Lawrence Donald Bearnarth (September 11, 1941 – December 31, 1999) was a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

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 for the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

(1963–66) and Milwaukee Brewers (1971). Bearnarth batted and threw right-handed and was listed as tall and .

Personal

Bearnarth was born in a

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 ...

hospital but lived his childhood in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and later on

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. He went to

St. Peter's Boys High School St. Peter's Boys High School is an American Catholic all-boys' high school, located in the West New Brighton area of the Staten Island borough of New York City, New York. The school is affiliated with the Christian Brothers of St. John Bap ...

on Staten Island and played varsity

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and baseball. He then attended St. John's University, and graduated with a degree in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

. He died as result of a massive heart attack at the age of 58 on New Year's Eve 1999 at his home in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Social Security Records show ~ Date of Birth: 11 SEP 1940 and Date of Death: 01 JAN 2000
First Rockies pitching coach dies
/ref>

Playing career

In a five-season career, Bearnarth posted a 13–21 record with a 4.13

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

and eight saves in 173 games pitched. He allowed 350 hits and 135

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

in 322

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

, with 124

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s. Bearnarth was signed by the New York Mets in 1962 and went directly to the Triple-A

Syracuse Chiefs Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

of the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

. A year later wearing #31, he started his big league career for the 1963 Mets, a team coming off an historic 40–120 record in its inaugural season as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

. Despite his 3–8 record in his rookie year, Bearnarth maintained a 3.46 ERA in a career-high 126

. During the next three seasons, he divided his playing time between the Mets and Triple-A Buffalo and

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. From 1967 to 1970 Bearnarth pitched in Triple-A with the

Jacksonville Suns The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are located in Jacksonville, Florida, and are named for shrimp caught in the area. The team pla ...

(1967–68) and

Tidewater Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's location on the Chesap ...

. In 1971 he was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the Milwaukee Brewers and wore #29, retiring at the end of the season. He was able to obtain the required pension time as an active player (five years then). Then, following his playing career, he became a pitching coach. Bearnarth became pitching coach for the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

in 1976 wearing #48 and between 1985 and 1991 wearing #36. Under his guidance, the team's ERA never was higher than 3.92 (in 1986), including the best ERA in franchise history, at 3.08 (1988). Two years later, his staff led the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

with a 3.37 ERA (1990). He was a minor league pitching instructor in the Montreal

farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

between those terms. In 1993 Bearnarth became the first pitching coach in Colorado Rockies history wearing #36, continuing in that post until 1995. After that, he scouted during four seasons for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

(1996–99).

References

External links

Larry Bearnarth
- Baseball Biography and Highlights
Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bearnarth, Larry 1941 births 1999 deaths Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Colorado Rockies (baseball) coaches Colorado Rockies scouts Detroit Tigers scouts Evansville Triplets players Florida Instructional League Mets players Industriales de Valencia players Jacksonville Suns players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball pitching coaches Milwaukee Brewers players Minor league baseball managers Montreal Expos coaches New York Mets players Peninsula Whips players St. John's Red Storm baseball players St. Peter's Boys High School alumni Baseball players from New York City Syracuse Chiefs players Tidewater Tides players

Personal

Playing career

See also

References

External links