Louisiana Legends; Ron Guidry

Funding for the production of Louisiana lLegends is provided in part by the Friends of Louisiana Public Broadcasting and by Union National Life Insurance, a Louisiana company serving Louisiana and the South since 1926. [Tone]. Some folks need introductions, and some folks don't. My guest

today is, needs no introduction. He's Lousiana Lightning. He's a Cy Young Award winner, he's a brilliant pitcher of the New York Yankees, and he's a native of Lafayette, Louisiana. So meet, uh, Ron Guidry. Hello, Ron. Hello Gus. Welcome to the program Ron. Thank you. Uh, Ron I'm going to ask this question. How did it all start for you? I mean when, when did this baseball business begin and, and equal to that - at what point did you say: "Hey, maybe this is not just a sport, or relaxation. Maybe this is a means of livelihood, a way to feed me and my family"? Well, as far back as I can remember. It all started in around 1957-58. I was eight years old at the time. Uh, there was a playground not too far away from my home which, due to the upbringing that I had, I was never able to visit it at my own free time. It was always doing it behind mom's back. And one afternoon I happened to

be walking across the park and I noticed they had a bunch of kids that were practicing baseball. I knew all about the game, but I didn't know everything else. And they were practicing, and the coach was hitting fly balls, and I just so happened to be walking in the back of the field at the time, and the coach hit him a fly ball, and he hit it way over his head and he proceeded to chase it down. And it just so happened to roll by me and I just got caught up in all the kids hollering, you know, "Throw it back!" "Throw it!" "Come on hurry up, hurry up!" And I just picked it up and fired it. You know. But I threw it all the way to the backstop. Yeah, I didn't know where I was throwing the ball, but that's where it'd eventually go. And it was, uh, there was a lot of silence, no movement. And I mean everybody just ran to left field and all I could see was, you know, a horde of people running to me and I didn't know, what, maybe I did something wrong. Here you go again. You know, you're not supposed to be here, they're gonna tell your mom, you're gonna get a whippin', and that's it. And the coach came over and he asked who I was. I told him. He asked me where I lived, I told him. Told him who my father

was. And then he says, "Well, I know your father. We're in the Naval Reserve together." And I said "Well you better talk to him then." And anyway, that's what started it off. And eventually what happened was, every day, I'd travel to the little park, but I'd tell my mom I was going to my grandma's house and I'd take off, we'd go over there. We'd practice, we'd practice and, uh, I made the team. And there was one day, both my dad and I knew we would have to tell her, "You have to come see." Because I was pretty small and she was always afraid of that I'd get hurt, a lot easier than somebody else would. So she stayed in the car the first game I ever played [laughter] in Little Leagues. And then she began to come out of her shell and, when she noticed "Well, it might not be as bad as it's supposed to be, you know, I don't think he might, he could get hurt, but I don't think - the chances of getting hurt are fairly slim. And every year after that it was always that same thing, and um, I kept on progressing, as everybody else progressed. Up

until, up until I would say American Legion is the time where I thought I might be able to play major league ball, but I didn't know for sure or not. I didn't know if I wanted to. I thought that from everybody else's words of praise and everything I had the ability, but it was a question of whether do you Ronald Guidry want to go and pursue it. I didn't know at the time. I went into college. I started playing in college and I gathered, when you go to college, you start playing against other people that come from all over and, you know, particular places [Sure.] in the country to form one team. So, in other words, your competition is going to be great. And it was there that I decided, maybe you can do it because all these guys that are supposed to be good ball players who make the Major Leagues later on. It looks like you're holding your own with them. You might not be doing any better, but you're certainly not doing any less. So I decided

then, if the time and chance arose, maybe I would take a shot and eventually it did in 1970-71. I resigned from college and I was drafted, went to the minors and that makes the story. Now, it seems to me that 1976 something occured that of course changed you and your family's life and in my opinion it's, it's the Ron Guidry story that fascinates me the most, more than your great awards and your talent. You were being sent down from New York to Syracuse and you finally decided to heck with it. And I'm going to call it a day. And you and your wife, were you leaving New York in the car? Well, I remember that well because like you said, it was the beginning of a good story. And I reflect on it all the time. The problem at that time was in '75 I had ended the year with the, with the major league club. Uh, they had labeled me the successor to Sparky Lyle. The next year, in '76 started out,

