(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Ron Perranoski...
(1936 - 2020) |
 Former Los Angeles Dodgers relief-great and Pitching Coach Ron Perranoski passed away
Nederlands
 VERO BEACH, Florida (USA) -
Lefthanded pitcher Ron Perranoski, who was a great and successful reliever of Los Angeles Dodgers and a longtime Pitching Coach of the club, passed away on Friday (October 2) at age 84 following a long illness.
Also on Friday, legendary St. Louis Cardinals-pitcher and Hall of Famer Bob Gibson passed away.
For the Dodgers, it was the third time in a week that the club lost a former player of its organization.
Outfielder Jay Johnstone passed away last Saturday (September 26) at age 74.
Johnstone played 20 seasons in the Major League for eight clubs, including four with Los Angeles (1980-1982, 1985).
Last Wednesday (September 30), outfielder Lou Johnson passed away at age 86.
In his 8-year Major League-career, Johnson played for Los Angeles in 1965-1967 when he was a teammate of Perranoski.
Johnson worked for the Dodgers for 40 years.
Ronald Peter Perranoski was born on April 1, 1936 in Paterson, New Jersey.
While studying at Michigan State University, Perranoski played baseball and was signed by the Chicago Cubs in June 1958.
He played in the club's Double-A team in 1958 and 1959, then was traded to Los Angeles Dodgers in April 1960.
In that year, he pitched for the Triple-A team of the Dodgers.
Ron Perranoski then made his Major League-debut in 1961 pitching for Los Angeles Dodgers for whom he was a successful reliever through 1967.
In his first season, he was 7-5 with six saves, pitching in 53 games.
That includes the lone start in his career.
In 1962, Perranoski led the Major League with 70 pitching-appearances.
He then led the National League in appearances in 1963 (69) and 1967 (70).
He also made 72 pitching-appearances during the 1964 season and then led the National League by pitching in 52 games as a closer.
In 1963, Perranoski won 16 games as a reliever and led the Major League with an .842 win-loss percentage, as he was 16-3.
In that season, his ERA was 1.67 and he also earned 21 saves.
After the 1963 season, he finished in fourth place in the voting for the Most Valuable Player Award.
In November 1967, Perranoski was part of a 5-player trade between Los Angeles and Minnesota Twins.
He pitched for Minnesota in 1968-1971 and was a teammate of pitcher Bert Blyleven in 1970 and 1971.
At Minnesota, the lefthander also was an effective closer.
He led the Major League with 31 saves in 1969, then led the American League with 34 saves in 1970.
Halfway the 1971 season, at age 35, Detroit Tigers took over Perranoski's contract from Minnesota in July.
In the remainder of the season, he pitched in relief for Detroit in 11 games, earning two saves.
The next season, Perranoski threw in 17 games for Detroit, but was released in July.
Seven days later, he returned to Los Angeles Dodgers, who then signed him and for whom he pitched in nine games, being the winning pitcher in two of them.
But after the 1972, he also was released by Los Angeles.
In April of the following year, California Angels signed the reliever.
In 1973, Perranoski pitched in only eight games for California and was 0-2.
After the 1973 season, Perranoski was released again and retired.
In thirteen Major League-seasons, Ron Perranoski pitched in 737 games, all of them in relief, except for one start.
Perranoski was a closer in 458 games and earned 178 saves.
The lefthander was 79-74 with a 2.79 ERA and struckout 687 batters in 1.174 2/3 inning.
Ron Perranoski, nicknamed 'Perry', pitched in three World Series for Los Angeles Dodgers.
In 1963 and 1965, Los Angeles Dodgers won the title, defeating New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins, respectively.
In 1966, Los Angeles lost the Series against Baltimore Orioles.
While playing for Los Angeles Dodgers, amongst his teammates were wellknown players such as Tommy Davis, Willie Davis, Ron Fairly, Jim Gilliam, Gil Hodges, Frank Howard, Lou Johnson, Jim Lefebvre, Wally Moon, Wes Parker, John Roseboro, Bill Skowron, Duke Snider, Maury Wills and Don Zimmer and pitchers Roger Craig, Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Claude Osteen, Johnny Podres, Bill Singer, Don Sutton and Stan Williams.
After his playing career, Perranoski remained active in baseball.
First, he was the Minor League Pitching Coordinator for Los Angeles Dodgers in 1973-1980.
Hereafter, Perranoski was the Pitching Coach of the Major League-team for fourteen seasons (1981-1994).
In those seasons, he played an important role in the development of Dodger pitching-greats Orel Hershiser and Fernando Valenzuela.
In 1995, he was the Minor League Pitching Coordinator in the organization of the San Francisco Giants.
Two years later (1997), Perranoski became the Bench Coach in the Major League-staff of the Giants, then was the team's Pitching Coach in 1998-1999.
In 2000, the former pitcher became a Special Assistant of Brian Sabean, who was the Giants General Manager in 1997-2014.
In that span, San Francisco won the World Series three times (2010, 2012, 2014).
Ron Perranoski was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.
Stan Kasten, the President and CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers, said:
,,Ron Perranoski played a major role in the success of the Dodgers as a great reliever and a mentor to many great young pitchers over his 30-year career in the organization''.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to the family of Ron Perranoski and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(October 4)
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