Player Profile: Jerry Reuss

Jerry Reuss was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 19, 1949. His father worked for RC Cola and drove a truck. His mom worked in real estate and also as an interior decorator. The big baseball fan in the family was his grandfather on his mom’s side, Alfred Hellwig. He would ride a streetcar to Sportsman’s Park to watch the Cardinals and the Browns almost every day.

Jerry was the middle child of three boys. Both of his parents are deceased. His brother, Jim, is retired from a career in the Houston Parks system. He now works part-time managing the city’s municipal golf courses. Jerry says he does that so he can play golf whenever he likes. “Jim Loves golf!”. His younger brother John works as an assistant manager of a Walgreens store near St. Charles, Missouri.

Like most big leaguers, Jerry dominated in youth baseball. “There weren’t many lefties; I was bigger than most kids and could throw hard from the time I was 10,” he remembered. “I was always able to compete with kids who were two or three years older. By the time I was a freshman in high school, I could compete against seniors. My high school (Ritenour) won two state championships, and my American Legion teams always went a long way.” Ritenour had an advantage over other schools drawing students from a large area. His graduating class had 1000 students.

One of his teammates was the son of the Cardinals farm director, George Silvey. That connection paid off when the Cardinals drafted him in the second round of the 1967 amateur draft. It surprised Reuss that his hometown team drafted him. Reuss signed for $32,000 dollars and was sent to the Cardinals Gulf Coast rookie league team to start his career. He pitched seven innings in Florida, giving up four earned runs. He was then sent to Cedar Rapids of the Midwest League. Despite a 2-5 record, he posted a 1.86 ERA over 58 innings and a WHIP barely over 1.00. That earned him a trip to AAA, where in his only inning, he gave up six runs to players much older and more experienced than he was.

He spent the entire next season at AA Little Rock. He once again had a losing record, 7-8, but a sparkling 2.17 ERA and WHIP, 1.017. It was clear he was on a fast track to the Cardinals. Reuss was 6’5″ and always felt he would make the majors. One of the oddities of his minor league career was how few games he actually pitched. In 1967, he appeared in 12 games for the three teams. In 1968, he appeared in 17 games for Little Rock. One of the reasons was the Viet Nam war was on, and he enrolled in Southern Illinois University to keep his student draft deferment. That would cause him to miss spring training. He would complete his military reserve obligations while in school in the winter.

Southern Illinois also allowed him to pitch batting practice, which kept him sharp. Reuss was sent to AAA in 1969, and while he did not set the world afire, he did well enough to merit a call-up in September. The expansion helped him. The Padres and Expos joined the NL in 69. By September, the Cards were out of the race, and they wanted to see some of their young players, so Reuss got a call.

HOFer and manager, Red Schoendienst, wanted to get the kids into at least one game apiece, so on September 27, 1969, Reuss made his MLB debut against the Expos. He pitched seven innings of 2-hit shutout baseball with three walks and three Ks and got his first MLB win. He also got his first MLB hit that game, driving in Leron Lee with a single.

Back at AAA to start the 1970 season, he was called up in June, and for the next 18 years, he would be an MLB pitcher. He went 7-8 for the year and cemented a role in the Card’s rotation for 1971. Jerry pitched Ok in 71, having a 14-14 mark with a 4,78 ERA, seven complete games, and two shutouts. He was then unceremonially traded during the winter to the Astros for Lance Clemons and Scipio Spinks. In 1996, Reuss saw former Cardinal GM Bing Devine why he had traded him. Devine told him that Fred Kuhlman, the liaison between ownership and baseball operations, told him that the owner, August Busch II, wanted to get rid of Reuss because he did not like his mustache. Weird, but then again, owners can be quirky too. Just ask the A’s players who played for Charlie Finley.