the job was going to be mine. So I had really no fear of going anywheres, uh, and there was no extra pressure whatsoever put on me to make the club. I had figured I had a better chance than anybody else had. And the season progressed, and due to my nature, and every year in spring training, I don't have a great spring training. My stats do not do me any justice to say who I am because to me spring training is a point and a period of getting in shape for the season. There's no rule says I have to get ready to have an outstanding season, in the spring. [Yes.] It's made for the season and that's that's the only thing it should be geared for. So I take my time, I take lumps. And if you look at 'em, I'm not, I'm not a major league pitcher in the spring. But I get ready for the season, I don't care about spring. And anyway I got a bum rap because I had a horrendous spring and it...It was probably the worst

one I've ever had, but it came at a time where I was being put in that position of pitching behind Sparky Lyle. Since I had a bad spring, they were talking about trading, they talked about getting new players and eventually they got new players. So we had an influx of pitchers coming in and that meant that somebody would have to go to Triple-A. The unlikely candidate was me. So I went down to Triple-A, and I said, "OK ,I'll go. I understand you've got a lot of pitchers and I'll go." I went down to Triple-A and I proved that Triple-A was, it was too easy for me. So they recalled me back up. Uh, I came in for a couple of weeks and I just did some mop-up pitching and then all of a sudden I sat down. And I didn't get to play for 65 days, which is probably a major league record. But I didn't play and it was getting to be a point of, you know, maybe they don't, they don't really don't see what other people see and you could be wrong, but deep down inside you know that, if you could give the, be given the chance, that you can do it.

So what I did for the whole 65 days is the time that I learned how to pitch from Dick Tidrow, and I worked on a slider from Sparky Lyle, and all of a sudden they came up to me one day and said we're gonna send you down, uh, because you're not pitching. And I know that I'm not pitching but it's not because I can't, it's because you're not giving me the chance I deserve. So they said that they were going to send me down and, when I got back home, I had thought about it quite a bit on the way going back home. And when I got home, I told my wife, I said Bonnie, I said I'm 26 years old. I don't have a steady job. I thought this would be the steady job I was looking for, but I don't know now. They're sending me back down. This could be, this could go on for another two years, I said. I think the best thing for me to do now is to go back home to find that steady job, so we can have a steady income, and then, you know, go about our business with our family. So she

didn't say nothin' and we packed the whole car and we took off. And when I left, I left in the direction of Louisiana, the same highway that I would travel today. And we rode for about an hour and with about 30 minutes left to go in the trip, to where you could make a safe turn up north instead of coming back home south, she started to talk. And she said, "You know," Right away her opening lines were, you know, she says "this is the first time I'll ever know you to quit something." She says, "I've known you try things and see that you can't do 'em, eventually phase 'em out. But," she says, "this is the first time that I'll ever know you just to up and quit and say 'Let's go home.'" She says, "Why are you doing it?" And I told her. She said, "Well, that's a good reason," she says, "but I think that you should give it one more chance." "And if you give it one more chance, and it doesn't work," she said, "I'll be willing to do whatever you want." And I said, "Well, you know, if we give it one more chance, this is going to consist of getting to Syracuse,

unpacking, and they could call tomorrow and say they made a mistake, and I'm gonna be back where I was, and she says, "If you're willing to do it, for me, one more time, then I'm willing to do whatever you want afterwards." So I said, "OK, I'll give it one more shot." I did, I gave it one more shot. I spent two or three weeks in the minor leagues. I went right back up after about a two, three week period. So Bonnie was as important as that arm I'm looking at, in the career of Ron Guidry. It's probably has always been just as important because without her, you know, that, that instance would have come and gone and I could have been back home, and not a major league ballplayer, I don't know. But today she's still the driving force. Ron, what might have happened to you if you'd gone on home? What do you think you'd have ended up doing? Do you ever think about it? I don't. I don't think about it any more because that's a part of my life that is nonexistent. Yes. So I don't, I don't waste any time thinking about, you know, what could you have done really if you would have come back home. I don't know.

