User:Aricv07/Lefty Gomez

Early life and Background
Vernon Louis " Lefty" Gomez was born and raised in Rodeo, California on November 26, 1908. He was the youngest out of eight children in his family. His father grew up as a cowboy and was known as coyote most of his life. The mother (Lissie Herring) was a sixth generation American- Welsh Irish decent. His father managed a 1,000-acre ranch in Franklin Canyon. This is where Lefty and his brothers would ride horses and became hired hands when they were just kids. Some of their tasks would be to wake up as early as 4:00 am to milk the cows and clean out the stalls before they headed to school for the day. He attended the San Francsico world's fair and watches the famous Pilot Lincoln Beachy crash into the bay while trying to complete a stunt when he was only 6 years old. A very outgoing kid and would like to try many different hobbies out. When he was 8 years old, he attended a 4th of July parade where he found a new passion to play the Saxaphone. His brother Earl was a big help in this passion due to the fact that he purchased Lefty his first Saxaphone on his ninth birthday. He took a job plucking chickens at the local butcher shop for $8 an hour to save up money for lessons. The next lifelong passion of his may has been the most important one he had growing up. He started playing Sandlot baseball for the Rodeo town team when he was only 13 years of age. he excelled right off the bat at the age of 14 and pitched throughout central California. He caught the eyes of the San Francisco Seals scout but was told to reach back out when he put on some weight as he was 6'2 125 pounds. He then got a summer job at a union oil scraping sludge from the stills at the refinery. He then attended Richmond high school but ran into an issue when he found out that the school did not have a baseball team. That did not stop his journey whatsoever. In his senior year of high school, he was offered a scholarship to play baseball at St. Mary's College, a smaller school that was just east of All- Star Oakland. This was huge for Lefty, but his father told him to give up baseball and focus on schoolwork to become an engineer like his older brother Milfred.

Baseball Career
Although his father was not a fan of continuing baseball, he went ahead and signed the contract for Lefty to play for the Seals at the 1928 spring training camp. He was not off to a hot start but picked up quit and was sent to the Utah- Idaho League for the season. At 21 years old, he was finally a Yankee. He reported in at 6 feet 2 inches and weighing in at 147 pounds. This scared many people that he was not ready for the big leagues. He made his big-league debut on April 9, 1930. He then later pitched in only 15 games in his first and finished the season with a 2–5-win loss record and a 5.55 earned run average. ￼(ERA) Prior to the 1931, he had to see the doctor to take his teeth out and was told to drink liquids daily and was given an unlimited amount of food when traveling to away games, so that he would gain weight. A three-time league leader in strikeouts and shutouts. Lefty's best season came in 1934, when he won 26 games and lost only 5. In 1934 and 1937, Lefty won pitching's "triple crown" by leading the entire league in wins, earned run average and strikeouts. Not to mention he also led the Al in both seasons in shutouts. He is the 15th ranked pitcher with a .649 winning percentage. He won 6 world series games without a single loss. And as of 2021, this is a post season and world series record. These wins coming once in 1932, 2 in 1936, 2 in 1937 and 1 in 1938. Along with his great pitching ability, he also had a great sense of humor and personality. This is why he was nicknamed "Goofy Gomez." In 1940, he suffered an arm injury that set him up for a trade to another team. in 1941 he had a 15 win and 5 loss seasons. he signed with the Washington Senators the following season but only pitched one game allowing four hits. He pulled a shoulder muscle that game and retired from the game of baseball. He ended with a 182-109 winning losing record with 1,468 strikeouts and and 3.34 ERA in 2,503 innings pitched.

Legacy
He is remembered as such a great left-handed pitcher that did it in a time where baseball was starting to be Americas game. He touched the lives of many for his fun a goofy personality. He is remembered to this day and there is an award named ABCA￼(American Baseball Coaches Association)/Wilson Lefty Gomez Award. This is an award of one of the most of all amateur baseball. Each year, this award is given to an individual that has distinguished himself and has contributed a significant amount to his team and the game. This can be either as a coach, or a player. The first time this award was given was 1962, all the way to 2023. Lefty Gomez was so impactful, there are many different awards that he has received as well as awards that are named in his memory.

These awards are the following:


 * The Lefty Gomez Volunteer of the year award
 * The Lefty Gomez Softball Volunteer of the year award

Baseball Field Dedications: ￼


 * Lefty Gomez Ballpark (Fairfax, California)
 * Lefty Gomez Field (Rodeo, California)
 * Lefty Gomez Varsity Baseball Field (San Marin, California)

National Honors


 * United States Goodwill Ambassador 1958
 * Congressional Record Commemoration 1976
 * Good Guy Award 1976
 * Lou Gehrig Pride of The Yankees Award 1987

Baseball Honors


 * MLB World Series Champion Team:1932, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941
 * MLB All- Star Team: 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939
 * Tripple Crown of Pitching: 1934, 1937
 * AL Pitching Champion: 1934, 1937
 * Elected to All- American All Stars and Japan Goodwill Tour: 1934
 * Director, Babe Ruth Baseball League International: 1964-1989
 * Annual National All-Star Promotion Tour: 1969-1985
 * Honorary Co-Captain of the MLB 50th All-Star Game: 1979
 * Honorary 50th Anniversary All-Star Game Pitcher: 1983
 * Smithsonian Museum Guest of Honor: 1984
 * King Of Baseball: 1986

Hall Of Fame
There has been some controversy on who makes it into the Hall of Fame. There are pitchers that make it to the Hall of Fame because they are good pitchers, and others make it because they are good pitchers who have pitched for a long time. Lefty Gomez was a great pitcher when he pitched. He did not pitch for a very long time. He had only pitched for 11 seasons. Andy Pettit had been a great pitcher but pitched 5 more seasons than Gomez did. For that reason, he may be inducted into the Hall of Fame due to the amount of time that he had pitched for. They pitched in different eras but had very similar career stats. Gomez had a four-time 20 game season, while Pettit did that twice. Pettit with a 3.88 career ERA and Gomez 3.34 career ERA. As far as the World Series, Gomez appeared in 5 while Pettit appeared in 8. As for as dominance goes, Lefty Gomez has taken control of that. He is perfect in the World Series as he went 6-0 with a 2.86 ERA in the span of those games. In the span of all of this, Gomez faced some tough hitters throughout the way. This does not take anything away from Andy Pettit. He was a great pitcher and a fairly consistent one for the Yankees during his time with them. One of those being Jimmy Foxx. Stating that this one of the only batters he has faced and almost never got him out. Jimmy Fox ended his career with 2,646 hits from in 20-year seasons ranging from 1925-1945 with 515 home runs with a career batting average of .325. A quote directly from lefty states, " I don't wanna throw him nothin', maybe he will get tired of waiting and leave. "This is an outstanding player and just an example of what kind of players he was pitching to during his career. When Inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1972, he was asked to say some words and he says, " The thing that helped me succeed was clean living, a fast outfield, and Johny Murphy." For those that don't know, Murphy was a top relief pitcher for the Yankees that helped saved games for Gomez for some time.