1920
Born August 21, 1920
Brush Prairie, WA, USA
Gerry Staley Marquee
b. August 21, 1920 · St. Louis Cardinals 1947–1954, Cincinnati Redlegs 1955, New York Yankees 1955–1956, Chicago White Sox 1956–1961, Kansas City Athletics 1961, Detroit Tigers 1961
Gerry Staley pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals for his first eight seasons before moving through Cincinnati, the Yankees, the White Sox, Detroit and Kansas City, retiring in 1961.
He went 134-111 with a 3.70 earned run average over 1,981 innings pitched, saving 61 games in relief work that dominated the second half of his career, with 727 strikeouts across a fifteen-season career.
His three All-Star selections came in 1952, 1953 and 1960, bookending a career that shifted from starting to relief.
He was born in Brush Prairie, Washington, on August 21, 1920, and batted and threw right-handed. His death came on January 2, 2008, at 87 years old, decades removed from his last professional pitch.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star selection | 3 | 1952, 1953, 1960 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | STL | 18 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| 1948 | STL | 31 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .222 |
| 1949 | STL | 45 | 41 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 12 | 0 | .122 |
| 1950 | STL | 42 | 55 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 0 | .145 |
| 1951 | STL | 42 | 81 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 0 | .160 |
| 1952 | STL | 35 | 85 | 6 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 0 | .153 |
| 1953 | STL | 40 | 78 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 21 | 0 | .103 |
| 1954 | STL | 48 | 36 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 0 | .139 |
| 1955 | CIN/NYY | 32 | 36 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 0 | .056 |
| 1956 | CHW/NYY | 27 | 33 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 | .091 |
| 1957 | CHW | 47 | 22 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 0 | .045 |
| 1958 | CHW | 50 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | .000 |
| 1959 | CHW | 67 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | .154 |
| 1960 | CHW | 64 | 17 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | .235 |
| 1961 | CHW/DET/KCA | 52 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| Career | — | 640 | 525 | 35 | 66 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 38 | 116 | 0 | .126 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | STL | 1 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 29.1 | 33 | 9 | 8 | 14 | 2.76 |
| 1948 | STL | 4 | 4 | 31 | 3 | 0 | 52.0 | 61 | 40 | 21 | 23 | 6.92 |
| 1949 | STL | 10 | 10 | 45 | 17 | 6 | 171.1 | 154 | 52 | 41 | 55 | 2.73 |
| 1950 | STL | 13 | 13 | 42 | 22 | 3 | 169.2 | 201 | 94 | 61 | 62 | 4.99 |
| 1951 | STL | 19 | 13 | 42 | 30 | 3 | 227.0 | 244 | 96 | 74 | 67 | 3.81 |
| 1952 | STL | 17 | 14 | 35 | 33 | 0 | 239.2 | 238 | 87 | 52 | 93 | 3.27 |
| 1953 | STL | 18 | 9 | 40 | 32 | 4 | 230.0 | 243 | 102 | 54 | 88 | 3.99 |
| 1954 | STL | 7 | 13 | 48 | 20 | 2 | 155.2 | 198 | 91 | 47 | 50 | 5.26 |
| 1955 | CIN/NYY | 5 | 8 | 32 | 18 | 0 | 121.2 | 151 | 65 | 29 | 40 | 4.81 |
| 1956 | CHW/NYY | 8 | 3 | 27 | 10 | 0 | 102.0 | 102 | 37 | 20 | 26 | 3.26 |
| 1957 | CHW | 5 | 1 | 47 | 0 | 7 | 105.0 | 95 | 24 | 27 | 44 | 2.06 |
| 1958 | CHW | 4 | 5 | 50 | 0 | 8 | 85.1 | 81 | 30 | 24 | 27 | 3.16 |
| 1959 | CHW | 8 | 5 | 67 | 0 | 14 | 116.1 | 111 | 29 | 25 | 54 | 2.24 |
| 1960 | CHW | 13 | 8 | 64 | 0 | 10 | 115.1 | 94 | 31 | 25 | 52 | 2.42 |
| 1961 | CHW/DET/KCA | 2 | 5 | 52 | 0 | 4 | 61.1 | 64 | 27 | 21 | 32 | 3.96 |
| Career | — | 134 | 111 | 640 | 186 | 61 | 1981.2 | 2070 | 814 | 529 | 727 | 3.70 |
On this day & linked events
2008
Died January 2, 2008
1947
Major-league debut: Gerry Staley
Gerry Staley made a major-league debut on April 20, 1947.
1961
Final major-league game: Gerry Staley
Gerry Staley played a final major-league game on September 25, 1961.
Image: Bowman Gum, public domain