitey Ford
in the seventh and eighth innings. Pierce ended the season with the league lead in ERA (although his record was just 15–10), with his mark of 1.97 being the lowest by a major league pitcher between Hal Newhouser
in 1946 (1.94) and Sandy Koufax
in 1963 (1.88); he led the major leagues by nearly two thirds of a run, with Ford having the next best mark at 2.63. Total Baseball has rated Pierce as the best pitcher in the major leagues in 1955, after having placed him among the AL's top five pitchers each year from 1951 to 1953.
In 1956 he started his third All-Star Game, but was charged with the loss despite allowing only one run in three innings. Buoyed by the arrival of rookie shortstop Luis Aparicio
, who sparked the team in leading the league in stolen bases, the White Sox enjoyed a two-month offensive surge from June 4 to August 3 in which they averaged eight runs in Pierce's 13 starts; he won 11 of the games, losing only those immediately before and after the All-Star break, the latter being a 2–1 loss to Ford and the Yankees. He became the first White Sox pitcher since 1941 to win 20 games, was second in the AL with a career-high 192 strikeouts (a team record for left-handers until Gary Peters had 205 in 1964), and was named AL Pitcher of the Year
by The Sporting News, outpolling Ford (who had edged him in a close 1955 vote) by a margin of 117 to 52; he also finished fifth in voting for the AL Most Valuable Player Award
. In 1957 Pierce became the first White Sox pitcher since Red Faber
(1920–1922) to earn 20 victories in consecutive seasons; he tied Jim Bunning
for the league lead, and bested him in voting for AL Pitcher of the Year. He had six consecutive complete game victories from May 16 to June 8 in which his total ERA was 0.64, with two 1–0 victories in ten innings including his sixth career two-hitter on June 4 against the Red Sox; the White Sox scored just nine total runs over the last five games in that stretch. Despite the presence of such popular players as Miñoso, Aparicio and second baseman
Nellie Fox
, Pierce was chosen as the player most popular with White Sox fans in a 1957 spring training poll of sportswriters. A separate poll of managers, coaches, writers and broadcasters named him Chicago's best fielding pitcher, best pitcher at holding runners
to first base, and best pitcher for crucial games, as well as the team's most nervous player on the field.
in which the White Sox scored only an unearned run in the first inning, was followed by the greatest game of his career. On June 27 against the Senators, he retired the first 26 batters before pinch hitter Ed Fitz Gerald
lined Pierce's first pitch down the first base line for an opposite-field double that landed about a foot from the foul line. Pierce then struck out Albie Pearson
on three pitches to end the game; only twice did he go to a three-ball count
. The lone hit marred what would have been a remarkable accomplishment; not only had no left-hander pitched a perfect game
since Lee Richmond in 1880, but only one AL left-hander (Mel Parnell
in 1956) pitched even a no-hitter
between 1931 and 1962. Although disappointed by the near miss, Pierce praised his teammates for their defensive work, saying, "Give Luis plenty of credit. And Sherm really mixed 'em up beautifully. The big thing is that we won." At a Capitol
lunch with several White Sox players during the following year's pennant race, Vice President
Richard Nixon
told Pierce that he had watched the game on television, saying, "I'm a Washington fan, but that was one night I was rooting for the White Sox." In a 1982 interview, Pierce said, "The book on Fitzgerald was that he was a fastball hitter on the first ball and liked it inside where he could pull it. So we threw him a curve away and he hit into right for a solid hit. I didn't feel that badly about it, really. It didn't mean that much at the moment. But now ... well, now I wish I had got it. It would have been nice." His streak of 33 consecutive scoreless innings was ended with an unearned run in the seventh inning on July 1.
Pierce tied for the league lead in complete games each year from 1956 to 1958, and was again selected for the All-Star team each year from 1957 to 1959 and again in 1961, although he only appeared in the 1957
game in which he retired his first five batters before allowing three runs. On June 11, 1959 he pitched his fourth and final one-hitter, a 3–1 victory at Washington in which he allowed only a third-inning double by Ron Samford
, who scored after three two-out walks, the last to Harmon Killebrew
; the White Sox won on a two-run double in the ninth inning by Jim Landis
off Senators starter Camilo Pascual
. Pierce had the longest outing of his career on August 6 in a road game against the Orioles, pitching 16 innings in a contest that ended in a 1–1 tie after 18 frames; it proved to be the last time in his career that he pitched into extra innings. After losing his next two starts, pulling a back muscle and straining the ligaments in his right hip against the Kansas City Athletics
in the third inning on August 15, he was out of action until a 2–1 win over Kansas City on September 7.
Manager Al Lopez
' decision not to start Pierce in the 1959 World Series
against the Los Angeles Dodgers
was highly controversial. After Cy Young Award
winner Early Wynn
started for Chicago in Game 1, Lopez chose to start Bob Shaw
(18–6 in the regular season) and Dick Donovan (9–10) in the next two contests, which the White Sox lost by scores of 4–3 and 3–1. Pierce was held back until Game 4, and relieved in each of the final three games of the Series, allowing only two hits and no runs in four innings of work. In Game 4 he entered in the fourth inning with Chicago trailing 4–0, and pitched a hitless three innings before being pulled for a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, when the Sox tied the game; the Dodgers went on to win 5–4. In Game 5 he entered in the eighth inning to protect a 1–0 lead, but only issued an intentional walk before Lopez again changed pitchers; the White Sox held on for the 1–0 win. Lopez even chose to start Wynn in Game 6 on two days' rest, but he was ineffective, and Chicago was behind 8–3 by the time Pierce was brought in to start the eighth inning; the Dodgers later added a run in the ninth inning to complete the 9–3 win and capture the Series championship. Being used out of the bullpen was a deep letdown for Pierce, who said in a 1982 interview, "Other guys, Early Wynn and Bob Shaw, had better years than I did that year. And against the left-handed-heavy lineup the Dodgers threw at us, Al wanted his right-handers like Dick Donovan. There was no question I was disappointed, but I understood." However, there have been suggestions that Lopez' decision had other, undisclosed motivations; noting his surprise that Lopez chose to use Pierce out of the bullpen, outfielder Al Smith
recalled, "We all knew why Al Lopez didn't pitch him, but we never told anyone and I won't say now. I will say that I thought he should have pitched. He'd been pitching all year, hadn't he?"
, who was also Pierce's roommate, turned to him on one occasion when the White Sox picked up a run following a scoring drought and said, "Here's your run. Now go out there and hold it." Although AL teams averaged 4.46 runs per game from 1949 through 1961, and the White Sox averaged 4.53 runs in games started by their other pitchers, they averaged only 4.20 runs in Pierce's starts – a figure which drops to 4.07 if the two-month scoring outburst in 1956 is discounted; in over two thirds of his losses with Chicago (105 of 152), and fully one third of his starts (130 of 390), they scored two or fewer runs. They averaged 3.7 runs in his 1953 starts, and 3.6 runs in his 1955 starts; even in 1959, when the pennant-winning White Sox averaged 4.29 runs per game, they averaged only 3.36 runs in Pierce's starts. By 1955 it was regularly noted that Chicago's offensive struggles were placing undue pressure on the pitching staff, wearing them out with "one tense game after another, never having a comfortable margin that might permit a little breather now and then"; Pierce was described as "the unluckiest pitcher in the majors" that year due to the lack of scoring. But in contrast, when he had a reasonable level of offensive backing he was far more successful, posting a record of 30–11 when Chicago scored four runs and 99–10 when they scored five or more; from September 1951 through May 1958, he was 71–6 when they scored at least four runs and 55–1 when they scored at least five.
's grand slam
in the ninth. Years later, Pierce still recalled the game as being one of his most frustrating outings. He faced Whitey Ford 15 times in his career (more than against any other pitcher), including a 1–0 loss on May 17, 1955, a 3–2 loss in 10 innings on June 5 later that year, a 2–1 loss on July 15, 1956, a 3–2 loss in 11 innings on September 18 of that year (in which the Yankees clinched the pennant on Mantle's 50th home run
in the final frame), a 3–1 win on May 21, 1957, and a 4–3 win in 11 innings on April 30, 1959.
By the 1957 season, Shirley Povich
of The Washington Post
expressed a clear preference for Pierce over Ford, writing that anyone doubting Pierce's place as the league's top left-hander was "risking committal as an incurable psycho who can neither read the figures nor respond to reason." Pierce's 4–3 win over the Yankees on July 28, 1959 put the White Sox in first place, where they stayed for the remainder of the season to take their first pennant in 40 years; it was his 160th victory with Chicago, breaking Doc White
's team record for wins by a left-hander (he broke White's club records for career games and innings by a left-hander the same year). In late 1958, sportswriter Edgar Munzel
wrote, "The primary difference between Pierce and Ford, in their long-standing duel for southpaw supremacy in the American League, is that Pierce is pitching for a woefully weak hitting team, while Ford is backed by the league's most powerful offensive machine... An even greater boon to Whitey is the fact that he doesn't have to face the Yankees." Of Pierce, who he described as the top White Sox pitcher for the past decade, he added, "Normally, he's lucky if he's supported with as many as two runs when he faces the Yankees."
Yankee outfielder Bob Cerv
recalled of the rivalry, "I always remember the games when Pierce and Ford would lock up. Those were great ballgames – 2–1, 3–2. Usually, if they'd get beat, Mantle would hit a home run." New York outfielder Hank Bauer
noted, "The guy who gave me the most problem – I know he gave 'em to me, and I think he gave 'em to most of us – was Billy Pierce." Tommy Byrne
, who pitched for the Yankees for most of his career from 1943 to 1957 but played for Chicago for the first half of the 1953 season, said, "Pierce was sneaky fast, a good breaking ball. He was tough. For several years there he was right up there on a par with Ford." Sportswriter Bill Madden
recalled in 1982, "Always it was Pierce against Whitey Ford and always, to me, that seemed like an unfair matchup. They were your classic 'stylish' left-handers, equal in guile and guts, but Ford had those howitzers of Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra
, Bill Skowron and Hank Bauer behind him, while Pierce came armed with popguns. Nellie Fox, Luis Aparicio and Minnie Minoso supported him with hustle and chink singles and I always marveled at the fact that Pierce could duel Ford on even terms despite those odds." Ironically, the Yankees tried to acquire Pierce in the early 1950s when Ford was in the military, but White Sox general manager Frank Lane
proposed that New York give up Bauer, first baseman Joe Collins
and second baseman Jerry Coleman
in exchange for Pierce and outfielder Al Zarilla
, and ended talks when Yankees GM George Weiss
suggested the Yankees send minor leaguers instead.
's White Sox record of 1,732 career strikeouts.
along with Don Larsen
in exchange for four players (three of them pitchers) who had spent most or all of 1961 in the minor leagues. Giants manager Alvin Dark
declared his intent to use Pierce as the ace of a young pitching staff that included developing talents such as Juan Marichal
, Gaylord Perry
and Mike McCormick
. Unlike the White Sox, the Giants featured a powerful offense which included Willie Mays
, Willie McCovey
and Orlando Cepeda
, and Pierce took advantage of the improved run support with his new team, winning his first eight starts before suffering a 4–3 loss on June 7. His first start on April 13 was a deeply rewarding one, after a rough spring training in which he recorded a 16.45 ERA. Facing the Cincinnati Reds
, he retired the first 13 batters and allowed only two hits in 7⅓ innings. The crowd of 23,755 gave him a roaring ovation, and he later said, "The cheers really got to me inside. Fans nowhere could have been more wonderful. I felt it way down deep."
The Giants were credited with pulling off the best deal of the year, with Larsen and Pierce – "the little southpaw chatterbox" – leading the team to the best record in the major leagues through early June. In a road game against the Reds on June 14, he allowed a leadoff double to Vada Pinson
, but was then accidentally spiked in the left ankle while covering first base on a groundout by Don Blasingame
, an injury which required 14 stitches. Pulled from the game after just ⅓ of an inning, he took the loss when Pinson later scored and the Giants were shut out 8–0. The injury likely cost him what would have been his eighth All-Star selection, and he did not return to the field until he lasted only three innings in a loss on July 15; he then made three relief appearances before picking up a win on August 2. But over the course of the year he proved to be a pitcher who thrived in blustery Candlestick Park, winning all 11 of his home starts as the Giants tied the Dodgers for the NL pennant with a record of 101–61, forcing a three-game playoff. Against the Dodgers on August 11 he earned his 200th career victory, with McCovey's three-run home run off eventual Cy Young winner Don Drysdale
giving the Giants a 5–4 win and ending Drysdale's 11-game win streak.
