Daniel Joseph Petry ( ; born November 13, 1958) is an American former
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
for the
Detroit Tigers (1979–87 and 1990–91),
California Angels (1988–89),
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...
(1991) and
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...
(1991). He currently serves as a studio analyst for the Detroit Tigers on
Bally Sports Detroit
Bally Sports Detroit (BSD) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group that operates as a Bally Sports affiliate. It provides coverage of local sports teams in the state of Michigan, primarily focusing on those in Metro D ...
.
Playing career
Petry helped the Tigers win the
1984 World Series
The 1984 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1984 season. The 81st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Detroit Tigers and the Nationa ...
and the 1987 American League Eastern Division, and helped the Braves win the 1991 National League pennant. He was elected to the American League
All-Star team in 1985. He led the American League in games started (38) in 1983. In 1982 and 1984, Petry finished ninth and fifth, respectively, in American League
Cy Young Award voting.
In 13 years he had a 125-104 record (.546), 370 appearances, 300 games started, 52 complete games, 11 shutouts, one save, innings pitched, 1,984 hits allowed, 1,025 runs allowed, 912 earned runs allowed, 218 home runs allowed, 852 walks allowed, 1,063 strikeouts, 47 hit batsmen, 77 wild pitches, seven balks and a 3.95 earned run average.
Petry only appeared in 13 games as a Red Sox, but in 1991, that is where he ended his career. Used strictly as a relief pitcher, he managed to pick up his one and only MLB save. It came on September 30, 1991 against the Brewers. Petry pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings to close out a wild 9-8 Red Sox victory over the Brewers.
Defensively, Petry was an above average fielding pitcher, posting a .980
fielding percentage, committing only 12 errors in 603
total chances
In baseball statistics, total chances (TC), also called ''chances offered'', represents the number of plays in which a defensive player has participated. It is the sum of putouts plus assists plus errors. ''Chances accepted'' refers to the total ...
, which was 23 points higher than the league average at his position.
Post-playing career
In 2012, Petry served as a substitute
color analyst for the
Detroit Tigers Radio Network
The Detroit Tigers Radio Network is an American radio network composed of 49 radio stations which carry English-language coverage of the Detroit Tigers, a professional baseball team in Major League Baseball (MLB). Detroit's WXYT-FM (97.1 ...
, teaming with play-by-play announcer
Dan Dickerson
Daniel Hill Dickerson (born November 13, 1958) is an American sportscaster, best known for his current position as the lead radio play-by-play voice of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers on the Detroit Tigers Radio Network.
Early life an ...
for several road games while regular analyst
Jim Price recuperated from health problems. In 2022, he resumed filling in for Price while the Tigers were on the road.
On January 15, 2019, Petry was named a studio analyst for the
Detroit Tigers on
Bally Sports Detroit
Bally Sports Detroit (BSD) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group that operates as a Bally Sports affiliate. It provides coverage of local sports teams in the state of Michigan, primarily focusing on those in Metro D ...
.
Personal life
Petry and his wife, Christine have two sons, Matt, who is the head coach of the
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s baseball team, who have won three Michigan High School Athletic Association championships under Petry, and
Jeff
Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey.
Music
* DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes
* ...
, who currently is a defenseman for the
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...
of the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
. Petry attended
El Dorado High School in
Placentia, California, where he was a
CIF
Cif is a French brand of household cleaning products owned by the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever, known as Jif in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Middle East and the Nordic countries.
Cif was launched in France in 1965 and was marketed in competit ...
championship winning pitcher.
References
External links
Dan Petryat Baseball Library
Dan PetryFacts, Biography & Chronology at This Day In Baseball
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petry, Dan
1958 births
American League All-Stars
Atlanta Braves players
Baseball players from California
Boston Red Sox players
Bristol Tigers players
California Angels players
Detroit Tigers announcers
Detroit Tigers players
Evansville Triplets players
Lakeland Tigers players
Living people
Major League Baseball broadcasters
Major League Baseball pitchers
Montgomery Rebels players
Palm Springs Angels players
Sportspeople from Palo Alto, California