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

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player and coach. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

as a right-handed

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

and

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

. He was named the

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of the 1959 World Series as the Dodgers won their first championship since relocating from

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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 The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

and the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

Early life

Sherry was born into a Jewish family in

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.Larry Sherry Stats
Baseball-Reference.com His parents, Harry Scharaga Sherry and Mildred "Minnie" (Walman) Sherry, were children of Russian Jewish immigrants who escaped separately from antisemitic

pogrom A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...

s. Some of his relatives who settled in Europe were killed in

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. His paternal grandparents, Max and Sarah Scharaga, came to the United States in 1898, and around 1920, his father changed their surname to Sherry. Larry 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 also played in Major League Baseball (MLB). The two played together on the

from 1959 to 1962, and occasionally formed a battery, with Larry pitching and Norm catching.SABR, Sherry, David E Skelton

Retrieved Mar 21, 2021

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. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

, 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 Winning may refer to: * Victory Film * Winning (film), ''Winning'' (film), a 1969 movie starring Paul Newman * ''Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman'', a 2015 documentary by Adam Carolla and Nate Adams Music * ''Winning'', an album by Ten Fo ...

7 games with only two losses, with an earned run average of 2.19. He was named MVP 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) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

in 6 games, and also received the Babe Ruth Award. 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 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 The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

for Jim Landis for the second half of the 1967 season, and ended his career with three games for the

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

Coaching career

After his pitching career, Sherry managed in the

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s of the White Sox (1970–1972) and

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

in 1979 and 1980.

Accolades

In 1993 Sherry was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Sherry marketed a popular 'Larry Sherry Pitch Back' in the early 1960's that returned a pitched ball.

Death

On December 17, 2006, Sherry died at his home in

Mission Viejo, California Mission Viejo ( ; language change, corruption of ; ) is a Commuter town, commuter city in the Saddleback Valley in Orange County, California, United States. Mission Viejo is considered one of the largest Planned community, master-planned commu ...

, after a long battle with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

References

External links

*
SABR biographyMLB Obituary
December 20, 2006, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherry, Larry 1935 births 2006 deaths Jews from California American people of Russian-Jewish descent 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 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 Baseball players from Mission Viejo, California Baseball players 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 People from Fairfax, Los Angeles 20th-century American sportsmen