Pierce started the first game of the playoff against the Dodgers on October 1, opposing Sandy Koufax
, and pushed his Candlestick record to 12–0 with a three-hit 8–0 victory in which only two Dodgers reached second base; he described it as "the most satisfying game I ever pitched." Former NL umpire Babe Pinelli
, watching from the press box, remarked, "Look at him fire that fast one! He's been in so many clutch games that they're nothing to him!" After the Dodgers tied the series in Game 2, he came back in Game 3 on October 3 to pitch the ninth inning with a 6–4 lead, and retired all three batters he faced to clinch the Giants' first pennant in San Francisco, being mobbed by his teammates upon the final out. Against the Yankees in the World Series
, he started Game 3, and went into the bottom of the seventh inning with no score; but he allowed three runs in the seventh inning (one of them unearned after two outfield errors), and took the 3–2 loss. He came back with another brilliant outing in Game 6 at Candlestick Park against Whitey Ford, not allowing a baserunner until the fifth inning and finishing with a three-hit 5–2 victory to tie the Series at three games each; he only allowed three runners to reach second base, and only went to a three-ball count four times. Although his two Series appearances both came after his peak years were behind him, Pierce posted a career Series ERA of 1.89 in 19 innings.
. He achieved his Candlestick success despite often discarding one of his primary pitches, the low curve, saying, "How many left-handers come into this park and win with that pitch on a windy afternoon?" He instead altered the location of his pitches, throwing outside to left-handers to get them to hit to left field, taking advantage of the wind which kept the ball in the air longer; two-time AL batting champion Pete Runnels
observed that Pierce pitched to him completely differently upon changing leagues. His home win streak ended in his next start on April 20, a 4–0 loss to the Chicago Cubs
; he gradually moved to the bullpen over the course of the 1963 season, and was used almost exclusively in relief in 1964. On September 10, 1964 against the Dodgers, in what was later called "Billy the Kid's last fight," he made his first start in over a year and the last of his career, pitching 7⅔ innings and gaining a 5–1 win. He made one more appearance in relief on October 3, falling one strikeout short of 2,000, and announced his retirement the next day as the season came to an end. In an 18-season career, Pierce posted a 211–169 record with a 3.27 ERA in 3,306⅔ innings; only twice (1948 and 1963) did he post an ERA of 4.00 or higher, and never in a season of at least 100 innings. He completed 193 of his 432 starts, including 38 shutouts, and also had 32 saves among his 585 total games pitched. His 186 career victories with the White Sox rank fourth on the club's all-time list, behind Hall of Famers Ted Lyons, Red Faber
and Ed Walsh
. His White Sox record of 456 career games by a left-hander was broken by Wilbur Wood
in 1974.
Listed at 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) and 160 pounds (73 kg), Pierce was also among the more diminutive pitchers to enjoy great success, and is likely the smallest pitcher since the 1920s to win 200 games. Sherm Lollar
, his catcher for ten years in Chicago, noted that his lack of size didn't diminish his velocity, noting, "He isn't too big, but he has wonderful coordination. And he sure is pretty to watch, the way he pumps and rocks and throws. Sometimes, when I'm not catching a game, I'll just go off to one side and watch him pitch." And Paul Richards noted, "Pierce is a perfectionist who has achieved maximum potential out of the equipment nature gave him." Pierce's size also belied his durability, as he was one of the few pitchers under 6 feet (1.8 m) in height to lead the league in complete games since the 1920s, with Ned Garver
, Frank Lary
, Camilo Pascual
and Fernando Valenzuela
– all of whom were an inch taller and outweighed Pierce by at least 20 pounds – being the only other pitchers under six feet tall to lead the league more than once since the early 1930s. He remains the last pitcher to lead the AL in complete games three years in a row.
and Cadillac
dealerships, a stockbroker, then worked as a sales and public relations representative for the Continental Envelope company from 1974 until retiring in 1997. He also worked as a White Sox scout, discovering 1983 Rookie of the Year
Ron Kittle
. The White Sox retired his number 19 in 1987; he is one of only eight players so honored. He was named to the Sox Team of the Century in 2000, and was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame
in 2003. On October 4, 2005, Pierce threw out the first pitch
before Game 1 of the AL Division Series
against the Red Sox (a 14–2 win), as the White Sox began the postseason which culminated in the 2005 World Series
title – their first championship in 88 years. In 2006 he was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame. On July 23, 2007, the White Sox unveiled a statue in Pierce's honor in the center field concourse of U.S. Cellular Field
, joining likenesses of Charles Comiskey
, Minnie Miñoso, Carlton Fisk
, Luis Aparicio
and Nellie Fox
. Sculptors had borrowed photographs and measured his face, leading him to comment, "I don't know why; it isn't the same measurement it was in the '50s." Adding that he hoped statues of Hall of Fame shortstop Luke Appling
and pitcher Ted Lyons – both stars of the 1930s and 1940s – might be added in the future, he nonetheless admitted his excitement over the honor, saying, "I think of it more, in times to come, when my grandkids go out to the park, they'll see it. It's going to be there for years." The book "Then Ozzie Said to Harold...": The Best Chicago White Sox Stories Ever Told, coauthored by Pierce, was published in March 2008.
Pierce married Gloria McCreadie, who he had dated since high school, on October 22, 1949, and they have three children, William Reed (born July 6, 1953), Patricia "Patti" (born October 4, 1955) and Robert Walter (born July 16, 1958). Pierce told one interviewer of his wife, "She's not only a loyal fan, but a smart one, and there was the day I had to go to Marty Marion
– he was the White Sox manager then – and tell him that he'd better change our bunt sign because Gloria had stolen it, so very likely the opposition would be stealing it too." Although he had by then been traded to the Giants, following the 1962 season they relocated from Birmingham, Michigan
to the southwest Chicago suburb of Evergreen Park
. (For several years while he was with the White Sox, they had also maintained a summer residence in the south side's landmark Flamingo-on-the-Lake Apartments
, where teammate Jim Rivera
and his family also lived.) Currently, at 81, he is a member of the White Sox community relations department, making frequent public appearances in the Chicago area. In addition, since 1993 he has headed the not-for-profit Chicago Baseball Cancer Charities, a cause he began supporting after Nellie Fox's death in 1975 at age 47.
had elected only eight new members in 13 years, and Pierce was stuck in the voting behind such pitchers as Early Wynn, Bob Lemon and Hal Newhouser (each of whom was eventually elected). In the next few years, other pitching stars such as Sandy Koufax, Robin Roberts, Warren Spahn and Whitey Ford became eligible, likely also drawing votes away from Pierce, and he was dropped from the ballot after 1974. In discussing various criticisms of BBWAA voting over the years, Baseball Digest
editor John Kuenster wrote in 2008, "The dissenters wonder, for example, how the writers can elect pitchers Whitey Ford (236–106), Jim Bunning (224–184) and Don Drysdale (209–166) to the Hall of Fame, while barely giving any recognition to Billy Pierce (211–169). In the five years he was on the Hall of Fame ballot (1970–1974), Pierce never drew more than two percent of the votes cast, yet his record compiled mostly with undistinguished White Sox teams deserved much more respect from the voters. In one-on-one competition, he actually beat Ford more times than Ford beat him, even though Whitey was backed up by stronger teams." (Bunning was actually elected by the Veterans Committee
in 1996, although he did far better in BBWAA balloting than Pierce, coming within four votes of election in 1988.) Of the top ten left-handers in career strikeouts at the time of his retirement, Pierce is the only one who has not been elected to the Hall:
Pierce's average of 5.62 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched during the 1950s was the highest by any pitcher with at least 1,000 innings in the decade, with his average of 7.96 hits per nine innings ranking third (behind Ford and Wynn) and his 3.06 ERA also ranking third (behind Ford and Spahn). His final strikeout total ranked 15th among all pitchers when he retired; of the 24 pitchers who had at least 1,750 strikeouts at that time, Bobo Newsom
and Tony Mullane
are the only others who have not been elected to the Hall.
When comparing Pierce with the 13 left-handers in the Hall (the above nine as well as Herb Pennock
, Eppa Rixey
, Lefty Gomez
and Steve Carlton
), he consistently stands in the middle of the group, ranking ninth in wins, seventh in strikeouts, games pitched, starts and shutouts, and eighth in innings.
Pierce's seven All-Star selections tie him for the most among eligible pitchers not in the Hall, along with Lee Smith
and Dave Stieb
; Vida Blue
and Jack Morris
are the only other eligible pitchers to have started three All-Star Games. Over his three All-Star starts (each lasting three innings), Pierce allowed only one run and four hits in nine innings; his career All-Star record included a 3.38 ERA with 12 strikeouts in 10⅔ innings. Pierce and Blue are also the only eligible pitchers who have won 200 games and been named Pitcher of the Year
by The Sporting News more than once.
Pierce had a record of 24–24 in 54 career regular-season starts against Hall of Famers: 7–7 vs. Whitey Ford
, 4–7 vs. Early Wynn
, 7–3 vs. Bob Lemon
, 2–3 vs. Bob Feller
, 1–1 vs. Hal Newhouser
, 0–2 vs. Jim Bunning
, 1–0 vs. Don Drysdale
, Sandy Koufax
and Hoyt Wilhelm
, and 0–1 vs. Satchel Paige
. (Pierce had no decision in his lone start against Warren Spahn
; he also earned no decision in two All-Star starts against Robin Roberts.)
Pierce struck out ten or more batters eleven times in his career, and achieved his career high of 12 strikeouts four times; but due to characteristically low run support, he won only one of those four games, a 5–0 three-hit shutout of Kansas City on September 25, 1955 in which he recorded his 1,000th career strikeout. He also recorded 12 strikeouts in a 4–2, 12-inning loss to the Philadelphia Athletics on July 24, 1953, in a 10-inning scoreless tie against the Tigers on May 9, 1954, and in a 3–1 loss at Baltimore on May 23, 1961 in which he pitched only six innings. In 22 career starts in which he pitched into extra innings, Pierce had a record of 8–11 despite a 1.85 ERA. In his 41 complete-game losses (10 of which were against the Yankees), he compiled a 2.67 ERA with 231 strikeouts in 368 innings, a rate slightly higher than his career average.
He was also a highly effective pitcher when used in a relief
role, recording 32 career saves (possibly 34) compared to only 9 blown saves, a success rate of nearly 80%. In his 14 career wins in relief (none of which resulted from a blown save), he averaged 3⅓ innings pitched and a 0.77 ERA.
Using MVP voting results, historical surveys and sabermetric
analysis, historian Bill Deane projected in 1989 that Pierce would have won the American League Cy Young Award
in 1953 and 1956 if it had been given at the time; the award was not created until 1956 (when the National League's Don Newcombe
won the award by unanimous vote), and awards were not given for both leagues until 1967. In 1988, baseball historian and statistician Bill James
chose Pierce as having had the tenth greatest career value among left-handers, ahead of six Hall of Famers.
Starting pitcher
In baseball or softball, a starting pitcher is the pitcher who delivers the first pitch to the first batter of a game. A pitcher who enters the game after the first pitch of the game is a relief pitcher....
in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
who played most of his career for the Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
. He was the team's star pitcher between 1952 and 1961, and was named the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
's top pitcher
The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award
Before there was a Cy Young Award, there was the Pitcher of the Year Award, established by The Sporting News in 1944, though no awards were given in 1946 or 1947. The award is given annually to the pitcher in each league judged by TSN baseball experts as having had the most outstanding season...
in 1956 and 1957 after being runner-up in both 1953 and 1955. A seven-time All-Star
Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by a combination of fans, players, coaches, and managers...
, he led the American League (AL) in complete game
Complete game
In baseball, a complete game is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher.As demonstrated by the charts below, in the early 20th century, it was common for most good Major League Baseball pitchers to pitch a complete game almost every start. Pitchers were...
s three times despite his slight build, and in wins
Win (baseball)
In professional baseball, there are two types of decisions: a win and a loss . In each game, one pitcher on the winning team is awarded a win and one pitcher on the losing team is given a loss in their respective statistics. These pitchers are collectively known as the pitchers of record. Only...
, earned run average
Earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...
