1930
Born March 12, 1930
Meridian, ID, USA
Vern Law Marquee
b. March 12, 1930 · Pittsburgh Pirates 1950–1951, 1954–1967
In 1960 he went 20-9 with 18 complete games and won the Cy Young Award, which was then given to one pitcher in all of baseball, with eight of the sixteen votes. He won the first and fourth games of the World Series and left the seventh with the lead. Pittsburgh won it on Bill Mazeroski's home run.
He hurt his ankle during a clubhouse celebration that September, pitched on it anyway through October, and altered his delivery to protect it, which wrecked his arm. He won 17 games in the next three seasons combined. Then he came back in 1965 to go 17-9 and take Comeback Player of the Year at thirty-five.
Sixteen seasons, all in Pittsburgh, gave him 162 wins against 147, a 3.77 earned run average, 2,672 innings, 119 complete games and 28 shutouts. He was a Mormon elder and was called Deacon, missed two seasons to the Army, and did not pitch on Sundays early on. Seven writers' ballots gave him no more than nine votes.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star selection | 1 | 1960 |
| Cy Young Award | 1 | 1960 |
| Lou Gehrig Memorial Award | 1 | 1965 |
| The Sporting News All-Star | 1 | 1960 |
| The Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year | 1 | 1965 |
| The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year | 1 | 1960 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | PIT | 27 | 41 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 0 | .073 |
| 1951 | PIT | 28 | 32 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 0 | .344 |
| 1954 | PIT | 50 | 52 | 10 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 0 | .231 |
| 1955 | PIT | 44 | 63 | 8 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 16 | 1 | .254 |
| 1956 | PIT | 39 | 57 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 16 | 0 | .175 |
| 1957 | PIT | 34 | 63 | 3 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 0 | .190 |
| 1958 | PIT | 36 | 62 | 11 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 0 | .194 |
| 1959 | PIT | 38 | 96 | 6 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 20 | 0 | .167 |
| 1960 | PIT | 35 | 94 | 10 | 17 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 19 | 0 | .181 |
| 1961 | PIT | 11 | 19 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | .263 |
| 1962 | PIT | 23 | 45 | 6 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 0 | .311 |
| 1963 | PIT | 21 | 23 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .217 |
| 1964 | PIT | 36 | 61 | 9 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 0 | .311 |
| 1965 | PIT | 34 | 82 | 9 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 19 | 0 | .244 |
| 1966 | PIT | 34 | 66 | 11 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 0 | .242 |
| 1967 | PIT | 26 | 27 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | .111 |
| Career | — | 516 | 883 | 96 | 191 | 35 | 7 | 11 | 90 | 41 | 179 | 1 | .216 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | PIT | 7 | 9 | 27 | 17 | 0 | 128.0 | 137 | 70 | 49 | 57 | 4.92 |
| 1951 | PIT | 6 | 9 | 28 | 14 | 2 | 114.0 | 109 | 57 | 51 | 41 | 4.50 |
| 1954 | PIT | 9 | 13 | 39 | 18 | 3 | 161.2 | 201 | 99 | 56 | 57 | 5.51 |
| 1955 | PIT | 10 | 10 | 43 | 24 | 1 | 200.2 | 221 | 85 | 61 | 82 | 3.81 |
| 1956 | PIT | 8 | 16 | 39 | 32 | 2 | 195.2 | 218 | 94 | 49 | 60 | 4.32 |
| 1957 | PIT | 10 | 8 | 31 | 25 | 1 | 172.2 | 172 | 55 | 32 | 55 | 2.87 |
| 1958 | PIT | 14 | 12 | 35 | 29 | 3 | 202.1 | 235 | 89 | 39 | 56 | 3.96 |
| 1959 | PIT | 18 | 9 | 34 | 33 | 1 | 266.0 | 245 | 88 | 53 | 110 | 2.98 |
| 1960 | PIT | 20 | 9 | 35 | 35 | 0 | 271.2 | 266 | 93 | 40 | 120 | 3.08 |
| 1961 | PIT | 3 | 4 | 11 | 10 | 0 | 59.1 | 72 | 31 | 18 | 20 | 4.70 |
| 1962 | PIT | 10 | 7 | 23 | 20 | 0 | 139.1 | 156 | 61 | 27 | 78 | 3.94 |
| 1963 | PIT | 4 | 5 | 18 | 12 | 0 | 76.2 | 91 | 42 | 13 | 31 | 4.93 |
| 1964 | PIT | 12 | 13 | 35 | 29 | 0 | 192.0 | 203 | 77 | 32 | 93 | 3.61 |
| 1965 | PIT | 17 | 9 | 29 | 28 | 0 | 217.1 | 182 | 52 | 35 | 101 | 2.15 |
| 1966 | PIT | 12 | 8 | 31 | 28 | 0 | 177.2 | 203 | 80 | 24 | 88 | 4.05 |
| 1967 | PIT | 2 | 6 | 25 | 10 | 0 | 97.0 | 122 | 45 | 18 | 43 | 4.18 |
| Career | — | 162 | 147 | 483 | 364 | 13 | 2672.0 | 2833 | 1118 | 597 | 1092 | 3.77 |
On this day & linked events
1950
Major-league debut: Vern Law
Vern Law made a major-league debut on June 11, 1950.
1967
Final major-league game: Vern Law
Vern Law played a final major-league game on August 20, 1967.