Lefty Gomez

Full Name: Vernon Louis Gomez	Primary Position: P
Height/Weight: 6' 2"/173	First Game: April 29, 1930
Birthdate: November 26, 1908	Final Game: May 30, 1943
Birthplace: Rodeo, California	MLB Experience: 14 years
Died: February 17, 1989
Deathplace: Greenbrae, California
Bat/Throw: Left/Left

Rate this Player

4.03

(69 votes)

Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972

1 Biography
2 Statistics
3 Transactions
4 Trivia
5 Video Gallery
6 Picture Gallery
7 See Also
8 Categories

[edit] Biography

Vernon Louis Gómez (November 26, 1908 in Rodeo, California - February 17, 1989 in Greenbrae, California) was a left-handed Major League pitcher who played in the American League for the New York Yankees between 1930 and 1942.

In his career, almost entirely spent with the Yankees, he had a 189-102 record with 1468 strikeouts and a 3.34 ERA in 2503 innings pitched. His contract was sold to the Boston Braves in 1943. Released by the Braves that year without appearing in a game, Gomez signed with the Washington Senators, but pitched only one game before being released to end his career.

Gomez was known for saying, "I'd rather be lucky than good." His stats show he was both. A 20-game winner four times and an All-Star every year from 1933 to 1939, Gómez led the league twice each in wins, winning percentage and ERA, and three times each in shutouts and strikeouts. In both 1934 and 1937, he won pitching's "Triple Crown" by leading the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts; he also led the AL both seasons in shutouts. His .649 career winning percentage ranks 15th in major league history among pitchers with 200 or more decisions; and among pitchers who made their ML debut from 1900-1950, only Lefty Grove, Christy Mathewson and Whitey Ford have both more victories and a higher winning percentage than Gomez.

Gómez set a pair of World Series records: winning six games without a loss (1932-1, 1936-2, 1937-2, 1938-1); and most walks received by a batter in the same inning (6th, on October 6, 1937).

In the historic first major league All-Star Game (July 6, 1933), Gómez not only was the winning pitcher for the American League, but also drove in the first run of the game. This was out of character for him, as he was, even by the standards of pitchers, notorious for poor hitting. "I never broke a bat until I was 73 years old," he said. "And that was from backing the car out of the garage."

In retirement, Gómez became a sought-after dinner speaker known for his humorous anecdotes about his playing days and the personalities he knew. He was a bit of a screwball, nicknamed "El Goofy", and delighted in playing practical jokes on everyone from team mates to umpires. He once stopped a World Series game to watch an airplane fly overhead. He came up with the idea of a revolving goldfish bowl to make life easier for older goldfish. Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1972, on August 2, 1987, he and Whitey Ford were honored with plaques to be placed in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. Gómez's plaque says he was "Noted for his wit and his fastball, as he was fast with a quip and a pitch." Despite advancing age, he was able to attend the ceremony. Although he was honored with the plaque, his uniform #11 has not been retired, and has since been worn by Joe Page, Johnny Sain, Hector Lopez, Fred Stanley, Dwight Gooden, Chuck Knoblauch and Gary Sheffield. In 1999, he ranked #73 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Pitching Stats

Year	Team		G	GS	W	L	ERA	K	R	ER	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	HR	BB	WP	HBP
1930	NY	A	15	6	2	5	5.55	22	41	37	2	0	1	60	66	12	28	0	1
1931	NY	A	40	26	21	9	2.67	150	88	72	17	1	3	243	206	7	85	1	4
1932	NY	A	37	31	24	7	4.21	176	140	124	21	1	1	265.1	266	23	105	0	2
1933	NY	A	35	30	16	10	3.18	163	108	83	14	4	2	234.2	218	16	106	6	0
1934	NY	A	38	33	26	5	2.33	158	86	73	25	6	1	281.2	223	12	96	3	0
1935	NY	A	34	30	12	15	3.18	138	104	87	15	2	1	246	223	18	86	8	2
1936	NY	A	31	30	13	7	4.39	105	104	92	10	0	0	188.2	184	6	122	2	1
1937	NY	A	34	34	21	11	2.33	194	88	72	25	6	0	278.1	233	10	93	2	1
1938	NY	A	32	32	18	12	3.35	129	110	89	20	4	0	239	239	7	99	5	1
1939	NY	A	26	26	12	8	3.41	102	80	75	14	2	0	198	173	11	84	3	3
1940	NY	A	9	5	3	3	6.59	14	20	20	0	0	0	27.1	37	2	18	3	1
1941	NY	A	23	23	15	5	3.74	76	76	65	8	2	0	156.1	151	10	103	5	1
1942	NY	A	13	13	6	4	4.28	41	42	38	2	0	0	80	67	4	65	1	2
1943	WAS	A	1	1	0	1	5.79	0	4	3	0	0	0	4.2	4	0	5	0	0
Total			368	320	189	102	3.34	1468	1091	930	173	28	9	2503	2290	138	1095	39	19