(ERA) and strikeout
Strikeout
In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....
s once each. He pitched four one-hitters and seven two-hitters in his career, and on June 27, 1958 came within one batter of becoming the first left-hander in 78 years to throw a perfect game
Perfect game
A perfect game is defined by Major League Baseball as a game in which a pitcher pitches a victory that lasts a minimum of nine innings and in which no opposing player reaches base. Thus, the pitcher cannot allow any hits, walks, hit batsmen, or any opposing player to reach base safely for any...
.
He was one of the principal figures in Chicago's fierce rivalry with the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
; particularly notable were his matchups with Whitey Ford
Whitey Ford
Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who spent his entire 18-year career with the New York Yankees. He was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.-Early life and career:...
, with the two left-handers opposing one another as starters 14 times from 1955 to 1960. Pierce's record suffered from pitching so much against New York – who he faced more often than any other team – when the Yankees dynasty was at its peak; although his career record against New York was only 25–37, that was still slightly better than the 27–41 mark compiled by National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
(NL) championship teams over 11 World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
against the Yankees during the same period.
After joining the San Francisco Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
in 1962, Pierce played a pivotal role in helping them win the NL pennant, going 12–0 in home games and getting a three-hit shutout
Shutout
In team sports, a shutout refers to a game in which one team prevents the opposing team from scoring. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball....
and a save in a three-game tie-breaker
1962 National League tie-breaker series
The 1962 National League tie-breaker series was a three-game playoff series to determine the winner of Major League Baseball's National League pennant. The games took place from October 1 to 3, 1962, between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants. The Giants won the series two games...
against the Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
to clinch the title. His 1,999 career strikeouts were the fifth most by a left-hander when he retired, and his AL total of 1,842 ranked ninth in league history. He also ranked tenth among left-handers in career wins (211), sixth in games started
Games started
In baseball statistics, games started indicates the number of games that a pitcher has started for his team. A pitcher is credited with starting the game if he faces the first opposing batter...
(432) and games pitched
Games pitched
In baseball statistics, games pitched is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher; a player who is announced as the pitcher must face at least one batter, although exceptions are made if the pitcher announced in the starting lineup is injured before facing a batter, perhaps while...
(585), eighth in shutouts (38) and ninth in innings pitched
Innings pitched
In baseball, innings pitched are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inning pitched. One out counts as one-third of an inning, and two...
(3,306⅔). He holds the White Sox franchise record for career strikeouts (1,796), and his club marks of 186 wins, 2,931 innings and 390 starts are team records for a left-hander.
Youth baseball
The son of pharmacist Walter Pierce and his wife Julia, Billy Pierce grew up in Highland Park, MichiganHighland Park, Michigan
- Geography :According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 16,746 people, 6,199 households, and 3,521 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,622.9 per square mile . There were 7,249...
, and showed his first interest in baseball at age ten. He recalled: "I refused to have my tonsils removed
Tonsillectomy
A tonsillectomy is a 3,000-year-old surgical procedure in which the tonsils are removed from either side of the throat. The procedure is performed in response to cases of repeated occurrence of acute tonsillitis or adenoiditis, obstructive sleep apnea, nasal airway obstruction, snoring, or...
. My folks offered me a major league baseball and a good glove
Baseball glove
A baseball glove or mitt is a large leather glove that baseball players on the defending team are allowed to wear to assist them in catching and fielding balls hit by a batter, or thrown by a teammate.-History:...
if I'd have the operation. I took the payola. It really was a thrill to throw around that 'league' ball." After starting out as a first baseman
First baseman
First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team...
, he switched to pitching to emulate his hero, Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
star Tommy Bridges
Tommy Bridges
Thomas Jefferson Davis Bridges was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career with the Detroit Tigers from 1930 to 1946...
, who like Pierce had a slight build. He attended Highland Park Community High School
Highland Park Community High School (Highland Park, Michigan)
Highland Park Community High school is a public high school in Highland Park, Michigan. About 775 students currently attend HP. Its mascot is the polar bears, and its school colors are Blue and white The school motto is "Striving for Excellence; Learning for Life."-History:The current Highland...
where his teammates included future major league pitcher Ted Gray
Ted Gray
Ted Glenn Gray was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played eight seasons with the Detroit Tigers , and then had short stints during the season with the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, and Baltimore Orioles.A native Detroiter, Gray was a star pitcher at Highland Park...
, and pitched six shutouts as a junior in 1944, earning the nickname "Mr. Zero". He was the starting and winning pitcher in an East-West All-American Boys' Game sponsored by Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
magazine, held on August 7, 1944 at the Polo Grounds
Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name given to four different stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used by many professional teams in both baseball and American football from 1880 until 1963...
in New York, with Connie Mack
Connie Mack (baseball)
Cornelius McGillicuddy, Sr. , better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball player, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds records for wins , losses , and games managed , with his victory total being almost 1,000 more...
managing Pierce's East All-Stars; one reporter wrote, "His fast ball
Fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch in baseball. Some "power pitchers," such as Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, have thrown it at speeds of 95–106 mph and up to 108.1 mph , relying purely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit...
was amazing when one considers that he only weighs 140 pounds. In civilian attire he seemed very slender." The West team included catcher
Catcher
Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...
and future Hall of Fame center fielder
Center fielder
A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball fielding position between left field and right field...
Richie Ashburn
Richie Ashburn
Don Richard "Richie" Ashburn , also known by the nicknames, "Putt-Putt", "The Tilden Flash", and "Whitey" due to his light-blond hair, was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball. He was born in Tilden, Nebraska...
, who was hitless in two at bat
At bat
In baseball, an at bat or time at bat is used to calculate certain statistics, including batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. It is a more restricted definition of a plate appearance...
s against Pierce. The game was held as a benefit for World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
community memorials, and two days prior to the event the participating players were guests of Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
on his weekly radio program. Pierce was voted the game's outstanding player, winning a four-year scholarship to the college of his choice. Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
sports editor Dale Stafford, who chaperoned him to New York, later told a fellow writer, "I never saw such a clean-living youngster. On our trip to New York for the East-West game, Billy kept a diary. One morning I found it open to this entry: 'Here it is ten o'clock and Mr. Stafford still hasn't gone to bed.'" Pierce downplayed the experience of pitching in a major league stadium, stating, "I was not nervous at the Polo Grounds, as I've pitched several games in Briggs Stadium back home. I've worked out there with the Tigers, and they, the Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
and the Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
have been interested in me. But my folks and I decided that I'd make up my mind about playing pro ball after I graduated from high school." After considering studying medicine at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, he signed with his hometown Tigers for a bonus of $15,000.
Tigers
He made the team in spring training 1945 before finishing high school and without having played in the minor leaguesMinor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
, but sat on the bench before making his major league debut in June 1945, just a few weeks after his 18th birthday. He made three relief
Relief pitcher
A relief pitcher or reliever is a baseball or softball pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed due to injury, ineffectiveness, fatigue, ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as being substituted by a pinch hitter...
appearances that month and two more in September after a two-month stint with the Buffalo Bisons
Buffalo Bisons
The Buffalo Bisons are a minor league baseball team based in Buffalo, New York. They currently play in the International League and are the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets...
of the International League
International League
The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...
under manager Bucky Harris
Bucky Harris
Stanley Raymond "Bucky" Harris was a Major League Baseball player, manager and executive. In 1975, the Veterans Committee elected Harris, as a manager, to the Baseball Hall of Fame.-Biography:...
, and was on the Detroit roster for the team's victory in the 1945 World Series
1945 World Series
-Game 1:Wednesday, October 3, 1945 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit, Michigan-Game 2:Thursday, October 4, 1945 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit, Michigan-Game 3:Friday, October 5, 1945 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit, Michigan...
although he did not appear in any games. He had a remarkably unassuming presence; Paul Richards
Paul Richards (baseball)
Paul Rapier Richards was an American professional baseball player, manager, scout and executive in Major League Baseball. During his playing career, he was a catcher and right-handed batter with the Brooklyn Dodgers , New York Giants , Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers...
, then a catcher for the Tigers, later recalled occasionally going to his neighborhood drugstore. One day, Pierce went up to him at practice and asked why Richards never talked to him at the store, with Richards replying that he didn't know what Pierce was talking about; Pierce answered that the drugstore was his family's, and Richards slowly realized that Pierce had been the clerk behind the counter each time he went in.
Pierce was sent back to Buffalo for the 1946 season, now with Gabby Hartnett
Gabby Hartnett
Charles Leo "Gabby" Hartnett was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played almost his entire career in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Chicago Cubs. Until the career of Johnny Bench, Hartnett was considered the greatest catcher in the history of the National League...
as his manager (Harris having moved to the team's front office), but missed most of the year with a back injury which was attributed to overwork. After the 1947 season in Buffalo, where Richards was now his manager, he returned to Detroit in 1948, spending most of the season in the bullpen but making five starts and posting a 3–0 record; he had yet added very little weight since his high school days, being still at 148 pounds. He made his first start, and earned his first major league victory, on August 8 against the Washington Senators
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
, pitching 7⅔ innings and striking out six in a 6–5 victory in which he also drove in
Run batted in
Runs batted in or RBIs is a statistic used in baseball and softball to credit a batter when the outcome of his at-bat results in a run being scored, except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play. The first team to track RBI was the Buffalo Bisons.Common nicknames for an RBI...
a run with a triple
Triple (baseball)
In baseball, a triple is the act of a batter safely reaching third base after hitting the ball, with neither the benefit of a fielder's misplay nor another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....
and scored. However, Pierce also issued 51 walks
Base on balls
A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08...
in 55⅓ innings that year, and concerns about his pitching control led the Tigers to trade him to the White Sox on November 10 for catcher Aaron Robinson
Aaron Robinson
Aaron Andrew Robinson , was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from to for the Chicago White Sox, the Detroit Tigers, the New York Yankees, and the Boston Red Sox...
and $10,000, in what most baseball historians consider to be one of the most one-sided trades in baseball history. Talks had initially centered on Chicago acquiring Pierce's high school teammate Ted Gray, although sources differ as to whether it was White Sox general manager
General manager (baseball)
In Major League Baseball, the general manager of a team typically controls player transactions and bears the primary responsibility on behalf of the ballclub during contract discussions with players....
Frank Lane
Frank Lane
Frank Lane was an American executive in professional baseball, most notably serving as a general manager in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox, St...
or his Detroit counterpart Billy Evans
Billy Evans
William George Evans , nicknamed "The Boy Umpire," was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the American League from 1906 to 1927...
who switched the focus to Pierce; the Tigers tried to call off the deal one day after it was completed upon fully realizing what they had given up, even offering $50,000 to get Pierce back, but Lane had no intention of giving up the steal he had accomplished in his first trade as general manager.
Arrival in Chicago
In his first seasons with Chicago, Pierce's control problems continued; his 137 walks in 1950 tied him for the fourth most ever by an AL left-hander. But those seasons also included indications of his developing excellence, as well as the struggles he would face in gaining run supportRun support
Run support is a baseball statistic used to assess a starting pitcher's good fortune. It measures how many runs were scored by his team on average when he starts. It is considered a somewhat important statistic because a team earn wins by holding its opponents to fewer runs than it scores...
. On May 29, 1949, in just his sixth start with Chicago (and the 11th of his career), the 22-year-old Pierce was matched against 42-year-old Negro league
Negro league baseball
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...
legend Satchel Paige
Satchel Paige
Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige was an American baseball player whose pitching in the Negro leagues and in Major League Baseball made him a legend in his own lifetime...
in a road game against the defending World Series champion Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
. The pitchers' duel went into the 11th inning, when Pierce walked leadoff hitter Ken Keltner
Ken Keltner
Kenneth Frederick Keltner was an American professional baseball player. He played almost his entire Major League Baseball career as a third baseman with the Cleveland Indians, until his final season when he played 13 games for the Boston Red Sox. He batted and threw right-handed...
, followed by two bunt singles. After Pierce was replaced by a reliever and the next batter lined to shortstop
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
Luke Appling
Luke Appling
Lucius Benjamin Appling was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Chicago White Sox . He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964....
, Lou Boudreau
Lou Boudreau
Louis "Lou" Boudreau was an American Major League Baseball player and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970...
singled to give Cleveland a 2–1 win; Pierce had himself scored Chicago's only run after singling in the eighth inning. And on June 15, 1950 against the World Series champion Yankees, Pierce got his first career shutout – a 5–0 one-hitter, interrupted by rain delays in the second, fourth and fifth innings totaling over an hour and a half, with the only hit being Billy Johnson's single in the fifth inning.
