Daniel Eugene McDevitt (November 18, 1932 – November 20, 2010) was an American

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 ...

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), ...

who played from 1957 through 1962 for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers,

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

, Minnesota Twins and

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 sea ...

. The left-hander was listed at tall and . McDevitt was born in 1932 in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. He relocated together with his family to

Hallstead, Pennsylvania Hallstead is a borough in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. The population was 1,179 at the 2020 census. History Hallstead was settled in 1787. What is now Hallstead was incorporated as Great Bend Village on November 28, 1874. In 1887, it was re ...

, where he was a star player on his high school baseball team. He attended St. Bonaventure University in Olean, New York, but dropped out after he was signed by the

as an amateur free agent in September 1951.Danny McDevitt
,

Baseball-Reference.com Baseball-Reference is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is often used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advan ...

. Accessed November 24, 2010. He was released by the Yankees and served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

before being signed by the Dodgers after the completion of his military service.Slotnik, Daniel E
"Danny McDevitt, Dodgers Pitcher, Dies at 78"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', November 23, 2010. Accessed November 24, 2010. McDevitt is most remembered as the starting pitcher for the Dodgers' last home game at

Ebbets Field Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball stadium in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York. It is mainly known for having been the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team of the National League (1913–1957). It was also home to five pro ...

in Brooklyn on September 24, 1957, during his first season in the big leagues. McDevitt threw a 2–0

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

over the Pittsburgh Pirates in front of a crowd of 6,702, in a game in which he recorded nine strikeouts and gave up five hits. He finished the 1957 season with a 7–4 record, along with 90 strikeouts and an

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

of 3.25. In October, just weeks after what turned out to be the team's final game in Brooklyn, owner

Walter O'Malley Walter Francis O'Malley (October 9, 1903 – August 9, 1979) was an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers team in Major League Baseball from 1950 to 1979. In 1958, as owner of the Dodgers, he brought major league b ...

announced that the Dodgers would be moving to Los Angeles.Noland, Claire
"Danny McDevitt dies at 78; pitched Brooklyn Dodgers' last game at Ebbets Field: Two weeks after McDevitt threw a five-hit shutout for the team in a 2–0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sept. 24, 1957, owner Walter O'Malley announced he was moving the franchise to Los Angeles"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'', November 24, 2010. Accessed November 24, 2010. He pitched three more seasons with the Dodgers, achieving a career-best 10 wins against eight losses in 1959, when the Dodgers would go on to win their first World Series championship in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, defeating the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

in six games, though McDevitt did not appear in the series. He played for both the Yankees and the Minnesota Twins during the 1961 season, and ended his big league career with the

in 1962. McDevitt lived in Social Circle, Georgia, and died in

Covington, Georgia Covington is a city in the U.S. state of Georgia and the seat of Newton County, and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Census, its population 14,113. History Covington was founded by European immigrants to the United ...

, aged 78.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDevitt, Danny 1932 births 2010 deaths United States Army personnel of the Korean War Amsterdam Rugmakers players Baseball players from New York (state) Baseball players from Pennsylvania Brooklyn Dodgers players Cedar Rapids Raiders players Dallas Rangers players Elmira Pioneers players Fort Worth Cats players Greenwood Dodgers players Kansas City Athletics players LaGrange Troupers players Los Angeles Dodgers players Macon Dodgers players Major League Baseball pitchers Minnesota Twins players Montreal Royals players New York Yankees players People from Manhattan People from Social Circle, Georgia People from Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania Portland Beavers players St. Bonaventure Bonnies baseball players St. Paul Saints (AA) players