1978, of course, was one of those magic years that, uh, in your life that was an astounding year, and, uh, you know, all of us have fantasies and dreams. All of us, all human beings. I think that's one of the things that keeps us going is dreaming about some magic taking place in our life. '78 for you was magic, wasn't it? Well, I don't look at it as being magic. I think it's probably being the high point of my baseball career so far. You won the Cy Young award. Y'all won the World Series. You won everything that a man in your profession can, can do. Well, I won a lot of awards really. But the awards that....It's the awards you got because somebody said you did something spectacular. The World Series was the crowning, you know, of the whole year itself. If we would have not made it there, then my whole year would have been just a mediocre year.

It would have been great on paper, but to me it wouldn't have meant anything. Can a year like that ever take place again? Sure. It can happen again? It can happen again. A lot of things, you know, constitute a year like that though. You have to, you have to have all the timely hitting and timely pitching that everybody talks about. But the biggest, the biggest honor that you can get from it is, everybody, every pitch in the major leagues every year always goes to spring training and looks to have a year like I had. And I had one of those type of years, so I don't have to look for that anymore. I would like for it to come, but whether they come or not, I know at least what it, what it means to go through one year. But the thing is, there's countless amount of pitchers that come every year and go, you know, in baseball, and they'll never experience that. I mean there even have been great ones who had never experienced that. They've had great years, but not as great as that one. But it's just everybody says that, "Man, that's what I go for. I would, I would give my arm for one of those years."

And, you know, I had one. So that's the biggest compliment that anybody can pay me is is having another major league pitcher say, "If my career would end next year, I'd want to end it with a year like yours." When uh, when you finally hang it up, as you will one day, what will you look back on in Ron Guidry's career with the most pleasure? What will give you the most feeling of satisfaction? I mean, you've achieved so much, you know. Well, when I started, I didn't know what I was really looking for. Because when you start a major league career, you don't know how good or how bad you're going to be, how long you're going to last or how short you're going to last. And I always feel that my time was short because I started really when I was 26, 27 years old pitching regularly. So right away I knew my time, as far as years goes, is gonna be condensed, maybe 10, 12 years. If I could play 15, it would be great, but if I could play from 10 to 15 that would be all I'm really interested in. But the thing that's going to provide me more when I get out is to be able to say if I played 10

years, I didn't waste any time. I made my 10 years count for something. And the records that I've accumulated, the stats that I've accumulated, I've been fortunate to play on a good team. I can only be as good as the team I play for. And I'll only win because the guys playing behind me help me win. I could stand out there and pitch shut out ball for endless amount of innings and not win if they don't score a run. So, I can pitch a good game, but I have to rely on them to score the runs or to offset all the runs that I give up. And that's a... that's the thing that makes a good pitcher and a good team. If I give up 10 runs, they'll score 11. If I give up one, then they've got to score two. If I don't give up any, they still have to score one. So it's, it's a, it's a you scratch my back, I'll scratch your back type affair so. But the thing that I'm going to do when I get out and I'll rock in my rocking chair after it's all over, is to say that I had good records to be proud of because I played with a good team. But the big

thing is when I was there I didn't waste my time. Ron, you live and work in the most media-intensive spot on the face of the earth, New York City. The networks are there. Time magazine. Newsweek. The New York Times. What's it like being a superstar in that most media-intensive city? Obviously, you can't go any place without the folks asking for autographs like happened right here in the studio. And I must say, I was one who asked for one. So what's it like being a superstar in New York City? Well it's, it's the place to play you, you have more, uh, what we refer to - you get more ink over there than anyplace else. But, I've always been the type to just....wherever you go, you do your business. You don't worry about anybody else's business, and you don't stick your nose in anybody else's business. So, consequently, what's going to happen, you're going

