Larry Jackson

Who was Larry Jackson?

Lawrence Curtis Jackson was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies from 1955 to 1968. In 1964 he led the National League with 24 wins for an eighth-place Cubs team, and was runnerup in the Cy Young Award voting; he also led the NL in innings pitched and shutouts once each. His 194 career NL victories are the most in the league since 1900 by any right-hander who never played for a first-place team. A model of reliability, he won at least 13 games in each of his last twelve seasons. He later served four terms in the Idaho Legislature.

Jackson was born in Nampa, Idaho, attended Boise Junior College and University of Idaho, and signed with the Cardinals in 1951. In 1952, he led the California League with 351 strikeouts and a 28–4 record for the pennant-winning Fresno Cardinals. He broke into the majors with St. Louis in 1955, posting a 9–14 record, and gradually worked his way into the starting rotation by 1958. He was named to the NL All-Star team in 1957, 1958 and 1960 while with the Cardinals, and allowed only two hits and no runs in 3-2/3 innings in the three appearances; the 1957 game was played at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. In 1960 he led the NL with 282 innings and 38 games started, also winning 18 games, but he missed the first four weeks of the 1961 season after having his jaw broken in a late spring training game by a flying piece of Duke Snider's broken bat. After the 1962 season Jackson was traded to the Cubs along with Lindy McDaniel in a six-player deal; the Cardinals received three players including Don Cardwell, who they dealt for Dick Groat a month later. Jackson was again an All-Star in 1963, and ironically earned the win despite it being his least effective appearance in the Midsummer Classic; after entering with a 3–1 lead in the third inning, he allowed the tying runs, but the NL again took a 4–3 lead in the top of the fifth as he departed.