Drysdale, Donald Scott

▪ 1994

      ("BIG D"), U.S. baseball player and broadcaster (b. July 23, 1936, Van Nuys, Calif.—d. July 3, 1993, Montreal, Que.), as a star right-handed power pitcher for the Brooklyn (1956-58) and Los Angeles (1958-69) Dodgers, intimidated batters with his hopping fastball and trademark brushback pitches; he later became a sports announcer after retiring as a player. The "Big D" had a banner year in 1962, when he had 25 wins, 9 losses, and 232 strikeouts and won the Cy Young Award as the best pitcher in the National League. In 1968 he pitched 58 consecutive scoreless innings, a record that stood until 1988, when another Dodger pitcher, Orel Hershiser, pitched 59. Drysdale's specialty brushback pitches, virtually unknown in modern times because of rule changes, were responsible for hitting 154 batters, a 20th-century National League record. Drysdale, who pitched in five World Series and was named to nine All-Star teams, had a career record of 209 victories, 166 losses, 2,486 strikeouts, 49 shutouts, and a 2.95 earned run average. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984. In 1990 he published Once a Bum, Always a Dodger. Drysdale, who reportedly had undergone an angioplasty because of heart problems, was found dead in his hotel room after suffering a heart attack.

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