His first year in Houston was not great, 9-13, 4.17; his second was much better, 16-13, 3.74. But once again, he was traded over the winter to the Pirates for C Milt May. In 1974, he posted a 16-11, 3.50 mark for the Pirates, who went on to meet the Dodgers in the NLCS. Reuss lost two games in that series to the Dodgers. He would post double-figure wins for the Pirates four of the five years he was with them. In his last season with the Bucs, he went 3-2, 4.90 in only 23 games. That was 1978. The reason for the drop-off was simple. Pirate manager, Chuck Tanner, liked his matchups. He preferred using Reuss as a spot starter and out of the pen. He started 12 of his 23 games. Ruess asked for a trade. The Pirates worked out a deal with the Cubs, but Reuss had a no-trade clause in his contract. He had purchased a home in Pittsburgh and wanted some monetary compensation to approve the trade. The Cubs could not fit that into their budget, so the deal was not completed; the Pirates then met with the Dodgers and set up a trade. They told Reuss to contact LA. The Dodgers told him they would make the deal only if he signed a 5-year contract. He did that gladly, and Rick Rhoden was sent to the Pirates for Jerry Reuss on April 7, 1979.

It would prove to be a great trade for LA. For the Pirates, the first year at least, not so much. Rhoden appeared in just one game in 1979. For Reuss, it would be the best years of his career. In 79, the Dodgers were not very good as they went 1979-1983 for a third-place finish in their division. Reuss was 7-14, but his ERA was a respectable 3.54. In 1980, he was second in the Cy Young vote with an 18-6, 2.51 line. He tossed a no-hitter against the Giants in May, with the only runner coming on a Bill Russell error. Sound familiar? He beat Houston to keep LA in the hunt in game 161. They would tie the Astros for the division title but lost game 163.

His inability to be able to make the opening day start when the 1981 season began opened the door for a young lefty from Mexico to become a phenomenon. Fernando started the season with a bang, and the Dodgers never really looked back. Reuss went 10-6 in the strike-shortened season. He won game 5 of the NLDS with a shutout, sending the Dodgers to the NLCS, and outdueled Ron Guidry in game 5 of the World Series to give LA a 3-2 lead. Winning the World Series was his biggest thrill in the game, not the no-hitter. “They do not give you a ring for a no-hitter, but they do for a series win,” he said.

From 1982-1985 he won 18, 12, 5, and 14 games, respectively. In 1984 the Dodgers were not very good, so no one’s stats were outstanding. Reuss was not in the rotation that year and started only 15 games. Pena. Welch, Honeycutt, and Fernando were the starters. But at age 37, Reuss, statistically at least, fell off of a cliff, going 2-6 with an ERA over 5.

On April 10, 1987, he was released by the Dodgers. The Reds snapped him up on April 18th, but on June 14th, after going 0-5 in Cincy, he was released again. On the 19th of June, he was signed by the Angels. He had a little better luck with the Angels going 4-5. But he was obviously past his prime. The Angels released him that winter, and, in the spring, he signed with the White Sox. He had a decent year for the Sox in 1988, going 13-9, 3.44. But the next season, after going 8-5 with Chicago, he was traded to the Brewers. He tried to hook on with several teams in the winter but mostly pitched in the minors in 1990. However, he did get called up to the Pirates towards the end of the year. He pitched seven innings over four games, including a start on the final day of the season in Pittsburgh. He was called out of the dugout after his outing and received a standing ovation from the crowd. He could not have imagined a better way to go out.

For his Dodger career, Reuss went 86-69, 3.11 in 253 games. His career record is 220-191. He pitched for 22 years in the majors. 220 wins which are more than Big D or Koufax. Of course, they did not pitch for eight different teams. He never won 20 but won 18 three times.

Reuss did not leave baseball, he worked for ESPN for three years on the late-night Hotel California games with Chris Berman as an analyst. In 1995 he worked for the Baseball Network, and in 1996 for the Angels. Ruess went back to the Dodgers on their radio broadcasts east of Colorado when Vin Scully was not calling games. When Scully was working, he called Las Vegas 51’s games.

When LA changed its radio format three years later, he was released. “I am probably the only guy ever released as a player and an announcer by the Dodgers.” He said. He coached in the minors for the Expos, Cubs, and Mets. That ended when he had knee surgery in 2005. He now lives in Las Vegas and announces the 51s’ games. Jerry is married and has one son, one daughter, and one stepson. He also has five grandchildren. He is also writing his digital memoirs. He enjoys photography and maintains a youthful outlook on life.

I always enjoyed watching Reuss work. One of the reasons was that Ruess worked very quickly. He did not waste a lot of motion on the mound, and he kept his defense on their toes. I also learned a few interesting tidbits during my research.

