Happy Birthday to the late and great Hall of Fame Starting Pitcher. Over his fourteen-year career, all being with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers,Drysdale was one of the most dominant starters of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Along with Sandy Koufax, we’re arguably the greatest starting pitching duos ever.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1956-1969):

209-166 W-L, 2.95 ERA, 3,432 IP, 2,486 SO, 1.148 WHIP

• 9x All-Star

• 1962 Cy Young Winner

• 3x World Series Champion

During his career, he proved to oppose teams’ batters that he wasn’t afraid to throw pitchers right near batters to keep them off balance. His teammate Sal Maglie, who also was known for throwing inside, was very instrumental with Drysdale early on in his career. Like Bob Gibson, he was known for a sidearm fastball and brushback pitches. Drysdale’s first entire season in the big leagues was in 1957; every year through the 1968 season, he logged in 211.2 IP or more, as well as 300 or more IP from 1962-65. In 1968, his final full season he set a record for six consecutive shutouts and 58 1/2 scoreless innings. While 20 years later Orel Hershisher would break the inning record, he didn’t match the record of six consecutive complete game shutouts. Another thing about Drysdale was he could hit well for a pitcher. He ranks 6th all-time in HR by a pitcher, and even on days he wasn’t pitching, he Pinched Hit on occasions.

Career Hitting Stats:

.186 BA, 218 HITS, 96 RUNS, 29 HR, 113 RBI, .228 OBP

Unfortunately, like Koufax, in 1969, Drysdale was forced by injury to call it a career at the age of 32, a torn rotator cuff. Like Koufax, at the rate he pitched, he probably could’ve easily put together another 2-3 dominant years on the mound.

References:

1. Don Drysdale Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/drysddo01.shtml

2. Don Drysdale via Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Drysdale