Billy Pierce
FameRank: 4

"Walter William Pierce" is a former United States/American professional baseball player. He was a Major League Baseball (MLB) left-handed starting pitcher who played on three teams for 18 seasons, from 1945 through 1964. He was considered to be one of the best pitchers in the 1950s. On June 27, 1958, he came within one batter of becoming the first left-hander in 78 years to throw a perfect game. He was a Major League All-Star seven times. He received the The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award (American League) for 1956 and 1957.

Pierce was one of the major participants in the rivalry between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees, especially his left-handed pitching matchups with left handed starting pitcher Whitey Ford. The two pitchers opposed one another 14 times, from 1955 to 1960. Pierce's record suffered from pitching so much against New York – who he faced more often than any other team – when the Yankees dynasty was at its peak; although his career record against New York was only 25–37, that was still slightly better than the 27–41 mark compiled by National League (NL) championship teams over 11 World Series against the Yankees during the same period.

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Maybe there's somebody up there not looking after us.

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We aren't real deep at heavyweight. We needed to be (further) ahead. (Hansen) did a good job.

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There's a stream running through the entire course that feeds into the Mississippi at the end. Water is a factor on every hole.

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They really came through when they had to. That was phenomenal.

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That was a big one for them.

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The World Series mattered a tremendous amount then and now. It always has been and always will be. It's just harder to get into now because they have to win two playoff series before they get there.

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Oh, poor Chicago. That's a long time ago. You think about a big city like this, and you think there's something wrong. The Cubs in 1984 -- you couldn't believe that could happen.

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I think we all lived on the South Side. The relationship between the people there and the club was just fantastic.

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I loved the guy. But you'd be out with him at dinner and he'd be smoking a cigarette and dropping the ashes into his peg leg. I mean, it was a bit disconcerting.

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