When Jerry was with the Stros, his manager was Leo. Yep, the Lip, and he considered Reuss the biggest asshole in the game. I would surmise from what I read that their relationship was less than sunny. In fact, Leo just did not like him very much, and once stated that he was always missing games because of some family emergency of some sort. The record shows otherwise. Reuss made 70 starts in his two years with Houston.

Leo also said that Reuss thought he was the best lefty in the world. Better than Koufax. Reuss denied that; he said, ” I aspired to be like Sandy, I knew I was nowhere near his level.” About ten years later, he had a chance to reconcile with Leo. While with the Dodgers, Lasorda called Jerry into his office, which was unusual because Tommy came and got him himself. Usually, he would send someone. He walked into the office, and Durocher was sitting on the couch. He had come down from Palm Springs. Lasorda excused himself and left the room. Reuss immediately told Durocher, “Leo, I need to apologize to you.” Leo said, “That’s ok; I’ve said some things too. I apologize for being an asshole. I am glad you are doing well with good people.” It was the last time Reuss would see Durocher.

Future Dodgers Down on the Farm (Mark T.)

• OKC beat Tacoma 8-4
  • Jacob Amaya had 3 hits
  • Drew Avans, Jason Martin, and James Outman all had two hits.
  • Andre Jackson started and had his best outing of the year: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K. His ERA is 6.15. Those of you thinking of trading him are quite likely clinically insane.
  • Carson Fulmer pitched the last 1.2 innings and allowed no hits or walks, striking out 3. His ERA is 1.49. Bring him on!
• Tulsa was beaten like a rented mule by Springfield 15-5
  • Ryan Ward (22-HR), Justin Yurchak, Andy Pages, and Devin Mann all had two hits each.
  • Landon Knack is maddening! He gave up 4 ER in 0.1 inning.
• Great Lakes was blanked by Quad Cities 7-0
  • Alex DeJesus and Jose Ramos each singled, and that was the offense.
  • Never speak of this again!
• Rancho Cucamonga beat Fresno 10-5.
  • Yunior Garcia was 3-5 with 3 RBI
  • Andrew Heaney started and threw 48 pitches, 38 for strikes. His line: 2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 2 K. He pitched like a guy who hasn’t pitched in a month, but his control was excellent. He will likely get one more rehab start… most likely at OKC, but you never know.
  • Ronan Kopp went three innings, allowing but one hit and striking out four while walking 3.

The Futures Game (Mark T.)

There were a lot of really good players with great talent, but I am only going to talk about three.

BOBBY MILLER– His stuff is electric, but his command comes and goes. The light is going to flip on… when is the question.

DIEGO CARTAYA – He is a Big Cat behind the plate. He moves like a much smaller man and runs very well. You saw his effortless swing as he sent a ball that should have been caught to the wall. His bat is ahead of his defense, but it will play up.

MIGUEL VARGAS – He played 2B, but I do not think he will ever play there in MLB. You can see he has a keen eye and is not slow, as some have suggested. He is a blueblood and a baller, and he will Bloom where he is planted, whether that be in LF or 3B. I have heard that Vargas is coming to LA sooner than later.

MLB Amateur Draft

The Draft is part of All-Star Week for the second year! Here’s the schedule:

• Sunday, 7 PM ESPN – Round 1 (including two compensation picks), Competitive Balance Round A (seven picks), Round 2 and Competitive Balance Round B (eight picks), and six second-round compensation picks.
• Monday, 2 PM MLBTV – Rounds 3-10
• Tuesday, 2 PM MLBTV – Rounds 11-20

The Dodgers have virtually no chance of getting an impact player because they dropped to pick #40 due to exceeding the competitive balance tax, and they lost their second-round pick due to signing Freddie Freeman. Yes, they got a pick as compensation for Corey Seager, but it was dropped to the fifth round due to their being over the competitive balance tax. That’s why I don’t think Friedman is inclined to trade his prospects… unless overwhelmed. That’s also why they will not continue to spend as they have. It will ultimately kill player development. You can do it for a short time, but not forever!

Tomorrow: Bulldogs & Penguins Looks at The Trade Season