The Arm that Owned the Yankees

From Player Profiles at 1960s Baseball …

He “owned” the New York Yankees when that franchise was at the pinnacle of major league dominance. 

From 1955 to 1961, no other pitcher beat the Yankees as often or as consistently as Frank Lary.

Frank Lary, the "Yankee Killer"

And in between starts against the Yankees, Frank Lary was also a pretty good right-hander and the ace of the Detroit Tigersstaff going into the 1960s.

Lary was signed by the Tigers off the University of Alabama campus in 1950. He made his debut at the end of the 1954 season, and in 1955 went 14-15 in his rookie campaign with a 3.10 ERA. In 1956, Lary went 21-13, leading the American League in wins, games started (38), and innings pitched (294).

That was the season when Lary’s reputation as a “Yankee Killer” began. In 1956, Lary went 5-1 in 7 starts against the team that would end the season as World Series champs. In 1958 Lary won 16 games for the Tigers and led the league in complete games (19) and innings pitched (260.1). Against the Yankees he was 7-1 in 8 starts with 2 shutouts and a 1.86 ERA. He won 5 out of 6 decisions against the Yankees in 1959 when he went 17-10 for the Tigers. His best season came in 1961 when Lary went 23-9 and 4-2 against the Yankees. He finished third in the 1961 Cy Young balloting behind Warren Spahn and that season’s winner, Whitey Ford.

From 1956-1961, while the New York Yankees
were dominating the American League,
Frank Lary was dominating the Yankees:
25-9 with a 3.14 ERA.

Lary was never the same pitcher after the 1961 season.  From 1956 through 1961, he averaged 17 victories and 261 innings per season. From 1962 through 1965, arm problems limited Lary to a combined record of 11-23 and an average of only 90 innings per season. He stayed with Detroit into the 1964 season, and then bounced between the New York Mets, Milwaukee Braves and Chicago White Sox before retiring after the 1965 season.

In a 12-season career, Lary won 128 games, 28 against the Yankees, and 100 against everyone else.