Development of style
Over 13 seasons with the White Sox, Pierce was the ace of the pitching staff, leading the team in wins nine times and in strikeouts eight times. He was Chicago's Opening DayOpening Day
Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball and most of the minor leagues, this day falls during the first week of April. For baseball fans, Opening Day serves as a symbol of rebirth; writer Thomas Boswell once penned a book...
starter seven times (1951–52, 1954, 1956–59), and started the home opener in 1953 and 1961. He had an outstanding fastball
Fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch in baseball. Some "power pitchers," such as Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, have thrown it at speeds of 95–106 mph and up to 108.1 mph , relying purely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit...
and an excellent curveball
Curveball
The curveball is a type of pitch in baseball thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball causing it to dive in a downward path as it approaches the plate. Its close relatives are the slider and the slurve. The "curve" of the ball varies from pitcher to...
, and in 1951 added the slider
Slider
In baseball, a slider is a pitch that breaks laterally and down, with a speed between that of a curveball and that of a fastball....
(for which he used his motion for the curve rather than the fastball) as a third strong pitch, as well as a changeup
Changeup
A changeup is a type of pitch in baseball. Other names include change-of-pace, Bugs Bunny change-up, the dreaded equalizer, and simply change. The changeup is sometimes called an off-speed pitch, although that term can also be used simply to mean any pitch that is slower than a fastball...
. He worked quickly with an over-the-top motion, dropping his back shoulder in a style similar to that later used by Sandy Koufax
Sandy Koufax
Sanford "Sandy" Koufax is a former left-handed baseball pitcher who played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers...
. In 1957, Paul Richards noted of Pierce's early style: "He had a tendency to windmill in his delivery, which makes the ball spin too much and takes the life out of it. He flashed his curve-the Yankees always knew when he was throwing a curve. But mainly Bill didn't want to throw anything but fast balls in the old days. He laughed at the change-of-pace and the slider, so most of the strong right-hand hitters were laying back for him, waiting for a fast ball down the middle." After Pierce finally tried the slider against the Yankees, to great effect, Richards noted, "Then, for a while there, he began throwing nothing but sliders. He finally learned about that, too. Even today Pierce will pitch a whole ball game and almost never throw anything but fast balls. But only on certain days." Yankees star Joe DiMaggio
Joe DiMaggio
Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio , nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak , a record that still stands...
was among those praising Pierce's ability, reportedly remarking, "That little so-and-so is a marvel. So little – and all that speed. And I mean speed! He got me out of there on a fastball in the ninth that I'd have needed a telescope to see." Richards became Chicago's manager in 1951, and worked with Pierce to develop his two new pitches and slow down his pace, as well as significantly improve his control; Pierce later recalled, "I learned to control my fastball better [...] Developing the slider helped me tremendously because it gave me a third out pitch. I threw it almost as hard as my fastball, but I could throw it for strikes better than the fast ball or good curve ... Richards made me work on it, and it took me about two years before it was consistent." After issuing 249 walks in 391 innings in 1949–1950, Pierce gave up only 73 walks in 240 innings in 1951, and only averaged more than 3 walks per 9 innings in three seasons afterward. His 1951 ERA of 3.03 was fourth best in the league, and he ranked sixth in 1952 with a mark of 2.57. On September 21, 1952 he broke Doc White
Doc White
Guy Harris "Doc" White was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for two teams, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago White Sox, during his career which lasted from 1901 to 1913....
's 1907 club record of 141 strikeouts by a left-hander, ending the season with 144.
On April 16, 1953 against the St. Louis Browns
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
(the second game of the season, and Chicago's home opener) Pierce pitched his second one-hitter, a 1–0 victory in which he allowed only a seventh-inning double
Double (baseball)
In baseball, a double is the act of a batter striking the pitched ball and safely reaching second base without being called out by the umpire, without the benefit of a fielder's misplay or another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....
by Bobby Young
Bobby Young
Robert George Young was an American second baseman in Major League Baseball who played most of his career for the St. Louis Browns/Baltimore Orioles franchise....
; the White Sox gained only two singles in the contest, and scored on a walk, sacrifice hit
Sacrifice hit
In baseball, a sacrifice bunt is a batter's act of deliberately bunting the ball in a manner that allows a runner on base to advance to another base. The batter is almost always sacrificed but sometimes reaches base due to an error or fielder's choice...
, error
Error (baseball)
In baseball statistics, an error is the act, in the judgment of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to reach one or more additional bases, when such an advance would have been prevented given ordinary effort by the fielder.The term ...
and sacrifice fly
Sacrifice fly
In baseball, a sacrifice fly is a batted ball that satisfies four criteria:* There are fewer than two outs when the ball is hit.* The ball is hit to the outfield....
. Pierce was chosen to start the All-Star Game for the AL – the first White Sox pitcher ever to do so – and allowed only one hit through three innings (a single by Stan Musial
Stan Musial
Stanley Frank "Stan" Musial is a retired professional baseball player who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals . Nicknamed "Stan the Man", Musial was a record 24-time All-Star selection , and is widely considered to be one of the greatest hitters in baseball...
). Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
star Ted Williams
Ted Williams
Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox...
recalled of the game: "It was a hot day at Crosley Field
Crosley Field
Crosley Field was a Major League Baseball park located in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the home field of the National League's Cincinnati Reds from 1912 through June 24, 1970, and the original Cincinnati Bengals football team, members of the second and third American Football League...
and I remember being so concerned for little Billy Pierce of the White Sox. Billy probably threw harder than anybody for a guy his size, he had a real big delivery, nice to look at, and he had overcome a lot. I understand he had had epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
, and I was really pulling for him. He was a nervous little guy, and here he was starting his first All-Star game in a bandbox park that's tough to pitch in, and against Robin Roberts to boot. Pierce held them in the palm of his hand that day. He threw the ball right by everybody."
During the early 1950s, Richards preferred to arrange his rotation so that Pierce started only every fifth or sixth day, holding him back against weaker teams but using him more often for big games against the powerful Yankees and Indians. Catcher Sherm Lollar
Sherm Lollar
John Sherman Lollar was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Cleveland Indians , New York Yankees , St. Louis Browns , and the Chicago White Sox...
later observed that although it was essentially a compliment to Pierce's ability, he might have picked up more victories and won 20 games sooner in his career had he faced each opponent more equally. With a 1–0 two-hitter at Washington on August 3, in which the White Sox won on an unearned run
Earned run
In baseball, an earned run is any run for which the pitcher is held accountable . Any runner who tags his base and reaches home plate is scored against the pitcher as an earned run...
in the ninth inning with a hit batter
Hit by pitch
In baseball, hit by pitch , or hit batsman , is a batter or his equipment being hit in some part of his body by a pitch from the pitcher.-Official rule:...
, error and sacrifice fly, Pierce began a streak of 39⅔ consecutive scoreless innings – the longest such streak in the AL between 1926, when Ted Lyons had a 41-inning streak for the White Sox, and 1968; it remains the fifth longest ever by a left-hander, and the longest by an AL southpaw since 1905. The streak ended when he allowed two unearned runs against the Browns in the sixth inning on August 19; two additional earned runs in the tenth inning ended his streak, dating to July 29, of 49⅔ innings without an earned run, and gave him a 4–3 loss. He led the league in strikeouts (186) and was second in ERA (2.72), and on September 27 started for the White Sox in the final game in Browns history, winning 2–1 in 11 innings at St. Louis. His seven shutouts that season were the second most by an AL left-hander since 1916, matched only by Hal Newhouser
Hal Newhouser
Harold "Prince Hal" Newhouser was an American pitcher for Major League Baseball who played 17 seasons from 1939 to 1955, mostly with the Detroit Tigers of the American League...
's 1945 total of eight.
Progress interrupted
Pierce's 1954 season was interrupted when he reported pain in his left arm in a May 25 win over Cleveland; after several days of difficulty in determining the problem, he had oral surgery to remove an infected wisdom tooth and adjacent molarMolar (tooth)
Molars are the rearmost and most complicated kind of tooth in most mammals. In many mammals they grind food; hence the Latin name mola, "millstone"....
on June 3. He did not pitch again until June 20, but a lack of arm strength caused him to be ineffective in that start before slowly coming back with two relief appearances and another poor start, finally picking up wins with consecutive 3–0 shutouts on July 5 and July 11, the latter being his fourth career two-hitter. It was later reported that the tooth problem had possibly existed as early as spring training, when Pierce initially suffered arm problems. But although he recorded only nine wins that season, he was one of just four pitchers to defeat the Indians three times as they racked up a league-record 111 victories, after also having been one of four pitchers to defeat the champion Yankees four times in 1953.
Playing the Yankees on June 25, 1953, he was part of a rare defensive shift; leading 4–2 in the ninth inning, he was moved to first base, with Harry Dorish
Harry Dorish
Harry "Fritz" Dorish was an American professional baseball player. Born in Swoyersville, Pennsylvania, he was a right-handed pitcher over all or parts of ten seasons with the Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Browns/Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox...
entering in relief. Pinch hitter
Pinch hitter
In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead ; the manager may use any player that has not yet entered the game as a substitute...
Don Bollweg
Don Bollweg
Donald Raymond Bollweg was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball who played for three teams from 1950 to 1955....
barely beat out a bunt single to first base, but Pierce than recorded a putout
Putout
In baseball statistics, a putout is given to a defensive player who records an out by one of the following methods:* Tagging a runner with the ball when he is not touching a base...
on Gil McDougald
Gil McDougald
Gilbert James McDougald was an American infielder who spent all ten seasons of his Major League Baseball career with the New York Yankees from 1951 to 1960. He was a member of eight American League pennant winners and five World Series Champions. He was also the AL Rookie of the Year in 1951 and...
's grounder to third base. He then retook the mound, and after issuing a walk, gained the final two outs to finish the victory; the White Sox set an AL record by using five first basemen in the game. Pierce was also an excellent baserunner
Baserunning
In baseball, baserunning is the act of running around the bases performed by members of the team at bat.In general, baserunning is a tactical part of the game with the goal of eventually reaching home to score a run. In fact, the goal of batting is generally to produce baserunners, or help move...
, and was used as a pinch runner
Pinch runner
A pinch runner is a baseball player substituted for the specific purpose of replacing a player on base. In the typical case, the pinch runner is faster or otherwise more skilled at base-running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been substituted...
30 times between 1949 and 1957 – even scoring as a substitute for three-time stolen base
Stolen base
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base while the pitcher is delivering the ball to home plate...
champion Minnie Miñoso in a 5–4 victory over the Yankees on June 22, 1956.
Peak years
In 1955 Pierce again started the All-Star Game, going into the All-Star break with a record of just 5–6 in spite of his 2.11 ERA; in his last two starts before the break, he suffered back-to-back 1–0 losses to Early WynnEarly Wynn
Early Wynn Jr. , nicknamed "Gus", was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. During a 25-year baseball career, he pitched for the Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox...
and Bob Lemon
Bob Lemon
Robert Granville Lemon was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976....
of the Indians. In the All-Star Game he allowed only one baserunner through three innings (a leadoff single by Red Schoendienst
Red Schoendienst
Albert Fred "Red" Schoendienst is an American Major League Baseball coach, former player and manager, and 10-time All-star. After a 19-year playing career with the St...
, who was thrown out on a steal attempt); he staked the AL to a 4–0 lead, but the National League came back for a 6–5 win in 10 innings after scoring five runs off Whitey Ford
Whitey Ford
Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who spent his entire 18-year career with the New York Yankees. He was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.-Early life and career:...
in the seventh and eighth innings. Pierce ended the season with the league lead in ERA (although his record was just 15–10), with his mark of 1.97 being the lowest by a major league pitcher between Hal Newhouser
Hal Newhouser
Harold "Prince Hal" Newhouser was an American pitcher for Major League Baseball who played 17 seasons from 1939 to 1955, mostly with the Detroit Tigers of the American League...
in 1946 (1.94) and Sandy Koufax
Sandy Koufax
Sanford "Sandy" Koufax is a former left-handed baseball pitcher who played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers...
in 1963 (1.88); he led the major leagues by nearly two thirds of a run, with Ford having the next best mark at 2.63. Total Baseball has rated Pierce as the best pitcher in the major leagues in 1955, after having placed him among the AL's top five pitchers each year from 1951 to 1953.
