1955 Bowman: #154 Frank Lary

Frank Strong Lary / Detroit Tigers / Pitcher
Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 5'11" Weight: 175
Born: April 10, 1930, Northport, AL
Signed: Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent before 1950 season
As a Player: Detroit Tigers 1954-64; New York Mets 1964; Milwaukee Braves 1964; New York Mets 1965; Chicago White Sox 1965
Died: December 14, 2017, Northport, AL (age 87)

Frank Lary enjoyed a decade of success with the Tigers, winning 20 games twice and earning three All-Star Game berths in 1960 and 1961. That latter season was probably his best as he went 23-9 with a 3.24 ERA while leading the league with 22 complete games. He won a Gold Glove for his fielding efforts while finishing third in Cy Young voting and seventh in MVP voting. Lary can claim three fantastic baseball nicknames with "Taters," "Mule" and the "Yankee Killer." The Yankee Killer nickname was bestowed upon him as he went 27-10 against the powerhouse Yankees between 1955 and 1961. Lary led the league three times in innings pitched and three times in complete games, but his heavy workload with the Tigers led to shoulder problems later in his career. Atop the Tigers' pitching rotation between 1957 and 1963, Lary and Jim Bunning did everything they could to pitch Detroit into the World Series, but they never made it. The closest they came was 1961 when the Tigers finished eight games behind the Yankees, despite winning 101 games. Lary was sold to the Mets in May 1964, beginning a year and a half on the move with the Mets, the Braves, back to the Mets and finally with the White Sox.

Lary appeared in 350 big league games and a had a 128-116 record to go along with a 3.49 ERA. He struck out 1,099 over 2,162 1/3 innings pitched. His 21 career shutouts are currently 232nd on the all-time leaders list. Lary briefly served as a minor league roving pitching coach for the Mets before retiring from the game.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.

1955 Season / Detroit Tigers

From his SABR biography, written by Jim Sargent:

. . . Lary looked forward to a spot in Detroit’s rotation in 1955. The Bengals hired manager Bucky Harris, who took over after Fred Hutchinson, who wanted a two-year contract, resigned. Harris expected Lary to be a key part of his mound staff. As it developed, the Tigers' rotation included veteran right handers Ned Carver (#188), who went 12-16, and Steve Gromek (#203), the former Indian, who was 13-10. Southpaw Billy Hoeft, in his fourth season for the Tigers, produced a 16-7 mark . . .

Schoolboy Rowe, Tiger coach and former Bengal pitching great of the 1930s, concluded, "He’s throwing TOO HARD." When Lary took something off his pitches, he developed more control. By season's end, he had learned the big league ropes while enjoying mixed success, going 14-15 with an ERA of 3.10. But he was strong, durable, and effective, appearing 36 times, making 31 starts, and hurling 16 complete games, including two shutouts. He struck out 98 batters while walking 89 . . .

Lary's first career victory against New York came at Briggs Stadium on June 8, 1955, when he topped Bullet Bob Turley, 3-1, in a matchup of fastballers. Lary, called "Bulldog" by New York pilot Casey Stengel because of his tenacity, gave up eight hits and passed four, but he struck out six and proved tougher to hit, as usual, with runners aboard.

Building the Set / Card #10

Summer of 1983 or 1984 in Millville, NJ / Original 17 from the Magic Box

Last fully retold with the Al Dark (#2) post, this Lary card was one of the 17 cards from the 1955 Bowman set contained within the Magic Box.

The Card / Bowman Exclusive / Rookie Card / Bio on Back / Tigers Team Set

This is Lary's rookie card, exclusive to Bowman as he was omitted from the 1955 Topps set. Bowman made a good call including Lary in their set, even though he had only pitched in three big league games to date.