![]() ![]() ![]() Had 11 years of double-digit wins (12 overall).Won 186 games with the White Sox from 1949-1961 (211 overall).The list of his accomplishments could go on forever but we’ll only highlight some of them, especially for fans who never saw him play: It was a time when even the worst teams like Washington and Kansas City had players of the caliber of Harmon Killebrew, Roy Sievers and Roger Maris.īilly Pierce was right in the middle of it.ĭespite being small in size, “Billy the Kid” proved he was among the best pitchers in baseball, and did it consistently for more than 10 years. It was a time when the players actually cared (especially about winning), when owners actually tried to do their best to win instead of making excuses about profit margins, and when kids all over the country could recite the starting lineups of most teams in baseball just as easily as their math tables. It was a time when baseball was the national pastime, when the White Sox didn’t play second fiddle to anyone, especially in their own city. ![]() Rest in peace, my friend.īilly Pierce … just saying the name evokes memories of another time in America. Here is the interview that started the relationship. Simply put, Billy was one of the nicest people I ever had the pleasure to meet, and his baseball accomplishments speak for themselves. Doing his obituary was literally one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done it’s hard to type when your eyes are filled with tears. When he passed away in July 2015 and I got the news, I was completely shocked. We’d talk a few times a year, I’d call him on his birthday, and whenever I got back to Chicago I’d usually hook up with him and his wife Gloria, who opened their home in Lamont to me. He was warm and generous over the phone, and from there a friendship developed. I first got to know Billy Pierce in the summer of 2002 when I contacted him to do an interview. Ascent to superstardom: Pierce pitched his way out of arm trouble here in 1954 and began his ascent to a Hall of Fame-caliber career. ![]()
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