In 1956 he started his third All-Star Game, but was charged with the loss despite allowing only one run in three innings. Buoyed by the arrival of rookie shortstop Luis Aparicio
Luis Aparicio
Luis Ernesto Aparicio Montiel is a former shortstop in professional baseball. His career in Major League Baseball spanned three decades, from through . Aparicio played for the Chicago White Sox , Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox . He batted and threw right-handed...
, who sparked the team in leading the league in stolen bases, the White Sox enjoyed a two-month offensive surge from June 4 to August 3 in which they averaged eight runs in Pierce's 13 starts; he won 11 of the games, losing only those immediately before and after the All-Star break, the latter being a 2–1 loss to Ford and the Yankees. He became the first White Sox pitcher since 1941 to win 20 games, was second in the AL with a career-high 192 strikeouts (a team record for left-handers until Gary Peters had 205 in 1964), and was named AL Pitcher of the Year
The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award
Before there was a Cy Young Award, there was the Pitcher of the Year Award, established by The Sporting News in 1944, though no awards were given in 1946 or 1947. The award is given annually to the pitcher in each league judged by TSN baseball experts as having had the most outstanding season...
by The Sporting News, outpolling Ford (who had edged him in a close 1955 vote) by a margin of 117 to 52; he also finished fifth in voting for the AL Most Valuable Player Award
MLB Most Valuable Player Award
The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award is an annual Major League Baseball award, given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America...
. In 1957 Pierce became the first White Sox pitcher since Red Faber
Red Faber
Urban Clarence "Red" Faber was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from through , playing his entire career for the Chicago White Sox. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964....
(1920–1922) to earn 20 victories in consecutive seasons; he tied Jim Bunning
Jim Bunning
James Paul David "Jim" Bunning is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher and politician.During a 17-year baseball career, he pitched from 1955 to 1971, most notably with the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies. When he retired, he had the second-highest total of career...
for the league lead, and bested him in voting for AL Pitcher of the Year. He had six consecutive complete game victories from May 16 to June 8 in which his total ERA was 0.64, with two 1–0 victories in ten innings including his sixth career two-hitter on June 4 against the Red Sox; the White Sox scored just nine total runs over the last five games in that stretch. Despite the presence of such popular players as Miñoso, Aparicio and second baseman
Second baseman
Second base, or 2B, is the second of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a base runner in order to score a run for that player's team. A second baseman is the baseball player guarding second base...
Nellie Fox
Nellie Fox
Jacob Nelson Fox was a Major League Baseball second baseman for the Chicago White Sox. Fox was born in St. Thomas Township, Pennsylvania. He was selected as the MVP of the American League in...
, Pierce was chosen as the player most popular with White Sox fans in a 1957 spring training poll of sportswriters. A separate poll of managers, coaches, writers and broadcasters named him Chicago's best fielding pitcher, best pitcher at holding runners
Pickoff
In baseball, a pickoff is an act by a pitcher or a catcher, throwing a live ball to a fielder so that the fielder can tag out a baserunner who is either leading off or about to begin stealing the next base....
to first base, and best pitcher for crucial games, as well as the team's most nervous player on the field.
End of peak
In 1958 he was second in the league in both wins (17) and ERA (2.68); his seventh two-hitter, a 1–0 win on June 21 against the Baltimore OriolesBaltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
in which the White Sox scored only an unearned run in the first inning, was followed by the greatest game of his career. On June 27 against the Senators, he retired the first 26 batters before pinch hitter Ed Fitz Gerald
Ed Fitz Gerald
Edward Raymond Fitz Gerald is a former catcher in Major League Baseball who played from - for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Senators and Cleveland Indians. He attended Saint Mary's College of California...
lined Pierce's first pitch down the first base line for an opposite-field double that landed about a foot from the foul line. Pierce then struck out Albie Pearson
Albie Pearson
Albert Gregory Pearson is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball who played with the Washington Senators , Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles/California Angels . One of the smallest MLB players of his era, he stood tall, weighed , and batted and threw left-handed...
on three pitches to end the game; only twice did he go to a three-ball count
Count (baseball)
In baseball, the count refers to the number of balls and strikes a batter has in his current plate appearance. It is usually announced as a pair of numbers, for example, 3-1 , with the first number being the number of balls and the second being the number of strikes.An individual pitch may also be...
. The lone hit marred what would have been a remarkable accomplishment; not only had no left-hander pitched a perfect game
Perfect game
A perfect game is defined by Major League Baseball as a game in which a pitcher pitches a victory that lasts a minimum of nine innings and in which no opposing player reaches base. Thus, the pitcher cannot allow any hits, walks, hit batsmen, or any opposing player to reach base safely for any...
since Lee Richmond in 1880, but only one AL left-hander (Mel Parnell
Mel Parnell
Melvin Lloyd Parnell is a former Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher.Parnell spent his entire ten-year career with the Boston Red Sox , compiling a 123-75 record with 732 strikeouts, a 3.50 earned run average, 113 complete games, 20 shutouts, and 1752.2 innings pitched in 289 games...
in 1956) pitched even a no-hitter
No-hitter
A no-hitter is a baseball game in which one team has no hits. In Major League Baseball, the team must be without hits during the entire game, and the game must be at least nine innings. A pitcher who prevents the opposing team from achieving a hit is said to have "thrown a no-hitter"...
between 1931 and 1962. Although disappointed by the near miss, Pierce praised his teammates for their defensive work, saying, "Give Luis plenty of credit. And Sherm really mixed 'em up beautifully. The big thing is that we won." At a Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
lunch with several White Sox players during the following year's pennant race, Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
told Pierce that he had watched the game on television, saying, "I'm a Washington fan, but that was one night I was rooting for the White Sox." In a 1982 interview, Pierce said, "The book on Fitzgerald was that he was a fastball hitter on the first ball and liked it inside where he could pull it. So we threw him a curve away and he hit into right for a solid hit. I didn't feel that badly about it, really. It didn't mean that much at the moment. But now ... well, now I wish I had got it. It would have been nice." His streak of 33 consecutive scoreless innings was ended with an unearned run in the seventh inning on July 1.
Pierce tied for the league lead in complete games each year from 1956 to 1958, and was again selected for the All-Star team each year from 1957 to 1959 and again in 1961, although he only appeared in the 1957
1957 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 1957 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 24th playing of the midseason exhibition baseball game between the all-stars of the American League and National League , the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 9, 1957 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis,...
game in which he retired his first five batters before allowing three runs. On June 11, 1959 he pitched his fourth and final one-hitter, a 3–1 victory at Washington in which he allowed only a third-inning double by Ron Samford
Ron Samford
Ronald Edward Samford is a former shortstop in Major League Baseball who played from to with the New York Giants, Detroit Tigers and Washington Senators....
, who scored after three two-out walks, the last to Harmon Killebrew
Harmon Killebrew
Harmon Clayton Killebrew , nicknamed "Killer" and "Hammerin' Harmon", was an American professional baseball first baseman, third baseman, and left fielder. During his 22-year career in Major League Baseball , he played for the Washington Senators, a team which later became the Minnesota Twins, and...
; the White Sox won on a two-run double in the ninth inning by Jim Landis
Jim Landis
James Henry Landis is a retired American baseball player. Landis was signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent in 1952 shortly after graduating from Richmond High School...
off Senators starter Camilo Pascual
Camilo Pascual
Camilo Alberto Pascual is a former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. During an 18-year baseball career , he played for the Washington Senators , the second Washington Senators franchise, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Cleveland Indians...
. Pierce had the longest outing of his career on August 6 in a road game against the Orioles, pitching 16 innings in a contest that ended in a 1–1 tie after 18 frames; it proved to be the last time in his career that he pitched into extra innings. After losing his next two starts, pulling a back muscle and straining the ligaments in his right hip against the Kansas City Athletics
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
in the third inning on August 15, he was out of action until a 2–1 win over Kansas City on September 7.
Manager Al Lopez
Al Lopez
Alfonso Ramon "Al" Lopez was an American catcher and manager in Major League Baseball, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977....
' decision not to start Pierce in the 1959 World Series
1959 World Series
The 1959 World Series featured the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers beating the American League champion Chicago White Sox, four games to two. It was the first pennant for the White Sox in 40 years . They would have to wait until 2005 to win another championship...
against the Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
was highly controversial. After Cy Young Award
Cy Young Award
The Cy Young Award is an honor given annually in baseball to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball , one each for the American League and National League . The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955...
winner Early Wynn
Early Wynn
Early Wynn Jr. , nicknamed "Gus", was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. During a 25-year baseball career, he pitched for the Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox...
started for Chicago in Game 1, Lopez chose to start Bob Shaw
Bob Shaw (baseball)
Robert John Shaw was a Major League Baseball pitcher.His career lasted a decade, and he pitched for the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Athletics, Milwaukee Braves, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, and Chicago Cubs. He won 18 games with the American League pennant-winning White...
(18–6 in the regular season) and Dick Donovan (9–10) in the next two contests, which the White Sox lost by scores of 4–3 and 3–1. Pierce was held back until Game 4, and relieved in each of the final three games of the Series, allowing only two hits and no runs in four innings of work. In Game 4 he entered in the fourth inning with Chicago trailing 4–0, and pitched a hitless three innings before being pulled for a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, when the Sox tied the game; the Dodgers went on to win 5–4. In Game 5 he entered in the eighth inning to protect a 1–0 lead, but only issued an intentional walk before Lopez again changed pitchers; the White Sox held on for the 1–0 win. Lopez even chose to start Wynn in Game 6 on two days' rest, but he was ineffective, and Chicago was behind 8–3 by the time Pierce was brought in to start the eighth inning; the Dodgers later added a run in the ninth inning to complete the 9–3 win and capture the Series championship. Being used out of the bullpen was a deep letdown for Pierce, who said in a 1982 interview, "Other guys, Early Wynn and Bob Shaw, had better years than I did that year. And against the left-handed-heavy lineup the Dodgers threw at us, Al wanted his right-handers like Dick Donovan. There was no question I was disappointed, but I understood." However, there have been suggestions that Lopez' decision had other, undisclosed motivations; noting his surprise that Lopez chose to use Pierce out of the bullpen, outfielder Al Smith
Al Smith (baseball outfielder)
Alphonse Eugene Smith was a left fielder/third baseman in Major League Baseball. From 1953 through 1964, he played for the Cleveland Indians , Chicago White Sox , Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox .-Biography:Smith was born in Kirkwood, Missouri. As a high school star in St...
recalled, "We all knew why Al Lopez didn't pitch him, but we never told anyone and I won't say now. I will say that I thought he should have pitched. He'd been pitching all year, hadn't he?"
Offensive support
Although they never finished below third place from 1952 through 1960, the "Go-Go White Sox" were a team which thrived on speed, defense and pitching rather than hitting, and Pierce struggled for offensive support throughout his time with the club. Both Richards and Lopez – who became Chicago's manager in 1957 – placed a low emphasis on offense, with Lopez expressing his philosophy that "all a team really needed was pitching and defense, because if you didn't allow the other team to score, eventually they would give you a run, and you'd win the game." Nellie FoxNellie Fox
Jacob Nelson Fox was a Major League Baseball second baseman for the Chicago White Sox. Fox was born in St. Thomas Township, Pennsylvania. He was selected as the MVP of the American League in...
, who was also Pierce's roommate, turned to him on one occasion when the White Sox picked up a run following a scoring drought and said, "Here's your run. Now go out there and hold it." Although AL teams averaged 4.46 runs per game from 1949 through 1961, and the White Sox averaged 4.53 runs in games started by their other pitchers, they averaged only 4.20 runs in Pierce's starts – a figure which drops to 4.07 if the two-month scoring outburst in 1956 is discounted; in over two thirds of his losses with Chicago (105 of 152), and fully one third of his starts (130 of 390), they scored two or fewer runs. They averaged 3.7 runs in his 1953 starts, and 3.6 runs in his 1955 starts; even in 1959, when the pennant-winning White Sox averaged 4.29 runs per game, they averaged only 3.36 runs in Pierce's starts. By 1955 it was regularly noted that Chicago's offensive struggles were placing undue pressure on the pitching staff, wearing them out with "one tense game after another, never having a comfortable margin that might permit a little breather now and then"; Pierce was described as "the unluckiest pitcher in the majors" that year due to the lack of scoring. But in contrast, when he had a reasonable level of offensive backing he was far more successful, posting a record of 30–11 when Chicago scored four runs and 99–10 when they scored five or more; from September 1951 through May 1958, he was 71–6 when they scored at least four runs and 55–1 when they scored at least five.
