Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Larry Jansen Dies at 89

I don't claim to be a baseball historian and rarely write about players from years past, but part of my job each day is to read all of the newspapers searching for stories about our company. As luck would have it, one of those publications is the New York Times, so I get to read a pretty decent sports section, although it is often filled with Yankee dribble....by the way, great story yesterday on Theo Epstein and his off-season plans for the Red Sox. Lets just say, Theo ain't happy and he went as far as to even point out players that had DECENT seasons saying that they could have played better. And Dice-K, you have officially been put on notice.


But that has nothing to do with Larry Jansen. Who is Larry Jansen you may ask. WELL, Larry Jansen was a member of the famous 1951 New York Giants. You know that famous clip of video "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant"!, well Larry was the guy that pitched a 1-2-3 top of the 9th that then set up Bobby Thomson's 3-run "Home Run Heard Round the World".

Other notes about Jansen and the Giants...Jansen was a 23 game winner that season, which is a remarkable feat in itself. The Giants came back from 13 games back in the division in August to win the division and ultimately the pennant. Unfortunately Jansen went 0-2 in the World Series and lost to the Yankees (go figure) in 6 games. Nevertheless after winning 21 games his rookie season, then 18, 19, and 21 in his world series season, Jansen was clearly an ace for his time.

So Larry Jansen, this blogs for you!


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3 comments:

  1. Collective TrollOctober 14, 2009 at 2:31 PM

    Wow, I hadn't heard that...Thanks for the update Mike. Larry was another guy that I had penpaled with in the mid-90s. We fell out of touch with me moving and I never wrote him back. His season in 51 was amazing! Sad to hear though. RIP Mr. Jansen.

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  2. Play at the PlateOctober 14, 2009 at 5:35 PM

    Not everyone is Babe Ruth or Nolan Ryan. So many players who weren't and aren't household names get overshadowed that it's nice to be reminded of them. RIP Larry Jansen.

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  3. dealOctober 14, 2009 at 5:39 PM

    Thanks for posting - Like Brian sed not everyone is a Ruth or Ryan, yet these guys like Larry Jansen are part of great moments in the game. Learning about them is a good way to learn about the history of the game.

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