Vern Law

Vern Law
Pitcher
Born: March 12th, 1930 Meridian ,  United States
Strikes: Right	Throws: Right
Debut in Major League Baseball
June 11,  1950  with the  Pittsburgh Pirates
Last MLB assignment
August 20,  1967  with the Pittsburgh Pirates
MLB statistics (until end of career)
Wins - Loss	162-147
ERA	3.77
Strikeouts	1,092
Teams
Pittsburgh Pirates ( 1950 - 1951 , 1954 - 1967 )
Awards
2 × All-Star ( 1960 , 1960² ) World Series Winner ( 1960 ) Cy Young Award (1960)
Last update: May 9, 2019

Vernon Sanders "Vern" Law , nicknamed Deacon , (born March 12, 1930 in Meridian , Idaho ) is a retired American baseball player . He played for the Pittsburgh Pirates only as a pitcher during his 16-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB) . In 1960 he won the World Series and was awarded the Cy Young Award that same year .

Law's son Vance also played in the MLB. His grandson Adam played in the minor leagues .

Career

Law signed a minor league contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1948 and played in their farm teams for two years ; 1948 with the Santa Rosa Pirates and 1949 with the Davenport Pirates.

After two years in the minor leagues, Law made his MLB debut on June 11, 1950 against the Philadelphia Phillies . The game lost the Pirates 6-7, which Law pitched completely. The stats for his first season in the MLB are seven wins , nine losses , an Earned Run Average (ERA) of 4.92, on 27 appearances. In the 1952 season he made 28 games, had an ERA of 4.50, won six and lost nine. Law served in the US military in 1951 and 1952 and could not appear for the Pirates. After his return he was able to fight for a place in the Pirates team, showed good performances and was named Player of the Month of the National League (NL) together with Willie McCovey in August 1959 . His stats for the month are four wins, zero losses, an ERA of 1.94 and 25 strikeouts thrown . 1960 should be the most successful year in his career, because in addition to participating in two All-Star Games , winning the Cy Young Awards , the Pirates won the World Series 4: 3 games against the New York Yankees . During that World Series, Law won two games and was a major contributor to winning this championship. Furthermore, Law led the MLB as the pitcher with the most fully pitched games that year. In 1965 he won the Comeback Player of the Year Award with 19 wins, seven losses and an ERA of 2.15 in 29 games. In June of the same year he and Willie Stargell won the NL Player of the Month Award with six wins, one loss, an ERA of 0.87 and 32 strikeouts. 1967 he made his last game in the MLB on August 20 against the New York Mets . The game was won by the Pirates 4-2. Law pitched 5 1/3 innings in the game .

Law, who was highly respected by his teammates, ended his MLB career with 162 wins to 147 losses and an ERA of 3.77.

Personal

Law is a Mormonist . He became a deacon at age 12, a teacher at 15, and a priest at 17 in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .

Web links

• Player information and statistics from MLB  or  Baseball Reference  or  Fangraphs  or  Baseball Reference (Minor League) (English)
• Biography on the Society for American Baseball Research website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Player information and statistics from Vance Law on Baseball-Reference.com , accessed on May 9, 2019.
2. ↑ Player information and statistics from Adam Law on MLB.com , accessed on May 9, 2019.
3. ↑ Statistics for the game Philadelphia Phillies vs. Pittsburgh Pirates. Baseball-Reference.com , accessed May 9, 2019 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Winner of the National League Player of the Month Awards. MLB.com, accessed May 9, 2019 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Statistics for the game New York Mets against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Baseball-Reference.com, accessed May 9, 2019 . 
6. ^ ^{A b} Lester J. Biederman: Vern Law Pitches Both For Pirates And Mormon Church. In: The Pittsburgh Press. April 6, 1958, p. 4 , accessed May 9, 2019 (English).