Don Drysdale facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Don Drysdale |
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Drysdale in 1961
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| Pitcher | |||
| Born: July 23, 1936 Van Nuys, California |
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| Died: July 3, 1993 (aged 56) Montréal, Quebec, Canada |
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| debut | |||
| April 17, 1956, for the Brooklyn Dodgers | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| August 5, 1969, for the Los Angeles Dodgers | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Win–loss record | 209–166 | ||
| Earned run average | 2.95 | ||
| Strikeouts | 2,486 | ||
| Teams | |||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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 Baseball Hall of Fame |
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| Induction | 1984 | ||
| Vote | 78.41% (tenth ballot) | ||
Donald Scott Drysdale (born July 23, 1936 – died July 3, 1993) was an American professional baseball player. He was also a television sports commentator. Drysdale was a right-handed pitcher for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball. Drysdale was added to the Hall of Fame in 1984.
Drysdale won the 1962 Cy Young Award. This award goes to the best pitcher in baseball. In 1968, he set a record by pitching six straight shutouts. A shutout means the other team scores no runs. He also pitched 58+2⁄3 straight scoreless innings.
Don Drysdale was one of the best pitchers from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s. He was very tall, standing 6 feet 5 inches. He was known for throwing pitches close to batters. This made them uncomfortable and helped him get them out. After he stopped playing, he became a radio and television announcer.
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Early Life and School
Drysdale was born in Van Nuys, Los Angeles. He went to Van Nuys High School. A famous actor, Robert Redford, was one of his classmates there.
A Star Pitcher
Drysdale played for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers. He and Sandy Koufax were an amazing pitching team. They played together in the late 1950s and 1960s. Many people think they were one of the best pitching duos ever.
Fans called Drysdale "Big D." He used special pitches to make batters nervous. He would throw a brushback pitch (a pitch thrown inside, close to the batter) and a powerful sidearm fastball. This was similar to another famous pitcher, Bob Gibson. Drysdale hit 154 batters with pitches during his career. This is still a record in the National League.
Drysdale was also a good hitter for a pitcher. In 14 seasons, he had 218 hits. He also hit 29 home runs and had 113 RBI (runs batted in). Sometimes, he even played as a pinch-hitter.
In 1962, Drysdale won 25 games. He also won the Cy Young Award that year. In 1963, he struck out 251 batters. He helped the Dodgers win Game 3 of the 1963 World Series against the Yankees. The Dodgers won that game 1–0 at Dodger Stadium.
In 1965, Drysdale was the only Dodger to hit over .300. He also hit seven home runs, which tied his own record for pitchers. That year, he won 23 games. He helped the Dodgers win their third World Championship in Los Angeles.
In 1968, Drysdale made baseball history. He pitched six shutouts in a row. He also pitched 58+2⁄3 straight scoreless innings. This record was later broken by another Dodger pitcher, Orel Hershiser, 20 years later. However, Hershiser did not pitch six complete game shutouts in a row like Drysdale.
Drysdale finished his career with 209 wins. He had 2,486 strikeouts and 49 shutouts. He was put into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984. His jersey number, 53, was retired by the Dodgers on July 1, 1984. This means no other Dodger player will ever wear that number. When he retired, Drysdale was the last player on the Dodgers who had also played for the team when they were in Brooklyn.
He won the National League Player of the Month award three times. He won in June 1959, July 1960, and May 1968.
In 1965, Sandy Koufax chose not to pitch the first game of the World Series. This was because it was Yom Kippur, a special Jewish holiday. Drysdale pitched instead. He gave up seven runs in a short time. When the manager, Walter Alston, came to take him out of the game, Drysdale joked, "I bet right now you wish I was Jewish, too." The Dodgers lost that game. But they still went on to win the World Series 4 games to 3.
In 1966, Drysdale and Koufax worked together to get better contracts. They both signed deals just before the season started. These contracts made them the first pitchers to earn more than $100,000 a year.
Life After Baseball
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| Donald Drysdale's number 53 was retired by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1984. |
A sore shoulder made Drysdale retire from playing in 1969. The next year, he started a new career as a broadcaster. He worked in radio and television for the rest of his life.
Drysdale hosted a radio show called Radio Baseball Cards. He also interviewed National League players for a series called Baseball Talk.
Family Life
In 1958, Drysdale married Ginger Dubberly. They had a daughter named Kelly. They later divorced in 1982. On November 1, 1986, he married basketball player Ann Meyers. She became Ann Meyers-Drysdale. Don and Ann had three children together: Don Junior (DJ), Darren, and Drew.
In 1990, Drysdale wrote a book about his life. It was called Once a Bum, Always a Dodger.
His Passing
Don Drysdale passed away on July 3, 1993, in Montreal, Quebec. He was 56 years old. He died from a heart attack. He was found in his hotel room after he didn't show up for a bus ride to the stadium. The Dodgers were scheduled to play the Montreal Expos that day.
Images for kids
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Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax working on a truck during U.S. Army Reserve training.