Yankees rivalry
Pierce played a major role in keeping the White Sox competitive with the powerhouse Yankees through most of the 1950s, and after a rough period from June 1951 to July 1952 in which he dropped 10 of 11 decisions to New York (despite a respectable 3.69 ERA in those games), he held his own against the Yankees, posting a record of 21–21 from August 1952 through the 1960 season. Ironically, the turnaround in his fortunes against the Yankees followed one of Chicago's most crushing defeats to their rivals; on July 29, 1952 he left with a 7–3 lead and one out in the eighth inning, only to see the Yankees come back against the White Sox bullpen to win 10–7 on Mickey MantleMickey Mantle
Mickey Charles Mantle was an American professional baseball player. Mantle is regarded by many to be the greatest switch hitter of all time, and one of the greatest players in baseball history. Mantle was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.Mantle was noted for his hitting...
's grand slam
Grand slam (baseball)
In the sport of baseball, a grand slam is a home run hit with all three bases occupied by baserunners , thereby scoring four runs—the most possible in one play. According to The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, the term originated in the card game of contract bridge, in which a grand slam involves...
in the ninth. Years later, Pierce still recalled the game as being one of his most frustrating outings. He faced Whitey Ford 15 times in his career (more than against any other pitcher), including a 1–0 loss on May 17, 1955, a 3–2 loss in 10 innings on June 5 later that year, a 2–1 loss on July 15, 1956, a 3–2 loss in 11 innings on September 18 of that year (in which the Yankees clinched the pennant on Mantle's 50th home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
in the final frame), a 3–1 win on May 21, 1957, and a 4–3 win in 11 innings on April 30, 1959.
By the 1957 season, Shirley Povich
Shirley Povich
Shirley Lewis Povich was an American sports columnist and reporter for the Washington Post.-Biography:Povich's parents were Jewish immigrants from Lithuania...
of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
expressed a clear preference for Pierce over Ford, writing that anyone doubting Pierce's place as the league's top left-hander was "risking committal as an incurable psycho who can neither read the figures nor respond to reason." Pierce's 4–3 win over the Yankees on July 28, 1959 put the White Sox in first place, where they stayed for the remainder of the season to take their first pennant in 40 years; it was his 160th victory with Chicago, breaking Doc White
Doc White
Guy Harris "Doc" White was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for two teams, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago White Sox, during his career which lasted from 1901 to 1913....
's team record for wins by a left-hander (he broke White's club records for career games and innings by a left-hander the same year). In late 1958, sportswriter Edgar Munzel
Edgar Munzel
Edgar Herman Munzel , nicknamed "The Mouse," was an American sportswriter who wrote for the Chicago Herald-Examiner and Chicago Sun-Times from 1929 to 1973. In 1978 he was awarded the J. G. Taylor Spink Award by the Baseball Writers Association of America for outstanding contributions to baseball...
wrote, "The primary difference between Pierce and Ford, in their long-standing duel for southpaw supremacy in the American League, is that Pierce is pitching for a woefully weak hitting team, while Ford is backed by the league's most powerful offensive machine... An even greater boon to Whitey is the fact that he doesn't have to face the Yankees." Of Pierce, who he described as the top White Sox pitcher for the past decade, he added, "Normally, he's lucky if he's supported with as many as two runs when he faces the Yankees."
Yankee outfielder Bob Cerv
Bob Cerv
Robert Henry Cerv was an American baseball player. Prior to his professional career he was a standout baseball and basketball player at the University of Nebraska....
recalled of the rivalry, "I always remember the games when Pierce and Ford would lock up. Those were great ballgames – 2–1, 3–2. Usually, if they'd get beat, Mantle would hit a home run." New York outfielder Hank Bauer
Hank Bauer
Henry Albert "Hank" Bauer was an American right fielder and manager in Major League Baseball. He played with the New York Yankees and Kansas City Athletics ; he batted and threw right-handed...
noted, "The guy who gave me the most problem – I know he gave 'em to me, and I think he gave 'em to most of us – was Billy Pierce." Tommy Byrne
Tommy Byrne (baseball)
Thomas Joseph Byrne was an American left-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for four American League teams from through , primarily the New York Yankees. He also played for the St. Louis Browns , Chicago White Sox and Washington Senators...
, who pitched for the Yankees for most of his career from 1943 to 1957 but played for Chicago for the first half of the 1953 season, said, "Pierce was sneaky fast, a good breaking ball. He was tough. For several years there he was right up there on a par with Ford." Sportswriter Bill Madden
Bill Madden (sportswriter)
Bill Madden is an American sportswriter for the New York Daily News. A member of the Baseball Writers Association of America, he has served on the Historical Overview Committee of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005, 2007 and 2008, helping to select candidates for the final ballots presented to the...
recalled in 1982, "Always it was Pierce against Whitey Ford and always, to me, that seemed like an unfair matchup. They were your classic 'stylish' left-handers, equal in guile and guts, but Ford had those howitzers of Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra
Yogi Berra
Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra is a former American Major League Baseball catcher, outfielder, and manager. He played almost his entire 19-year baseball career for the New York Yankees...
, Bill Skowron and Hank Bauer behind him, while Pierce came armed with popguns. Nellie Fox, Luis Aparicio and Minnie Minoso supported him with hustle and chink singles and I always marveled at the fact that Pierce could duel Ford on even terms despite those odds." Ironically, the Yankees tried to acquire Pierce in the early 1950s when Ford was in the military, but White Sox general manager Frank Lane
Frank Lane
Frank Lane was an American executive in professional baseball, most notably serving as a general manager in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox, St...
proposed that New York give up Bauer, first baseman Joe Collins
Joe Collins
Joseph Edward Collins was an American Major League Baseball player, born in Scranton, Pennsylvania....
and second baseman Jerry Coleman
Jerry Coleman
Gerald Francis "Jerry" Coleman is a former Major League Baseball second baseman for the New York Yankees. Currently, he is an analyst and former play-by-play radio announcer for the San Diego Padres...
in exchange for Pierce and outfielder Al Zarilla
Al Zarilla
Allen Lee Zarilla was a right fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the St. Louis Browns , Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox . Zarilla batted left-handed and threw right-handed...
, and ended talks when Yankees GM George Weiss
George Weiss (baseball)
George Martin Weiss was an American baseball executive. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.Weiss was one of Major League Baseball's most successful farm system directors and general managers...
suggested the Yankees send minor leaguers instead.
Later career
In his last two seasons with Chicago, Pierce posted records of just 14–7 and 10–9, but a shaky bullpen contributed to his middling record; although he left the game with a lead in the sixth inning or later 15 times in those seasons, White Sox relievers failed to protect that lead seven times. Indeed, Pierce was seen to be the team's only consistently effective starter in 1960, picking up eight complete-game victories by mid-August. On June 20, 1961, Pierce broke Ed WalshEd Walsh
Edward Augustine Walsh was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He holds the record for lowest career ERA, 1.82.-Baseball career:Born in Plains Township, Pennsylvania, Walsh had a brief though remarkable major league career...
's White Sox record of 1,732 career strikeouts.
Move to Giants
On November 30, he was traded to the San Francisco GiantsSan Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
along with Don Larsen
Don Larsen
Donald James Larsen is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. During a 15-year baseball career, he pitched from 1953-67 for seven different teams. Larsen is best known for pitching the sixth perfect game in baseball history, doing so in game 5 of the 1956 World Series...
in exchange for four players (three of them pitchers) who had spent most or all of 1961 in the minor leagues. Giants manager Alvin Dark
Alvin Dark
Alvin Ralph Dark , nicknamed "Blackie" and "The Swamp Fox", is a former shortstop and manager in Major League Baseball who played for five National League teams from 1946 to 1960. Named the major leagues' Rookie of the Year with the Boston Braves when he batted .322...
declared his intent to use Pierce as the ace of a young pitching staff that included developing talents such as Juan Marichal
Juan Marichal
Juan Antonio Marichal Sánchez is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. Playing for the San Francisco Giants most of his career, Marichal was known for his high leg kick, pinpoint control and intimidation tactics, which included aiming pitches directly at the opposing batters'...
, Gaylord Perry
Gaylord Perry
Gaylord Jackson Perry is a former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He pitched from 1962-1983 for eight different teams in his career. During a 22-year baseball career, Perry compiled 314 wins, 3,534 strikeouts, and a 3.11 earned run average...
and Mike McCormick
Mike McCormick (pitcher)
Michael Francis McCormick is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for the New York Giants from 1956 to 1958, then the San Francisco Giants from 1958 to 1970...
. Unlike the White Sox, the Giants featured a powerful offense which included Willie Mays
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays, Jr. is a retired American professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his...
, Willie McCovey
Willie McCovey
Willie Lee McCovey , nicknamed "Mac", "Big Mac", and "Stretch", is a former Major League Baseball first baseman. He played nineteen seasons for the San Francisco Giants, and three more for the San Diego Padres and Oakland Athletics, between and...
and Orlando Cepeda
Orlando Cepeda
Orlando Manuel Cepeda Pennes is a former Puerto Rican Major League Baseball first baseman.Cepeda was born to a poor family. His father, Pedro Cepeda, was a baseball player in Puerto Rico, which influenced his interest in the sport from a young age. His first contact with professional baseball was...
, and Pierce took advantage of the improved run support with his new team, winning his first eight starts before suffering a 4–3 loss on June 7. His first start on April 13 was a deeply rewarding one, after a rough spring training in which he recorded a 16.45 ERA. Facing the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
, he retired the first 13 batters and allowed only two hits in 7⅓ innings. The crowd of 23,755 gave him a roaring ovation, and he later said, "The cheers really got to me inside. Fans nowhere could have been more wonderful. I felt it way down deep."
The Giants were credited with pulling off the best deal of the year, with Larsen and Pierce – "the little southpaw chatterbox" – leading the team to the best record in the major leagues through early June. In a road game against the Reds on June 14, he allowed a leadoff double to Vada Pinson
Vada Pinson
Vada Edward Pinson, Jr. was an American center fielder and coach in Major League Baseball. Pinson played in the major leagues for 18 years, from 1958 through 1975, and his greatest seasons were with the Cincinnati Redlegs/Reds, for whom he played from 1958–68.Pinson combined power, speed and...
, but was then accidentally spiked in the left ankle while covering first base on a groundout by Don Blasingame
Don Blasingame
Don Lee Blasingame was a second baseman in Major League Baseball who played with the St. Louis Cardinals , San Francisco Giants , Cincinnati Reds , Washington Senators and Kansas City Athletics . Blasingame batted left-handed and threw right-handed...
, an injury which required 14 stitches. Pulled from the game after just ⅓ of an inning, he took the loss when Pinson later scored and the Giants were shut out 8–0. The injury likely cost him what would have been his eighth All-Star selection, and he did not return to the field until he lasted only three innings in a loss on July 15; he then made three relief appearances before picking up a win on August 2. But over the course of the year he proved to be a pitcher who thrived in blustery Candlestick Park, winning all 11 of his home starts as the Giants tied the Dodgers for the NL pennant with a record of 101–61, forcing a three-game playoff. Against the Dodgers on August 11 he earned his 200th career victory, with McCovey's three-run home run off eventual Cy Young winner Don Drysdale
Don Drysdale
Donald Scott "Don" Drysdale was a Major League Baseball player and Hall of Fame right-handed pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was one of the dominant starting pitchers of the 1960s, and became a radio and television broadcaster following his playing career...
giving the Giants a 5–4 win and ending Drysdale's 11-game win streak.
Pierce started the first game of the playoff against the Dodgers on October 1, opposing Sandy Koufax
Sandy Koufax
Sanford "Sandy" Koufax is a former left-handed baseball pitcher who played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers...
, and pushed his Candlestick record to 12–0 with a three-hit 8–0 victory in which only two Dodgers reached second base; he described it as "the most satisfying game I ever pitched." Former NL umpire Babe Pinelli
Babe Pinelli
Ralph Arthur "Babe" Pinelli, born Rinaldo Angelo Paolinelli , was an American third baseman and umpire in Major League Baseball. Born in San Francisco, his playing career was mostly with the Cincinnati Reds from 1922 to 1927. He also played with the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers...