to stay more out of trouble than you're going to get in trouble. And New York is a great place to play, but it's also an easy place to get in trouble. You have to watch what you say in the papers because 50 writers, 100 writers a day can easily mistake what you say. And I've just adopted the attitude that when they ask you a question, you answer that question with the least amount of words possible. You make it precise. Yes or no. Maybe, maybe not. And that's, if that's what it takes, that's the answer you give 'em. But you try to refrain from giving them anything else that they can play with. I've stayed out of trouble for seven years now. Or just about out of trouble. I can't say that I've been, you know, uh, out of trouble for seven years. I have. I've been in trouble maybe once or twice with the press. But you try to stay away because that's the way I want it. I don't want to be in the paper all the time as condemning the manager, the owner, the players. That's not, that's not why I'm there anyway.

I'm there because I can, I can pitch. I belong to a great team. And that's all I want to do. So I stay away, but you really have to be careful what you say or else it could be turned around. And you're all, you'll always be reprimanded for things you say and then you have to justify why you said it. The best way to stay out all that is just to not say anything in the first place. Another question: How tough it is being a sports celebrity on a marriage? You're on the road constantly. You have fans, groupies must call your room or try to. How do marriages survive successfully in that kind of atmosphere, that kind of a world? You have to have a tremendous amount of trust in between the husband and the wife. I go away from my wife, once we leave here, in February from I would say from the beginning of April to the end of October. We're

away for about approximately one hundred seventy days. Well, out of that time period, I'm away from my family 80 days because that's the amount of games we play on the road. And you have to have a tremendous amount of trust in between the individuals because I don't know what happens when I'm away, and vice versa. So, it's always the trust that you have, and Bonnie and I have a tremendous amount of trust. We're close. We both know what's demanded of both of us. So, just like the pitching. You know what you're there for. So you follow your guideline. Let me ask you something about pitching. Who's your toughest out? Is there anyone you just dread seeing come up to the plate? I dread the first batter of opening day till the last batter of the last day, because everyone really is hard and everybody has a different situation, different types of hitters. You have your Punch and Judy hitters, you have your good hitters, and you have your power hitters. And they're always, always spread out in a lineup. And you get, well, who's this

guy? He's a Punch and Judy hitter. Who's the next one? And he's a power hitter. Who's the toughest guy you've you've faced this season, if I had to pin you down? Or two of 'em. Well, we have guys like George Brett, who is always a tough out, but he's a challenge out. He's a guy that I get up for. You have guys like Carew. You have guys like Jim Rice. You have guys like Cecil Cooper. In fact you have the whole Milwaukee lineup is a challenge. But you have a lot of guys. You can't single out any one guy. Steve Kemp and Don Baylor. Now they'll be playing with me so I won't have to worry about them, but they're tough outs. You don't have one guy that stands out. You have a lot of them that stand out. You have those guys because they constantly. And I what I do is, I classify those guys as, as the guys I don't want to face, because they constantly hit the ball. The guys that you, you remember all of the time are those guys that come out and even though they make an out, it's always 420-foot

line drive over the shortstop, deep fly ball in the gap. It's that kind of guy that pops into your head all the time because he's always hitting you. He stays in. He battles you. He doesn't let you strike him out a lot. He's always making contact. And even though he's a, he's a .150 hitter, that's the one that gives you trouble. He's always making contact. When you're on the mound and you pitch, how quick can you tell that somebody's knocked it out of the park? And what's the sensation? As soon as I throw it. Is that right? As soon as it makes that sweet sound, you know it's going to go. And how do you feel? You just. Well, I've always said it's not an insult if you give it up to a guy that's a legitimate home run hitter. I see. You take a guy like, like Rice, and your Coopers, your Jacksons, your Baylors. If those guys hit home runs, that's not an insult. Because you check on the list, they have some mighty impressive names that they have on their list. So I don't feel that I've done anything wrong because I know I'm going to give them up.

