It was pitching that carried the Los Angeles Dodgers to their World Series championship in 1963. It wasn’t their hitting. Despite having the league’s batting champion in Tommy Davis, the Dodgers as a team batted .251, only fourth best in the National League. They were fifth in the league in runs scored.
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| Ron Perranoski |
But that kind of offense was enough for a team that featured Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Johnny Podres in its starting rotation. And even though those 3 starters accounted for 47 complete games in 1963, the Dodgers’ success also came from a solid bullpen, led by a left-hander who won 16 games in relief in 1963, Ron Perranoski.
Signed off the Michigan State University campus by the Chicago Cubs, Perranoski was traded to the Dodgers in 1960. (While attending Michigan State University, he was a teammate of Dick Radatz, the ace reliever for the Boston Red Sox in the mid-1960s.)
Perranoski made the Dodgers’ squad in 1961, appearing in 53 games (including the only start of his career), and going 7-5 with 6 saves and a 2.65 ERA. He established himself as the Dodgers’ closer in 1962, appearing in 70 games and finishing 39 of them, with 20 saves and a 2.85 ERA.
In 1963, Perranoski had a career year, with a 16-3 record and 21 saves with a 1.67 earned run average. He appeared only once in the World Series, shutting down the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth to earn a save in preserving a 4-1 victory for the Dodgers and Podres. (Every other game was a complete-game victory for the Dodgers’ starter.)
Over the next 4 years, Perranoski appeared in 256 games for the Dodgers, saving 54 while going 23-27 with a 2.73 ERA. He was traded to the Minnesota Twins following the 1987 season, and saved 65 games for the Twins over the next two years, leading the American League in that category both seasons. His performance tailed off sharply after that, and Perranoski retired in 1973 after 13 seasons.
Perranoski’s 179 career saves made him the all-time leader among left-handers at the time he retired. Today his save total still leaves him ninth on the all-time list among left-handed relievers. His 16 wins in relief in 1963 tied him with Philadelphia’s Jim Konstanty for the second highest total in a season. (Roy Face set the record with 18 in 1959, a record that still stands.)
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