Billy Pierce, a two-time 20-game winner for the White Sox and Sporting News' American League Pitcher of the Year in 1956 and '57, died Friday, the Chicago Tribune reported .
He was 88.
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Pierce is one of 10 finalists on this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame Golden Era (1947-1972) ballot that will be considered by the committee consisting of longtime media members, executives and long-retired players.
The Hall's description of Pierce, who went 211-169 games with a 3.29 ERA in an 18-year career, mostly with the White Sox, reads:
"Slight of build and considered by some as too nice to succeed, left-handed pitcher Billy Pierce proved that size and temperament do not always determine results. In fact, the mainstay of the Chicago White Sox staff for more than a dozen years ended up being the American League’s winningest southpaw in the 1950s."
"Generations of White Sox fans lost one of their heroes today," White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement ( via the Chicago Tribune ). "It was an absolute privilege to consider Billy a friend. He epitomized class, not just as a ballplayer on those great Go-Go White Sox teams of the 1950s, but as a gentleman and as a human being who devoted so much of his life to helping others."
Pierce is one of 13 pitchers to start three or more All-Star games (1953, '55 and '56) and finished third in the 1962 Cy Young race and fifth the 1956 AL MVP race.
Born April 2, 1927, in Detroit, Pierce was 18 years old when he broke into the big leagues June 1, 1945, with the Tigers. He joined the White Sox in 1949 and pitched 13 seasons for Chicago, becoming a rotation mainstay who recorded double-digit victories in all but two seasons.
He was a career-best 20-9 in 1956 with a league-high 21 complete games, kicking off a three-year run in which he led the AL in complete games.
He also led the AL in ERA in 1955 at 1.97 and strikeouts in 1953 with 186.
The White Sox retired Pierce's No. 19 in 1987, and he was selected to the White Sox All-Century Team in 2000. Pierce was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.
A 16-person committee will vote at baseball’s Winter Meetings in San Diego, Calif., on the Golden Era ballot and the results of the vote will be announced Dec. 8.
