Lawrence Sherry (July 25, 1935 – December 17, 2006) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player and coach. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

as a right-handed

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weat ...

from 1958 to 1968, most prominently as a member of the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

and Detroit Tigers. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1959 World Series as the Dodgers won their first championship since relocating from

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

just two years earlier. After his playing career, Sherry managed in the minor leagues before serving as a major league coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the California Angels.

Early life

Sherry was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, and was Jewish.Larry Sherry Stats
Baseball-Reference.com He was born with clubfeet, for which he needed surgery as an infant and wore special shoes. He attended Fairfax High School in Los Angeles. His brother

Norm Sherry Norman Burt Sherry (July 16, 1931 – March 8, 2021) was an American baseball catcher, manager, and coach who played five seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets from 1959 to 1963. He bat ...

also played in Major League Baseball (MLB).

Baseball career

From Los Angeles, Sherry made his debut with his hometown Dodgers on April 17, – just their third game after moving west. Adding to the pressure, the game was played on the road against their hated rivals, the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

, who had also relocated from New York City. Sherry had a brief outing, facing four batters without recording an out, and appeared in only four more games all year. But he returned with a solid season in , winning 7 games with only two losses, with an

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

of 2.19. He was named

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of the 1959 World Series, in which the Dodgers defeated the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

in 6 games, and also received the

Babe Ruth Award The Babe Ruth Award is given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) player with the best performance in the postseason. The award, created in honor of Babe Ruth, was first awarded in 1949 to New York Yankee pitcher, Joe Page, the MVP of the W ...

. Sherry completed all four Dodger victories during the Series, winning two of them and

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the two others, and had a 0.71 ERA in innings. In he won a career-high 14 games, finished 38 games (4th in the league), pitched in 57 games (6th in the league), and even received support for MVP, coming in 20th in the voting. Larry Sherry - Los Angeles Dodgers - 1961

Larry Sherry - Los Angeles Dodgers - 1961

In 1961 he was 5th in the NL in saves (15) and games finished (34), and 9th in games pitched (53). In 1962 he was 7th in saves (11) and games pitched (58). He was traded to the Tigers for

Lou Johnson Louis Brown Johnson (September 22, 1934 – October 1, 2020), nicknamed Sweet Lou, was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. Johnson's professional baseball career lasted for 17 seasons, and included 8 years in the majors: parts of 1960� ...

and cash just before the season, and spent three and a half years with his new club, earning a career-best 20 saves in 1966, 3rd-best in the AL. He was traded to the Houston Astros for

Jim Landis James Henry Landis (March 9, 1934 – October 7, 2017) was an American professional baseball player. Landis played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a center fielder on six teams from 1957 through 1967. While playing eight seasons for the Chicago ...

for the second half of the 1967 season, and ended his career with three games for the California Angels in . Sherry retired with a record of 53–44, 606 strikeouts, 82 saves and a 3.67 ERA in 416 games and innings. Through 2010, he was 5th all-time in career games (directly behind Dave Roberts), 8th in strikeouts (directly behind

Barney Pelty Barney Pelty (September 10, 1880 – May 24, 1939), was an American Major League Baseball pitcher known as "the Yiddish Curver" because he was one of the first Jewish baseball players in the American League. he is in the top-ten for his career o ...

), and 9th in wins (directly behind Barry Latman) among Jewish major league baseball players.

Coaching career

After his pitching career, Sherry managed in the farm systems of the White Sox (1970–1972) and Pittsburgh Pirates and coached in the Dodgers' minor league organization. He was the Pirates' MLB pitching coach in 1977 and 1978, then held the same post with the California Angels in 1979 and 1980.

Accolades

In a 1976 '' Esquire'' magazine article, sportswriter Harry Stein published an "All Time All-Star Argument Starter," consisting of five ethnic baseball teams. Sherry was the relief pitcher on Stein's

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

team. 'Esquire'', Vol. 86 (July, 1976), 74–75, 115. In 1993 Sherry was inducted into the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distinguished themselves ...

Death

On December 17, 2006, Sherry died at his home in Mission Viejo, California, after a long battle with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

References

External links

*
SABR biographyLarry Sherry
- Baseballbiography.com
MLB Obituary
December 20, 2006, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherry, Larry 1935 births 2006 deaths Asheville Tourists managers Bakersfield Indians players Baseball players from Los Angeles California Angels coaches California Angels players Deaths from cancer in California Detroit Tigers players Fairfax High School (Los Angeles) alumni Fort Worth Cats players Great Falls Electrics players Hawaii Islanders players Houston Astros players Jewish American baseball coaches Jewish American baseball managers Jewish American baseball players Jewish Major League Baseball players Los Angeles Dodgers players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball pitching coaches Mobile White Sox players Newport News Dodgers players Pittsburgh Pirates coaches Pueblo Dodgers players Santa Barbara Dodgers players Seattle Angels players Spokane Indians players Sportspeople from Mission Viejo, California Sportspeople from Orange County, California St. Paul Saints (AA) players Tucson Toros players World Series Most Valuable Player Award winners 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews