Cy Young Profile: Vern Law, 1960

Pitcher, Pittsburgh Pirates

Age:  30

9^th season with Pirates

Bats – Right, Throws – Right

Height: 6’2”    Weight: 195

Prior to 1960:

The son of devout Mormons, Law was a native of Meridian, Idaho, and excelled at football and basketball, as well as baseball in high school. He also played well in American Legion baseball and caught the attention of future US Senator Herman Welker, who contacted entertainer Bing Crosby, who had been a college classmate and was then a part-owner of the Pirates. The Pirates signed both Law and his brother Evan, an aspiring catcher, who was released in 1949. The brothers were assigned to Santa Rosa of the Class D Far West League. Vern appeared in 21 games and posted an 8-5 record with a 4.66 ERA. He moved up to Davenport of the Class B Illinois-Indiana-Iowa (or Three I) League in 1949 and was 5-11 with a fine 2.94 ERA. The next stop for Law in 1950 was with the New Orleans Pelicans of the Class AA Southern Association, where he produced a 6-4 record in 12 games and a 2.67 ERA. He was promoted to the Pirates in June and, appearing in 27 games (17 starts), was 7-9 with a 4.92 ERA for a last place club. In 1951 he started in half of his 28 appearances and compiled a 6-9 record with a 4.50 ERA for the seventh place Pirates. Law missed the 1952 and ’53 seasons due to Army service in which he played service baseball. Back with Pittsburgh in 1954, he was still utilized as both a starter and reliever for the cellar-dwelling club and went 9-13 with a 5.51 ERA. He improved to 10-10 in 1955, with a 3.81 ERA while reaching 200 innings pitched for the first time. In a game against the Braves that went into extra innings, Law lasted 18 innings until he was lifted for a pinch hitter (the Pirates won in the 19^th). He suffered through a difficult 8-16 season (4.32 ERA) in 1956 but he progressed to 10-8 with a 2.87 ERA in 1957. The devoutly religious pitcher, who was nicknamed “Deacon” and “Preacher”, usually avoided throwing brush-back pitches on moral grounds. His repertoire included a modest fastball (he was never a power pitcher), curve, and slider. With the Pirates surging to second place in 1958, Law contributed a 14-12 record and 3.96 ERA. He improved to 18-9 in 1959 with a 2.98 ERA and 20 complete games.

1960 Season Summary

Appeared in 35 games

[Bracketed numbers indicate NL rank in Top 20]

Pitching

Games – 35

Games Started – 35 [5, tied with Sam Jones]

Complete Games – 18 [1, tied with Warren Spahn & Lew Burdette]

Wins – 20 [3]

Losses – 9

PCT - .690 [2]

Saves – 0

Shutouts – 3 [8, tied with four others]

Innings Pitched – 271.2 [4]

Hits – 266 [3, tied with Bob Friend]

Runs – 104 [12]

Earned Runs – 93 [9, tied with Jack Sanford & Bob Anderson]

Home Runs – 25 [7, tied with Johnny Podres]

Bases on Balls – 40

Strikeouts – 120 [18]

ERA – 3.08 [7, tied with Johnny Podres]

Hit Batters – 4 [15, tied with nine others]

Balks – 1 [7, tied with fifteen others]

Wild Pitches – 2

Midseason Snapshot: 11-4, ERA - 2.52, SO - 64 in 150 IP

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Most strikeouts, game – 7 (in 10 IP) vs. San Francisco 8/6

10+ strikeout games – 0

Fewest hits allowed, game (min. 7 IP) – 4 (in 9 IP) vs. Chi. Cubs 8/10

Batting

PA – 105, AB – 94, R – 10, H – 17, 2B – 5, 3B – 2, HR – 1, RBI – 7, BB – 2, SO – 19, SB – 0, CS – 0, AVG - .181, GDP – 1, HBP – 0, SH – 7, SF – 1

Fielding

Chances – 80

Put Outs – 28

Assists – 50

Errors – 2

DP – 6

Pct. - .975

Postseason Pitching: (World Series vs. NY Yankees)

G – 3, GS – 3, CG – 0, Record – 2-0, PCT – 1.000, SV – 0, ShO – 0, IP – 18.1, H – 22, R – 7, ER – 7, HR – 3, BB – 3, SO – 8, ERA – 3.44, HB – 0, BLK – 0, WP – 1

Awards & Honors:

MLB Cy Young Award:BBWAA

NL Pitcher of the Year: Sporting News

All-Star (Starting P for NL in 2^nd game)

6^th in NL MVP voting, tied with Ken Boyer, StL. (80 points, 24% share)

MLB Cy Young voting:

Vern Law, Pitt.: 8 of 14 votes, 92% share

Warren Spahn, Mil.: 4 votes, 25% share

Ernie Broglio, StL.: 1 vote, 6% share

Lindy McDaniel, StL.: 1 vote, 6% share

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Pirates went 95-59 to win the NL pennant by 7 games over the Milwaukee Braves for their first pennant since 1927. The pitching staff led the NL in fewest walks surrendered (386). Won World Series over the New York Yankees, 4 games to 3, capped by Bill Mazeroski’s Game 7 walk-off home run. Despite suffering from a sprained ankle, Law was 2-0 in his three starts.

Aftermath of ‘60:

Having torn muscles in his back due to compensating for his ankle injury during the 1960 World Series, Law appeared in only 11 games in 1961 and was 3-4 with a 4.70 ERA. Dealing with lingering arm injuries in 1962, he went 10-7 with a 3.94 ERA while pitching 139.1 innings. Law retired during the 1963 season when he was 4-5 with a 4.93 ERA in August. Feeling that his arm had recovered by the offseason, he made a comeback with the Pirates in 1964, appearing in 35 games and compiling a 12-13 record with a 3.61 ERA and 7 complete games that included 5 shutouts. Law overcame a slow start in 1965 to go 17-9 with a 2.15 ERA in what proved to be his last effective season. He stayed with the Pirates until 1967 when he retired for good. Over the course of a career spent entirely with Pittsburgh, Law posted a 162-147 record with 1092 strikeouts over 2672 innings pitched, along with 119 complete games that included 28 shutouts. A decent hitting pitcher, he batted .216 with 11 home runs and 90 RBIs. He was also considered to be a good baserunner, occasionally being utilized as a pinch runner between pitching assignments. He was an All-Star during one season. His son Vance was primarily a third baseman for five major league teams, including the Pirates.    

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Cy Young Profiles feature pitchers who were recipients of the Cy Young Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (1956 to present). The award was presented to a single major league winner from its inception through 1966 and from 1967 on to one recipient from each major league.