[edit] Fielding Stats

Year	Team		POS	G	PO	A	ERR	DP	AVG
1930	NY	A	P	15	1	18	0	0	1.000
1931	NY	A	P	40	6	43	1	1	.980
1932	NY	A	P	37	2	36	2	3	.950
1933	NY	A	P	35	4	30	4	0	.895
1934	NY	A	P	38	7	42	1	2	.980
1935	NY	A	P	34	6	49	2	2	.965
1936	NY	A	P	31	4	29	1	3	.971
1937	NY	A	P	34	3	36	3	1	.929
1938	NY	A	P	32	12	51	1	5	.984
1939	NY	A	P	26	2	33	1	0	.972
1940	NY	A	P	9	1	2	0	0	1.000
1941	NY	A	P	23	6	11	2	2	.895
1942	NY	A	P	13	2	9	1	0	.917
1943	WAS	A	P	1	0	4	1	1	.800
Total			P	368	56	393	20	20	.957

[edit] Batting Stats

Year	Team		G	AB	R	H	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	2B	BB	SO	HBP	SH	SB	GDP
1930	NY	A	15	20	1	3	1	.150	.150	.150	0	0	9	0	3	0	0
1931	NY	A	40	83	8	11	3	.133	.200	.133	0	7	28	0	4	0	0
1932	NY	A	37	104	9	18	15	.173	.218	.192	2	6	36	0	5	0	0
1933	NY	A	35	80	3	9	3	.112	.193	.112	0	7	23	1	5	0	0
1934	NY	A	38	99	8	13	4	.131	.189	.141	1	6	30	1	13	0	0
1935	NY	A	34	83	4	10	4	.120	.151	.120	0	3	15	0	7	0	0
1936	NY	A	31	69	1	10	5	.145	.181	.159	1	3	23	0	8	0	0
1937	NY	A	34	105	8	21	4	.200	.236	.219	2	5	22	0	5	1	0
1938	NY	A	32	86	5	13	7	.151	.189	.174	2	4	18	0	9	0	0
1939	NY	A	26	73	3	11	4	.151	.205	.178	2	5	22	0	4	0	3
1940	NY	A	9	9	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
1941	NY	A	23	59	5	9	4	.153	.194	.169	1	3	12	0	4	0	1
1942	NY	A	13	33	4	5	4	.152	.176	.152	0	1	12	0	1	0	1
1943	WAS	A	1	1	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total			368	904	59	133	58	.147	.194	.159	11	50	252	2	68	1	5

[edit] Transactions

Sold by San Francisco (PCL) to New York Yankees (August 17, 1929).
Sold by New York Yankees to Boston Braves (January 25, 1943).
Released by Boston Braves (May 19, 1943).
Signed by Washington Senators (@May 21, 1943).
Released by Washington Senators (July 15, 1943).

[edit] Trivia

7 Time All-Star: 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939
World Series Champion: 1932 New York Yankees, 1936 New York Yankees, 1937 New York Yankees, 1938 New York Yankees, 1939 New York Yankees

[edit] Video Gallery

Add Videos

[edit] Picture Gallery

Add Pictures

[edit] See Also

[edit] Categories

Retrieved from "http://www.armchairgm.com/Lefty_Gomez"

This page was last modified 01:27, 8 November 2007. Content is available under the GFDL.