But the thing that most pitchers pride themselves on is there's nothing about giving up a home run. But check and see how many runs you give up with those home runs. There's a difference between a single, a solo home run, or 2 or 3, or a grand slam. Most of the home runs that I give up are solos because I'm always around the plate. I try to get ahead with fastballs. I don't try to fool anybody. I'm going to get you a strike with a fast ball if you miss it. Now I'm going to throw you some sliders and you always have fits with those sliders so you better hit the first fastball. So most power hitters come out looking for that first fastball. If they get it, I didn't do anything. But it's not going to be, it's not going to be the same all the time. I'm not going to give you the perfect pitch to hit if the game is tied or one run. You're going to hit that home run when I got a six-run lead or else you're not going to hit it. And that's usually the case. Usually, when I give 'em up it has no bearing on the score. Once in a while it will be, but I'm human, I'm gonna make a mistake, cost a game but

out of all the home runs I've given up, which probably number around a 100 in 7 years. Maybe 1 or 2 of 'em have cost me a game. It's remarkable. Which, you know, it's a reflection on my pitching really, and that's I think that's the way you have to go about it. Nothing would giving up a homerun. Let me ask you something deeply personal. The Special Olympics are going to be held here in Baton Rouge this year. And I know that the Special Olympics have a special meaning to Ron Guidry. Can you talk to us just a little about that? Well, I had a brother that was born in '68 who was born handicapped and he's progressed tremendously on his own. And due to Special Olympics. As far as his participation in Special Olympics, he has a chance to run, throw, and compete. Whereas he would have never been able to do that with the kids around the block. So, uh, for the last four or five years I've

donated a lot of time, you know, with the Special Olympics and visited the Special Olympics function in Washington D.C. with Eunice Shriver. We've become, I would say, good friends. She has always said that one of her favorite pictures is the picture of myself and the little child with the bat on most of your Special Olympics programs that go out in the country. That's one of her special pictures, and this year just so happens to be here in the state. So with all the time that I've given and, like I said with my brother, you know, participating in the program, bringing the Special Olympics here to Louisiana is just like bringing... you're playing in a World Series. It's just that, that's the last goal. That's the last stepping stone. You can't go any higher than that. So it's just an added plus. And, uh, I've always just been

tickled to play, with the kids and participate with them because, uh, you know, like I always said, the reward that I get is that gleam that they look and they give you when they look at you straight in the eye after you've said something or you've caught 'em from, you know, hugged 'em for racing or congratulated them for winning a medal, there's always a gleam. And that's the reward. They know somebody out there really appreciates what I'm doing today. Ron, you have strong feelings for Louisiana, don't you? We've only got a few moments left. You're a real Louisianian, aren't you? Well, I've always said if I was lucky to be up here and, after all my travels in the country, I think the worst thing would be if they told me I had to move. I don't know where I would go. I've really became fond of the people. Just everything about it. I'm an outdoors type of person. I visited almost every state now. There's really no other state like it. They brag about their

hunting, but I can sit down and just tell 'em, you know, there's nothing that you have that I don't have. And yet I just go back every year and they ask you why. Why don't you stay somewheres else? You have a home in New York. You can stay there. You can make all the money you want. Well, all the money is not worth all the joy and excitement I have here in Louisiana especially you know in the southern part because that's where I'm from. What will you do when you retire, Ron? Well, I've hunted almost every winter since I was five years old, but I haven't had the opportunity to fish. So I think I'm just going to take up my fishin'. I want to share with our friends a couple of observations that I have about Ron as I sit here with him. First, he's a very small man, and that was a surprise to me, that, because that that great power that you evidence on that mound. I don't know why, but I guess we associate power with size and I thought that, you know, you'd be a great big man. And the other, uh,

thing that I'm happy to share with you, in case you're one of the few people who perhaps didn't know it, but Ron Guidry is, of course, a marvelous pitcher, and that's no news. But I want to let you in on a secret in case you didn't know. I have a very good feeling that he's also a marvelous young man and Ron it's been a pleasure having you back home in Louisiana. Merci. Thank you. I really enjoyed it. OK. [theme music] Funding for the production of Louisiana Legends is provided in part by the Friends of

Louisiana Public Broadcasting and by Union National Life Insurance, a Louisiana company serving Louisiana and the South since 1926.