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Merkle923 · 08-01-2015, 03:49 PM

With only five major league games under his belt, the late Walter (Billy) Pierce was a member of a World's Championship team - the 1945 Detroit Tigers. He didn't pitch in the seven-game victory over the Cubs, but he could have. And though his major league career would stretch through 1964 as ten franchises moved or were created, he'd never be on another Series winner (though twice he was on losing teams, in 1959 and 1962).

Pierce's career accomplishments seem to have slipped through the cracks. His WAR of 53.2 puts him ahead of such Hall of Fame pitchers with careers of similar length like Chief Bender, Burleigh Grimes, and Waite Hoyt. He started three All-Star Games (in a four-year span, no less), and won in double figures thirteen times in a 14-year stretch.

But Pierce's finest hour has been almost completely erased from history because we have such spotty memories of the special playoffs that used to decide ties for the National League pennant. In 1962, Pierce almost personally put the Giants in the World Series. After the Giants tied the Dodgers in the last days of the regular season, Pierce promptly three-hit Los Angeles in the first playoff game at Candlestick Park. Two days later, after the infamous Stan Williams meltdown gave the Giants four runs in the ninth and a 6-4 lead in the third and decisive game at Dodger Stadium, it was Pierce to whom the Giants turned to punch the World Series ticket. He retired Maury Wills, Jim Gilliam, and Lee Walls in order.

10 innings of three-hit ball, a complete game win and a save, in a best two-out-of-three playoff series, for the Giants over the Dodgers? If that happened this October, Billy Pierce would have gotten himself a TV Truck Commercial.

The following two images are so seldom seen, that the eBay seller I got them from didn't know what they were. The first shows Pierce congratulated by his teammates after the shutout in Game One of the special '62 playoffs (he's in the middle, just getting his jacket on), and the second shows him as he left the field after putting the Giants in the World Series in Game Three.

08-01-2015, 03:49 PM	#25802
Merkle923 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2013 Posts: 2,225	Billy Pierce 1945 With only five major league games under his belt, the late Walter (Billy) Pierce was a member of a World's Championship team - the 1945 Detroit Tigers. He didn't pitch in the seven-game victory over the Cubs, but he could have. And though his major league career would stretch through 1964 as ten franchises moved or were created, he'd never be on another Series winner (though twice he was on losing teams, in 1959 and 1962). Pierce's career accomplishments seem to have slipped through the cracks. His WAR of 53.2 puts him ahead of such Hall of Fame pitchers with careers of similar length like Chief Bender, Burleigh Grimes, and Waite Hoyt. He started three All-Star Games (in a four-year span, no less), and won in double figures thirteen times in a 14-year stretch. But Pierce's finest hour has been almost completely erased from history because we have such spotty memories of the special playoffs that used to decide ties for the National League pennant. In 1962, Pierce almost personally put the Giants in the World Series. After the Giants tied the Dodgers in the last days of the regular season, Pierce promptly three-hit Los Angeles in the first playoff game at Candlestick Park. Two days later, after the infamous Stan Williams meltdown gave the Giants four runs in the ninth and a 6-4 lead in the third and decisive game at Dodger Stadium, it was Pierce to whom the Giants turned to punch the World Series ticket. He retired Maury Wills, Jim Gilliam, and Lee Walls in order. 10 innings of three-hit ball, a complete game win and a save, in a best two-out-of-three playoff series, for the Giants over the Dodgers? If that happened this October, Billy Pierce would have gotten himself a TV Truck Commercial. The following two images are so seldom seen, that the eBay seller I got them from didn't know what they were. The first shows Pierce congratulated by his teammates after the shutout in Game One of the special '62 playoffs (he's in the middle, just getting his jacket on), and the second shows him as he left the field after putting the Giants in the World Series in Game Three. Last edited by Merkle923; 08-01-2017 at 11:26 PM.