Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 4, 1993 TAG: 9307060187
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MONTREAL LENGTH: Long
Drysdale, 56, died of a heart attack, Dodgers officials announced. He is the second Dodgers Hall of Famer to die in the last week. Catcher Roy Campanella also died of heart attack on June 26.
"I was just with him at Campy's funeral," former Dodgers pitcher Clem Labine said from Vero Beach, Fla. "Holy Toledo! Of all the things to happen. It's just hard to believe. . . . My God, one on top of the other."
Drysdale's death was confirmed by the Dodgers during Saturday night's game with the Montreal Expos.
Lt. Rick Rizzetto of the Montreal police said the body was found Saturday afternoon, but that a medical examiner estimated the time of death as shortly after midnight Friday.
Drysdale, who won the 1962 Cy Young Award as baseball's best pitcher, had been a broadcaster with the Dodgers since 1988.
One of his partners in the booth, Vin Scully, called Saturday night's game "the toughest broadcast in my life. I am stunned and brokenhearted for Ann and the children. Don was not only a Hall of Fame player and a fine broadcaster, but a dear friend and a joy to be with. I pray for the Drysdales."
Among Drysdale's survivors is his widow, Ann Meyers, a Hall of Fame basketball player at UCLA.
Best known as a fierce competitor with a hard sidearm delivery that was particularly tough on right-handed hitters, Drysdale compiled a 209-166 record with a 2.95 earned run average in 14 seasons with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Perhaps his most impressive achievement was a string of 58 shutout innings in 1968, a major-league record that stood for 20 years. It was surpassed by current Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser.
"When you're around fans and they start talking baseball, that seems to be the thing they associate with me . . . that and my reputation for being mean, or the fact that I was durable and never missed a turn," Drysdale wrote in his 1990 book "Once a Bum, Always a Dodger." "Maybe that's what I'm proudest of, that I took the ball."
Citing arm problems, Drysdale retired during the 1969 season.
A native of Van Nuys, Calif., Drysdale broke in as a 20-year-old with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956. He went 5-5 that season.
In 1957, the Dodgers' final season in Brooklyn, Drysdale became the ace of the staff with a 17-9 record.
Drysdale, Koufax, Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider and Jackie Robinson all made the Hall of Fame from that team, along with manager Walter Alston and coach Billy Herman.
His finest season was 1962, when he was 25-9 and led the National League with 41 starts, 314 innings and 287 strikeouts.
The 6-foot-6, 200-pound right-hander was 23-12 in 1965.
Drysdale, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984, led the National League in games started four times, in strikeouts three times and in innings pitched twice.
No pitcher was more feared by hitters than the whip-armed Drysdale, whose easy smile off the field was replaced by a sneer when he was on the mound.
"Once the manager came out to the mound and instructed me to walk a batter," Drysdale said. "I wound up hitting him instead. Why waste four pitches when one will do?
"Sooner or later you have to say it's my ball and half the plate is mine. Only I never let on which half of the plate I wanted."
Koufax and Drysdale were mates on another kind of team in the days before free agency and agents became part of the game. They held out in tandem in 1966, missing spring training before settling for more than $100,000 each, the first pitchers to reach six figures.
Drysdale was in his fifth season as a Dodgers broadcaster and his 22nd overall in the booth. His career included 10 years with ABC.
Drysdale pitched in five World Series, helping the Dodgers win three, and took part in 10 All-Star games.
He was 3-3 with a 2.95 ERA in World Series play. He pitched a 1-0 shutout in Game 3 in 1963 as the Dodgers swept the New York Yankees.
A powerfully built right-handed hitter, Drysdale batted .300 with seven home runs in 1965. He also hit seven homers in 1958 and had 29 for his career.
In recent years, Drysdale had become a critic of modern players.
"You have to wonder when two players of different teams have the same agent," he said. "Who are these players really loyal to, the agent or their teams?
"You don't see 15 guys going out for a beer anymore. You see 24 guys living in 24 different single rooms on the road, and in some instances, taking 24 different cabs to the stadium."
\ Year-by-year statistics for Don Drysdale: please see microfilm
Career Highlights
Elected to Hall of Fame, 1984.
Played in five World Series, including winning in 1959, 1963 and 1965.
Selected to 10 All-Star games.
Set major-league record of 58 consecutive scoreless innings in 1968, which was surpassed by Orel Hershiser in 1988 (59).
Won Cy Young Award, Sporting News Co-Major League Player of the Year and NL Pitcher of the Year in 1962.
One of eight Dodgers to have uniform number (53) retired, July 1, 1984.
by CNB