, watching from the press box, remarked, "Look at him fire that fast one! He's been in so many clutch games that they're nothing to him!" After the Dodgers tied the series in Game 2, he came back in Game 3 on October 3 to pitch the ninth inning with a 6–4 lead, and retired all three batters he faced to clinch the Giants' first pennant in San Francisco, being mobbed by his teammates upon the final out. Against the Yankees in the World Series
1962 World Series
The 1962 World Series matched the defending American League and World Series champions New York Yankees against the National League champion San Francisco Giants, who had won their first NL pennant since 1954 and first since moving from New York in 1958, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in a...
, he started Game 3, and went into the bottom of the seventh inning with no score; but he allowed three runs in the seventh inning (one of them unearned after two outfield errors), and took the 3–2 loss. He came back with another brilliant outing in Game 6 at Candlestick Park against Whitey Ford, not allowing a baserunner until the fifth inning and finishing with a three-hit 5–2 victory to tie the Series at three games each; he only allowed three runners to reach second base, and only went to a three-ball count four times. Although his two Series appearances both came after his peak years were behind him, Pierce posted a career Series ERA of 1.89 in 19 innings.
Last seasons
Given his brilliance in home games in 1962, it was no surprise that Pierce was chosen to start the Giants' home opener in 1963, and he responded with the last shutout of his career – a 7–0 win over the Houston Colt .45sHouston Astros
The Houston Astros are a Major League Baseball team located in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the National League Central division. The Astros are expected to join the American League West division in 2013. Since , they have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, known as Enron Field...
. He achieved his Candlestick success despite often discarding one of his primary pitches, the low curve, saying, "How many left-handers come into this park and win with that pitch on a windy afternoon?" He instead altered the location of his pitches, throwing outside to left-handers to get them to hit to left field, taking advantage of the wind which kept the ball in the air longer; two-time AL batting champion Pete Runnels
Pete Runnels
James Edward "Pete" Runnels was a Major League Baseball infielder who played for the Washington Senators , Boston Red Sox and Houston Colt .45s . He batted left-handed and threw right-handed....
observed that Pierce pitched to him completely differently upon changing leagues. His home win streak ended in his next start on April 20, a 4–0 loss to the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
; he gradually moved to the bullpen over the course of the 1963 season, and was used almost exclusively in relief in 1964. On September 10, 1964 against the Dodgers, in what was later called "Billy the Kid's last fight," he made his first start in over a year and the last of his career, pitching 7⅔ innings and gaining a 5–1 win. He made one more appearance in relief on October 3, falling one strikeout short of 2,000, and announced his retirement the next day as the season came to an end. In an 18-season career, Pierce posted a 211–169 record with a 3.27 ERA in 3,306⅔ innings; only twice (1948 and 1963) did he post an ERA of 4.00 or higher, and never in a season of at least 100 innings. He completed 193 of his 432 starts, including 38 shutouts, and also had 32 saves among his 585 total games pitched. His 186 career victories with the White Sox rank fourth on the club's all-time list, behind Hall of Famers Ted Lyons, Red Faber
Red Faber
Urban Clarence "Red" Faber was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from through , playing his entire career for the Chicago White Sox. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964....
and Ed Walsh
Ed Walsh
Edward Augustine Walsh was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He holds the record for lowest career ERA, 1.82.-Baseball career:Born in Plains Township, Pennsylvania, Walsh had a brief though remarkable major league career...
. His White Sox record of 456 career games by a left-hander was broken by Wilbur Wood
Wilbur Wood
Wilbur Forrester Wood, Jr. is a former knuckleball pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, and most notably the Chicago White Sox, where he got 163 of his 164 wins...
in 1974.
Listed at 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) and 160 pounds (73 kg), Pierce was also among the more diminutive pitchers to enjoy great success, and is likely the smallest pitcher since the 1920s to win 200 games. Sherm Lollar
Sherm Lollar
John Sherman Lollar was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Cleveland Indians , New York Yankees , St. Louis Browns , and the Chicago White Sox...
, his catcher for ten years in Chicago, noted that his lack of size didn't diminish his velocity, noting, "He isn't too big, but he has wonderful coordination. And he sure is pretty to watch, the way he pumps and rocks and throws. Sometimes, when I'm not catching a game, I'll just go off to one side and watch him pitch." And Paul Richards noted, "Pierce is a perfectionist who has achieved maximum potential out of the equipment nature gave him." Pierce's size also belied his durability, as he was one of the few pitchers under 6 feet (1.8 m) in height to lead the league in complete games since the 1920s, with Ned Garver
Ned Garver
Ned Franklin Garver was an American League pitcher playing from 1948 to 1961 winning 129 games in his major league career. Most of his career was spent playing for perennial second-division teams like the St. Louis Browns and Kansas City Athletics.In 1951, Garver fashioned an outstanding season....
, Frank Lary
Frank Lary
Frank Strong Lary is a former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Detroit Tigers , New York Mets , Milwaukee Braves , and Chicago White Sox . He led the American League with 21 wins in 1956 and ranked second in the same category with 23 wins in 1961...
, Camilo Pascual
Camilo Pascual
Camilo Alberto Pascual is a former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. During an 18-year baseball career , he played for the Washington Senators , the second Washington Senators franchise, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Cleveland Indians...
and Fernando Valenzuela
Fernando Valenzuela
Fernando Valenzuela Anguamea is a Mexican former left-handed pitcher, most notably with the Los Angeles Dodgers.In 1981, the 20-year-old Valenzuela took Los Angeles by storm, winning his first 8 decisions and leading the Dodgers to the World Championship...
– all of whom were an inch taller and outweighed Pierce by at least 20 pounds – being the only other pitchers under six feet tall to lead the league more than once since the early 1930s. He remains the last pitcher to lead the AL in complete games three years in a row.
Retirement
Through the 1950s, Pierce generally spent the offseason helping his father run the family's Detroit pharmacy. He did not pursue a coaching career, even though a 1963 spring training poll of sportswriters had named him the top managerial prospect on the Giants. After leaving baseball, he was a Chicago White Sox television announcer/analyst in 1968, briefly a partner in OldsmobileOldsmobile
Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...
and Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
dealerships, a stockbroker, then worked as a sales and public relations representative for the Continental Envelope company from 1974 until retiring in 1997. He also worked as a White Sox scout, discovering 1983 Rookie of the Year
MLB Rookie of the Year Award
In Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is annually given to one player from each league as voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America . The award was established in 1940 by the Chicago chapter of the BBWAA, which selected an annual winner from 1940 through 1946...
Ron Kittle
Ron Kittle
Ronald Dale Kittle is a former left fielder and designated hitter in Major League Baseball who was known mostly for his home run power, being named the 1983 AL Rookie of the Year...
. The White Sox retired his number 19 in 1987; he is one of only eight players so honored. He was named to the Sox Team of the Century in 2000, and was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame
Michigan Sports Hall of Fame
The Michigan Sports Hall of Fame is a Hall of Fame to honor Michigan sports people. It was organized in 1954 by Michigan Lieutenant Governor Philip Hart, Michigan State University athletic director Biggie Munn, president of the Greater Michigan Foundation Donald Weeks, general manager of the...
in 2003. On October 4, 2005, Pierce threw out the first pitch
Ceremonial first pitch
The ceremonial first ball is a longstanding ritual of American baseball in which a guest of honor throws a ball to mark the end of pregame festivities and the start of the game. Originally, the guest threw a ball from his/her place in the grandstand to the pitcher or catcher of the home team...
before Game 1 of the AL Division Series
2005 American League Division Series
-Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vs. New York Yankees:†: Game was postponed due to rain on October 8-Game 1, October 4:U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, Illinois...
against the Red Sox (a 14–2 win), as the White Sox began the postseason which culminated in the 2005 World Series
2005 World Series
The 2005 World Series, the 101st Major League Baseball championship series, saw the American League champion Chicago White Sox sweep the National League champion Houston Astros four games to none in the best-of-seven-games series, winning their third championship and first since 1917.Home-field...
title – their first championship in 88 years. In 2006 he was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame. On July 23, 2007, the White Sox unveiled a statue in Pierce's honor in the center field concourse of U.S. Cellular Field
U.S. Cellular Field
U.S. Cellular Field is a baseball ballpark in Chicago, Illinois. Owned by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, it is the home of the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball's American League. The park opened for the 1991 season, after the White Sox had spent 81 years at old Comiskey Park...
, joining likenesses of Charles Comiskey
Charles Comiskey
Charles Albert "The Old Roman" Comiskey was a Major League Baseball player, manager and team owner. He was a key person in the formation of the American League and later owned the Chicago White Sox...
, Minnie Miñoso, Carlton Fisk
Carlton Fisk
Carlton Ernest Fisk , nicknamed "Pudge" or "The Commander", is a former Major League Baseball catcher. During a 24-year baseball career, he played for both the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox .Fisk was known by the nickname "Pudge" due to his 6'2", 220 lb frame...
, Luis Aparicio
Luis Aparicio
Luis Ernesto Aparicio Montiel is a former shortstop in professional baseball. His career in Major League Baseball spanned three decades, from through . Aparicio played for the Chicago White Sox , Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox . He batted and threw right-handed...
and Nellie Fox
Nellie Fox
Jacob Nelson Fox was a Major League Baseball second baseman for the Chicago White Sox. Fox was born in St. Thomas Township, Pennsylvania. He was selected as the MVP of the American League in...
. Sculptors had borrowed photographs and measured his face, leading him to comment, "I don't know why; it isn't the same measurement it was in the '50s." Adding that he hoped statues of Hall of Fame shortstop Luke Appling
Luke Appling
Lucius Benjamin Appling was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Chicago White Sox . He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964....
and pitcher Ted Lyons – both stars of the 1930s and 1940s – might be added in the future, he nonetheless admitted his excitement over the honor, saying, "I think of it more, in times to come, when my grandkids go out to the park, they'll see it. It's going to be there for years." The book "Then Ozzie Said to Harold...": The Best Chicago White Sox Stories Ever Told, coauthored by Pierce, was published in March 2008.
Pierce married Gloria McCreadie, who he had dated since high school, on October 22, 1949, and they have three children, William Reed (born July 6, 1953), Patricia "Patti" (born October 4, 1955) and Robert Walter (born July 16, 1958). Pierce told one interviewer of his wife, "She's not only a loyal fan, but a smart one, and there was the day I had to go to Marty Marion
Marty Marion
Martin Whiteford Marion was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played as a shortstop in Major League Baseball from to . Marion played with the St. Louis Cardinals for the majority of his career before ending with the St. Louis Browns as a player-manager...
– he was the White Sox manager then – and tell him that he'd better change our bunt sign because Gloria had stolen it, so very likely the opposition would be stealing it too." Although he had by then been traded to the Giants, following the 1962 season they relocated from Birmingham, Michigan
Birmingham, Michigan
Birmingham is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan and an affluent suburb of Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the population was 20,103...
to the southwest Chicago suburb of Evergreen Park
Evergreen Park, Illinois
Evergreen Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 25,044 at the 2009 census.-Geography:Evergreen Park is located at . The suburb is surrounded by the city of Chicago on three of its sides, while Oak Lawn and Hometown border it on the west...
. (For several years while he was with the White Sox, they had also maintained a summer residence in the south side's landmark Flamingo-on-the-Lake Apartments
Flamingo-on-the-Lake Apartments
The Flamingo-on-the-Lake Apartments, also known as the Flamingo Apartment Hotel, is a building located at 5500-5520 S. Shore Drive along Lake Michigan in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It was designed in the Classical Revival style...
, where teammate Jim Rivera
Jim Rivera
Manuel Joseph "Jim" Rivera is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and left-handed batter who played for the St. Louis Browns , Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Athletics...
and his family also lived.) Currently, at 81, he is a member of the White Sox community relations department, making frequent public appearances in the Chicago area. In addition, since 1993 he has headed the not-for-profit Chicago Baseball Cancer Charities, a cause he began supporting after Nellie Fox's death in 1975 at age 47.
