Billy Loes

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William Loes (born December 13, 1929 in Long Island City, Queens) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball. From 1950 through 1961, Loes played for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1950, 1952-56), Baltimore Orioles (1956-59) and San Francisco Giants (1960-61).e batted and threw right handed.

In an eleven-season career, Loes posted an 80-63 record with 645 strikeouts and a 3.89 ERA in 1190.1 innings pitched. He made the American League All-Star team in 1957.

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[edit] Trivia

• The book Carl Erskine's Tales from the Dodgers Dugout: Extra Innings (2004) includes short stories from former Dodger pitcher Carl Erskine. Loes is prominent in many of these stories.

• Loes was known for his sense of humor as much as his pitching prowess. One time, he booted a ground ball in a key situation. After the game, a reporter asked him the all-too-obvious question of what had happened. Instead of berating the reporter, Loes calmly responded, "I lost it in the sun!"^{[cite this quote]}

• Before the 1952 World Series, Brooklyn Dodgers' manager Charlie Dressen cornered pitcher Billy Loes.

"I see in the paper where you picked the Yankees to beat us in seven games. What's wrong with you," Dressen said.

"I was misquoted," Loes protested. "I picked them in six games." - Baseball Anecdotes [1]

• After being selected by the New York Mets in the 1961 expansion draft, was credited with this ungrammatical quotation: "The Mets is a good thing. They give everybody jobs. Just like the WPA."^{[cite this quote]} However, he never actually pitched a game for the Mets, his final game being with the Giants in 1961.

• Loes also famously said that he didn't want to be a 20-game winner, "Because then I'd be expected to do it every year."[2]

• Loes' Greek immigrant father originated from Peloponnese, he worked as a laborer in the fur industry and changed their family name from Semertzis to Loes when he arrived in the States.[3]

[edit] External links

• Baseball Almanac - Player page
• Baseball Reference - Career statistics
• Answers.com - References his WPA quote