Two Seconds to Spare

[weams]

I know they Orioles have flirted with these late deadlines in their history.

 

[O-The-Memories]

That is a crazy story! Changed the course of baseball history.

[weams]

16 minutes ago, O-The-Memories said:

That is a crazy story! Changed the course of baseball history.

I really like it. Really. 

[OFFNY]

36 minutes ago, O-The-Memories said:

 

That is a crazy story !!! Changed the course of baseball history.

 

o

 

As did Ron Guidry's wife.

 

One year prior to his first full season in the Majors, he was going to quit baseball because he was tired of continually getting sent to AAA instead of the Majors. He was in the car with his wife, driving west towards his home in Louisiana (instead of north, towards the Yankees' AAA Affiliate in Syracuse.) Not  a word was said between them in the first hour of the car ride, as they both knew what was happening. At that point his wife said to him, "Don't do something that you'll regret the rest of your life." 

Guidry didn't say a word when she said that to him ........ he simply got off of the highway towards Louisiana, and headed the car north towards Syracuse. 

One year later in 1977, he had a breakthrough season (16-7 with a 2.82 ERA, 9 Complete Games, and 5 Shutouts.)

The year after that (1978), he had a Koufax-like season of 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA, 248 Strikeouts, 16 Complete Games, and 9 Shutouts.

 

An interesting side-note is that the only reason why Guidry got his first start in 1977 was because Mike Torrez' plane did not arrive in time for him to pitch in the game against the Mariners on April 29th (he had just been acquired from the Athletics.) So Billy Martin had to go with a bullpen arm as an emergency starter ......... he went with Guidry, who proceeded to throw 8.33 innings of shutout ball that night, and he remained in the rotation for the rest of that season (and for many more.)

 

o

[Tx Oriole]

1 hour ago, weams said:

I know they Orioles have flirted with these late deadlines in their history.

 

Sure glad he made it to Houston.