Statistical evaluations
Pierce has been overlooked for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, even though his considerable credentials are comparable to many of the pitchers enshrined in Cooperstown. But when he became eligible in 1970, the Baseball Writers Association of AmericaBaseball Writers Association of America
The Baseball Writers' Association of America is a professional association for baseball journalists writing for daily newspapers, magazines and qualifying Web sites. The BBWAA was founded on October 14, 1908, to improve working conditions for sportswriters in the early part of the 20th century...
had elected only eight new members in 13 years, and Pierce was stuck in the voting behind such pitchers as Early Wynn, Bob Lemon and Hal Newhouser (each of whom was eventually elected). In the next few years, other pitching stars such as Sandy Koufax, Robin Roberts, Warren Spahn and Whitey Ford became eligible, likely also drawing votes away from Pierce, and he was dropped from the ballot after 1974. In discussing various criticisms of BBWAA voting over the years, Baseball Digest
Baseball Digest
Baseball Digest is a baseball magazine resource, published in Evanston, Illinois by Lakeside Publishing Company. It is the oldest and longest-running baseball magazine in the United States....
editor John Kuenster wrote in 2008, "The dissenters wonder, for example, how the writers can elect pitchers Whitey Ford (236–106), Jim Bunning (224–184) and Don Drysdale (209–166) to the Hall of Fame, while barely giving any recognition to Billy Pierce (211–169). In the five years he was on the Hall of Fame ballot (1970–1974), Pierce never drew more than two percent of the votes cast, yet his record compiled mostly with undistinguished White Sox teams deserved much more respect from the voters. In one-on-one competition, he actually beat Ford more times than Ford beat him, even though Whitey was backed up by stronger teams." (Bunning was actually elected by the Veterans Committee
Veterans Committee
The Veterans Committee is the popular name of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee to Consider Managers, Umpires, Executives and Long-Retired Players, a committee of the U.S...
in 1996, although he did far better in BBWAA balloting than Pierce, coming within four votes of election in 1988.) Of the top ten left-handers in career strikeouts at the time of his retirement, Pierce is the only one who has not been elected to the Hall:
| Left-hander | Strikeouts |
|---|---|
| Warren Spahn Warren Spahn Warren Edward Spahn was an American Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in the National League. He won 20 games each in 13 seasons, including a 23-7 record when he was age 42... |
2,493 |
| Rube Waddell Rube Waddell George Edward Waddell was an American southpaw pitcher in Major League Baseball. In his thirteen-year career he played for the Louisville Colonels , Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Orphans in the National League, and the Philadelphia Athletics and St. Louis Browns in the American League... |
2,316 |
| Lefty Grove Lefty Grove Robert Moses "Lefty" Grove was a professional baseball pitcher. After having success in the minor leagues during the early 1920s, Grove became a star in Major League Baseball with the American League's Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Red Sox, winning 300 games in his 17-year MLB career... |
2,266 |
| Eddie Plank Eddie Plank Edward Stewart Plank , nicknamed "Gettysburg Eddie", was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He is the first left-handed pitcher to win 200 games and then 300 games, and now ranks third in all-time wins among left-handers with 326 career victories and first all-time in career shutouts by a... |
2,246 |
| Billy Pierce | 1,999 |
| Hal Newhouser Hal Newhouser Harold "Prince Hal" Newhouser was an American pitcher for Major League Baseball who played 17 seasons from 1939 to 1955, mostly with the Detroit Tigers of the American League... |
1,796 |
| Whitey Ford Whitey Ford Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who spent his entire 18-year career with the New York Yankees. He was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.-Early life and career:... |
1,730 |
| Sandy Koufax Sandy Koufax Sanford "Sandy" Koufax is a former left-handed baseball pitcher who played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers... |
1,697 |
| Carl Hubbell Carl Hubbell Carl Owen Hubbell was an American baseball player. He was a member of the New York Giants in the National League from 1928 to 1943, and remained on the Giants' payroll for the rest of his life, long after their move to San Francisco.Twice voted the National League's Most Valuable Player, Hubbell... |
1,677 |
| Rube Marquard Rube Marquard Richard William "Rube" Marquard was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball in the 1910s and early 1920s... |
1,593 |
Pierce's average of 5.62 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched during the 1950s was the highest by any pitcher with at least 1,000 innings in the decade, with his average of 7.96 hits per nine innings ranking third (behind Ford and Wynn) and his 3.06 ERA also ranking third (behind Ford and Spahn). His final strikeout total ranked 15th among all pitchers when he retired; of the 24 pitchers who had at least 1,750 strikeouts at that time, Bobo Newsom
Bobo Newsom
Louis Norman Newsom was an American starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. Also known as "Buck", Newsom played for a number of teams from 1929 through 1953...
and Tony Mullane
Tony Mullane
Anthony John "Tony" Mullane , nickamed "Count" and "The Apollo of the Box", was an Irish Major League Baseball player who pitched for seven teams during his 13-season career...
are the only others who have not been elected to the Hall.
When comparing Pierce with the 13 left-handers in the Hall (the above nine as well as Herb Pennock
Herb Pennock
Herbert Jefferis Pennock was a left-handed Major League Baseball pitcher best known for his time spent with the star-studded New York Yankee teams of the mid to late 1920s and early 1930s. Pennock won two World Series championships with the Red Sox and then four World Series championships with the...
, Eppa Rixey
Eppa Rixey
Eppa Rixey Jr. , nicknamed "Jephtha", was an American left-handed pitcher who played 21 seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds in Major League Baseball from 1912 to 1933...
, Lefty Gomez
Lefty Gómez
Vernon Louis "Lefty" Gomez was an American left-handed major league pitcher who played in the American League for the New York Yankees between 1930 and 1942. Considered one of the great pitchers of the day, Gomez was a seven-time All-Star and a five-time World Series Champion with the Yankees...
and Steve Carlton
Steve Carlton
Steven Norman Carlton , nicknamed "Lefty", is a former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He pitched from 1965-1988 for six different teams in his career, but it is his time with the Philadelphia Phillies where he received his greatest acclaim as a professional and won four Cy Young Awards...
), he consistently stands in the middle of the group, ranking ninth in wins, seventh in strikeouts, games pitched, starts and shutouts, and eighth in innings.
Pierce's seven All-Star selections tie him for the most among eligible pitchers not in the Hall, along with Lee Smith
Lee Smith (baseball)
Lee Arthur Smith is an American right-handed former baseball pitcher who played 18 years in Major League Baseball for eight teams. Pitching primarily for the Chicago Cubs, with whom he spent his first eight seasons, Lee served mostly as a relief pitcher during his career...
and Dave Stieb
Dave Stieb
David Andrew Stieb [STEEB] is a former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays.-Playing career:Born in Santa Ana, California, Stieb played varsity baseball at Southern Illinois University as an outfielder...
; Vida Blue
Vida Blue
Vida Rochelle Blue Jr. is a former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. During a 17-year career, he pitched for the Oakland Athletics , San Francisco Giants , and Kansas City Royals He won the American League Cy Young award and Most Valuable Player Award in 1971...
and Jack Morris
Jack Morris
John Scott "Jack" Morris is a former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher. He played in 18 big league seasons between 1977 and 1994, mainly for the Detroit Tigers, and won 254 games throughout his career...
are the only other eligible pitchers to have started three All-Star Games. Over his three All-Star starts (each lasting three innings), Pierce allowed only one run and four hits in nine innings; his career All-Star record included a 3.38 ERA with 12 strikeouts in 10⅔ innings. Pierce and Blue are also the only eligible pitchers who have won 200 games and been named Pitcher of the Year
The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award
Before there was a Cy Young Award, there was the Pitcher of the Year Award, established by The Sporting News in 1944, though no awards were given in 1946 or 1947. The award is given annually to the pitcher in each league judged by TSN baseball experts as having had the most outstanding season...
by The Sporting News more than once.
Pierce had a record of 24–24 in 54 career regular-season starts against Hall of Famers: 7–7 vs. Whitey Ford
Whitey Ford
Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who spent his entire 18-year career with the New York Yankees. He was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.-Early life and career:...
, 4–7 vs. Early Wynn
Early Wynn
Early Wynn Jr. , nicknamed "Gus", was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. During a 25-year baseball career, he pitched for the Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox...
, 7–3 vs. Bob Lemon
Bob Lemon
Robert Granville Lemon was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976....
, 2–3 vs. Bob Feller
Bob Feller
On December 8, 1941, Feller enlisted in the Navy, volunteering immediately for combat service, becoming the first Major League Baseball player to do so following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7. Feller served as Gun Captain aboard the USS Alabama, and missed four seasons during his service...
, 1–1 vs. Hal Newhouser
Hal Newhouser
Harold "Prince Hal" Newhouser was an American pitcher for Major League Baseball who played 17 seasons from 1939 to 1955, mostly with the Detroit Tigers of the American League...
, 0–2 vs. Jim Bunning
Jim Bunning
James Paul David "Jim" Bunning is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher and politician.During a 17-year baseball career, he pitched from 1955 to 1971, most notably with the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies. When he retired, he had the second-highest total of career...
, 1–0 vs. Don Drysdale
Don Drysdale
Donald Scott "Don" Drysdale was a Major League Baseball player and Hall of Fame right-handed pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was one of the dominant starting pitchers of the 1960s, and became a radio and television broadcaster following his playing career...
, Sandy Koufax
Sandy Koufax
Sanford "Sandy" Koufax is a former left-handed baseball pitcher who played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers...
and Hoyt Wilhelm
Hoyt Wilhelm
James Hoyt Wilhelm was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985....
, and 0–1 vs. Satchel Paige
Satchel Paige
Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige was an American baseball player whose pitching in the Negro leagues and in Major League Baseball made him a legend in his own lifetime...
. (Pierce had no decision in his lone start against Warren Spahn
Warren Spahn
Warren Edward Spahn was an American Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in the National League. He won 20 games each in 13 seasons, including a 23-7 record when he was age 42...
; he also earned no decision in two All-Star starts against Robin Roberts.)
Pierce struck out ten or more batters eleven times in his career, and achieved his career high of 12 strikeouts four times; but due to characteristically low run support, he won only one of those four games, a 5–0 three-hit shutout of Kansas City on September 25, 1955 in which he recorded his 1,000th career strikeout. He also recorded 12 strikeouts in a 4–2, 12-inning loss to the Philadelphia Athletics on July 24, 1953, in a 10-inning scoreless tie against the Tigers on May 9, 1954, and in a 3–1 loss at Baltimore on May 23, 1961 in which he pitched only six innings. In 22 career starts in which he pitched into extra innings, Pierce had a record of 8–11 despite a 1.85 ERA. In his 41 complete-game losses (10 of which were against the Yankees), he compiled a 2.67 ERA with 231 strikeouts in 368 innings, a rate slightly higher than his career average.
He was also a highly effective pitcher when used in a relief
Relief pitcher
A relief pitcher or reliever is a baseball or softball pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed due to injury, ineffectiveness, fatigue, ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as being substituted by a pinch hitter...
role, recording 32 career saves (possibly 34) compared to only 9 blown saves, a success rate of nearly 80%. In his 14 career wins in relief (none of which resulted from a blown save), he averaged 3⅓ innings pitched and a 0.77 ERA.
Using MVP voting results, historical surveys and sabermetric
Sabermetrics
Sabermetrics is the specialized analysis of baseball through objective, empirical evidence, specifically baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. The term is derived from the acronym SABR, which stands for the Society for American Baseball Research...
analysis, historian Bill Deane projected in 1989 that Pierce would have won the American League Cy Young Award
Cy Young Award
The Cy Young Award is an honor given annually in baseball to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball , one each for the American League and National League . The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955...
in 1953 and 1956 if it had been given at the time; the award was not created until 1956 (when the National League's Don Newcombe
Don Newcombe
Donald Newcombe , nicknamed "Newk", is an American former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher who played for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers , Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians .Until 2011 when Detroit Tigers Pitcher Justin Verlander did it, Newcombe was the only baseball...
won the award by unanimous vote), and awards were not given for both leagues until 1967. In 1988, baseball historian and statistician Bill James
Bill James
George William “Bill” James is a baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics...
chose Pierce as having had the tenth greatest career value among left-handers, ahead of six Hall of Famers.
See also
- Top 100 strikeout pitchers of all timeTop 100 strikeout pitchers of all timeIn baseball, a strikeout occurs when the batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. Strikeouts are associated with dominance on the part of the pitcher and failure on the part of the batter....
- List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
- List of Major League Baseball wins champions
- List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
- List of Major League Baseball strikeout champions
External links
- BaseballLibrary - profile, career highlights and SABR bibliography
- White Sox Interactive interview (c. 2002)
- Baseball Digest: Former pitcher Billy Pierce: He ranked among the best of his era - June 2002 interview
- Vintage Cards
- Gallery of April 2008 photos at book signing
