Drysdale, Donald S.
Baseball
b. July 23, 1936, Van Nuys, CA
d. July 3, 1993
A 6-foot-6, 216-pound right-hander who could terrorize right-handed hitters with his sidearm fastball, Drysdale spent his entire 14-year major league career with the Dodgers.
He joined them in 1956, when they were in Brooklyn, and went with them to Los Angeles in 1958. Drysdale led the league with 4 shutouts and 242 strikeouts in 1959 and was the strikeout leader again with 246 the following season.
His finest year was 1962, when he won the Cy Young Award with a 25-9 record, 2.83 ERA, and 232 strikeouts in 314 innings, leading the league in victories, strikeouts, and innings pitched. He had only one other 20-victory season, a 23-12 mark in 1965, but undoubtedly would have had more if he'd pitched for a team that scored more runs than the weak-hitting Dodgers.
Drysdale teamed with Sandy Koufax to form one of the best righty-lefty pitching combinations in history. He and Koufax staged a joint holdout after the 1965 season, asking for salaries of $175,000 apiece. At the time, only Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays earned more than $100,000. Drysdale finally signed for $110,000, while Koufax got $130,000.
On May 14, 1968, Drysdale beat the Chicago Cubs 1-0. It was the beginning of a streak of 6 consecutive shutouts and 58 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings, breaking Walter Johnson's record of 56. (Drysdale's record was broken by another Dodger, Orel Hershiser, in 1988.)
The streak was aided by a controversial call. In the ninth inning of a game against the San Francisco Giants, the Giants loaded the bases with no one out and a Drysdale pitch nicked a hitter, apparently forcing in a run. But umpire Harry Wendlestedt ruled that the hitter hadn't made an attempt to avoid the pitch. Drysdale then retired him and the next two hitters without giving up a run, stretching his streak to 45 innings.
Drysdale retired after the 1969 season and became a broadcaster for the Dodgers. He died of a heart attack while in Montreal to do a game.
He had a career record of 209 wins and 166 losses, with an ERA of 2.95. Drysdale struck out 2,486 hitters and walked 855 in 3,432 innings.