Yankees Cy Young Winners Reunited In Somerset

Bridgewater, New Jersey – Just under 50-years ago, Yankees legend Ron Guidry was pitching for Double-A West Haven in hopes of one day donning the pinstripes in the Bronx just as many of the current Patriots prospects are hoping to do. Guidry eventually made it to the majors in 1975 and authored a heralded 13-year career that saw him earn two World Series championship rings and an American League Cy Young Award.

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On Tuesday night, the southpaw dubbed Louisiana Lightning™ paid a visit to TD Bank Ballpark to greet and sign autographs for a select number of fans while also partaking in an on-field Q&A session and eventually toed the rubber and tossed his patented slider to his good friend and former teammate, Sparky Lyle, in a ceremonial first pitch.

“It’s always fun to come to a new area,” admitted Guidry to a group of reporters prior to his on-field appearance Tuesday. “I lived in New Jersey when I was playing, but never got a chance to come this far. It’s always fun because everybody always tells you what it was like when they were young and growing up.”

Guidry added, "I’ve seen a couple of them [Yankees prospects] in spring training because I continue to go to spring training every year. Sometimes I get to see maybe one or two here – like [Oswaldo] Cabrera, that came up to the big club. You get to see them, and you watch them progress and maybe next year I will see one or two of these young kids that are here in spring training. It is always fun to come and experience some new things.”

Now 72-years-old, Guidry spends most of his days tending to the land on his large Louisiana property before the summer sun makes it intolerable. He grabs an early cup of coffee before checking ESPN for the previous night’s MLB scores and happenings in order to keep tabs on the league and his beloved Bombers.

“I like to follow and see what’s going on,” explained Guidry. “After that I will go outside until about nine o’clock and then I shut it down for the day because you cannot work in 105-degree heat – I have always watched… you’re always interested in how they are doing.”

Guidry earned the Cy Young Award in a unanimous vote in 1978 after posting arguably the greatest single season for a pitcher in Yankees franchise history by going 25-3 with a league best 1.78 ERA and 248 strikeouts. It was Lyle, a Somerset icon, that won the award the year prior in 1977 and played an integral role in Guidry’s eventual development as a starting pitcher.

Lyle closely monitored Guidry during his bullpen tosses while he was entrenched in a self-described mop-up relief role before approaching him and suggesting that he add a second pitch to his repertoire to compliment his already electric fastball.

“He [Lyle] sat down next to me and said, “For the last week, I’ve been watching you throw – you just need another pitch. You remind me of me when you’re throwing because we throw so much alike, but you throw a lot harder than I do. I think I can show you how to throw a slider kind of like mine.”

Guidry says that Lyle started working with him diligently before games and between outings on grips and mechanics to help him get comfortable throwing the newly added offering to his arsenal.

“As I kept working with it, it just got better and better,” said Guidry. “I finally got a chance to use it in a game and it was like “okay, you’re on your way.”

It’s been about 35 years since Guidry buttoned up that iconic pinstripe jersey and broke off a slider, but he did just that on Tuesday night with his close friend on the receiving end.

“They ask me now if I knew what the spin rate on my slider was,” joked Guidry. “I say if they weren’t hitting it, then it was good enough. I don’t need a damn machine to tell me if it was good enough.”

To continue the two-day celebration of Guidry’s storied career, the Patriots will be giving away his bobblehead doll to the first 1,000 fans in attendance for Wednesday night’s game against the Harford Yard Goats.

Matt Kardos | SomersetPatriots.com Beat Writer

Matt Kardos has covered the Yankees minor league system for over a decade and will spend his 11th season on the beat covering the Patriots for SomersetPatriots.com. Throughout his career, Matt has contributed to MLB.com, YES Network and Pinstriped Prospects. When he’s not at the ballpark, Matt enjoys traveling with his wife Kimberly, watching Jets football and collecting sports cards.