Category: Guest Authors

Remember Larry Sherry This Hanukkah

By Joe Guzzardi

Larry Sherry, the hurler who pitched his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers to a four-game 1959 World Series sweep against the Chicago White Sox, overcame multiple physical challenges before he excelled in high school basketball and professional baseball. Both sides of the Sherry family were Jewish immigrants from Russia; Sherry’s maternal great grandfather was a Rabbi. Born with club feet, Sherry endured several operations that began at age six. Young Sherry was fitted with special shoes which he wore his entire life. But Sherry overcame his physical trials to star on the diamond and to captain the Fairfax High basketball team.

Larry’s older brothers Stan, George and Norm were also standout Fairfax athletes; Norm became a Dodgers’ catcher who not only assisted brother Larry but also the greatest Jewish pitcher of all-time, Sandy Koufax. Norm, Larry and Sandy became fast friends.

Immediately after he graduated from Fairfax High in 1953 at age 17, Sherry signed with the Dodgers who assigned him to its low-minor league Santa Barbara team. Sherry was rarely used and wound up the season with a 1-2 record. The following year, he was with the Bakersfield Indians and the Great Falls Electrics with a combined 7-8 record. At Newport News in the Piedmont League, his next stop, Sherry finished with a 5-10 record and, based on his poor showings, appeared destined for a minor league career. The road for Sherry up to the parent Dodgers was long and arduous.

Pitching for Class A and Class AA minor league teams, Sherry still showed little promise. Nevertheless, the next to last place pitching-desperate Dodgers called Sherry up in 1958, and he flopped. In five innings, he had a 12.43 ERA and was promptly demoted. During the off-season, Larry and Norm headed to Cuba where the catcher taught his pitcher brother the slider. Armed with an effective new pitch, Sherry opened the 1959 season with the Triple-A St. Paul Saints. On Independence Day of 1959, the Dodgers called up Sherry again.

Larry started out with the Dodgers by losing two one-run decisions. Then, lightning struck. Sherry won seven consecutive games and was credited with three saves. Hurling ninety-four innings, he gave up only seventy-five hits, walked 43, and struck out 72. He appeared in relief fourteen times and pitched 36-1/3 innings with an amazing 0.74 ERA. Sherry then topped off his 1959 season with his spectacular World Series performance that propelled the Dodgers to a 4-0 sweep against the Chicago White Sox. Credited with two wins and two saves, Sherry pitched 12-2/3 innings with a miniscule 0.71 ERA and won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award. In 1960, then starting pitcher Sherry won fourteen games and on May 7, Larry and his brother Norm were batterymates. The Sherry brothers became the first Jewish brother battery in major league history.

Although only 25, Sherry’s effectiveness declined sharply. The Dodgers sold Sherry to the Detroit Tigers after the 1963 season. Sherry then moved on to the Houston Astros until he eventually ended up with the California Angels in 1968, his final year as an active player. Sherry’s 11 years in the majors ended with 53 wins and 44 losses, with an acceptable earned run average of 3.67.

After the Angels released Sherry, he signed on as the Pacific Coast League Seattle Rainiers’ pitching coach, and then moved on to coach the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Angels. Sherry retired from baseball in 1980 to pursue his other passion—golf—in Mission Viejo, California. Larry died from cancer at age 71. Norm’s final year in baseball was 1963 with the New York Mets. Before he died at age 89, Norm was the guest speaker at the San Diego Jewish Film Festival for the screening of “Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story.”

Larry Sherry’s career stats may be underwhelming but factor in that they were achieved with two club feet and they become remarkable.

Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research member. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com

Remember Larry Sherry This Hanukkah

Californians Vote to Accelerate Their Decline

By Joe Guzzardi

On November 5, the presidential election captured most of the nation’s attention. But few paid any mind to California’s U.S. House of Representatives election outcomes since the results were a foregone conclusion. A quick look at the re-elected individuals show a sorry assortment on unindicted felons, power-crazed subversives, anti-American worker proponents and fervently pro-illegal immigration advocates. Not only did this motley group win but their margins were staggeringly large.

Nancy Pelosi, who may have been the shadow president puppeteering Joe Biden for the last four years, won her 20^th term representing California’s 11^th congressional district with 81% of the vote. The 11^th is mostly San Francisco, once known as the object of Tony Bennett’s affection in his signature song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” The “City by the Bay” is now recognized for rampant smash-and-grab robberies and widespread homelessness. San Francisco’s sanctuary city status makes it an ideal municipality for Tren de Aragua to set up shop to embark on its illegal alien crime sprees. Since 2019, 47% of businesses in the area have shut their doors, including 22 big-name stores in high-end Union Square, the San Francisco Standard previously reported.  Residents, especially among the high wage-earning Gen Zers have fled. With a terrible track record like Pelosi’s district has amassed, the 84-year-old should have been booted; instead, she won in a landslide.

Another Bay Area ne’er-do-well and unindicted felon, Eric Swalwell, breezed in the 17th Congressional District. Swalwell, who feloniously lied to Congress when he repeatedly insisted that he had conclusive evidence that then-President Donald Trump colluded with Russia, told brazen, shameless falsehoods. Perhaps Swalwell felt that lying about Trump would inject life into his moribund, short-lived, ego-fueled, three-month presidential campaign which began on April 14, 2019, and ended on July 8. Sleeping with a known Chinese spy, Fang Fang, who doubled as Swalwell’s chief 2014 campaign fund raiser, should have raised eyebrows among his constituents. No such luck, however. Swalwell sailed to a 68% victory margin over his Republican opponent.

No House representative has done more to assure that well-paid, white-collar tech jobs go to foreign nationals, mostly Indians and Pakistanis, than immigration lawyer Zoe Lofgren. Representing California’s 18^th District, Lofgren racked up 65% of the ballots cast. Voters who want their representatives to work tirelessly on foreign nationals’ behalf chose the right candidate in Lofgren. At age 77, Lofgren, on the heels of her easy re-election margin, will begin her 16^th term. During her 30 years in Congress, Lofgren scored an “F” immigration grade, consistently voting against border or interior enforcement and in favor of amnesty.

One of her most recent American worker betrayals: Lofgren sponsored H.R. 3194, the U.S. Citizenship Act, that would expand immigrant and non-immigrant worker visas. The legislation would have allowed approximately 600,000 non-immigrants who are, in Lofgren’s opinion, “essential” workers, to receive green cards. Additionally, the legislation would issue more than 11 million new employment preference green cards over a 10-year period, plus offer green cards to non-immigrants with an advanced degree in STEM. The green cards would give work authorization to any Bureau of Labor Statistics employment category, not just IT workers.

In the Senate race for Dianne Feinstein’s seat, temporarily held by Laphonza Butler, Adam Schiff handily defeated Steve Garvey, former Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres baseball star, when he captured 60% of the vote. Schiff, like Swalwell, is an unindicted felon who also endlessly parroted the Russian collusion lie.

The majority of California’s congressional delegation has 0% immigration grades yet, like Pelosi, Swalwell, Lofgren, Schiff and dozens more, voters consistently re-elect them. Residents disgusted with the illegal alien invasion, widespread crime, out-of-control homelessness, and the ever-rising cost of living should remember those negatives the next time they go to the ballot box. As French philosopher Joseph de Maistre wrote in 1811 “Every nation gets the government it deserves,” an explanation of how California’s voters gave a green light to continuing the state’s crisis with their short-sighted ballot box selections.

Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org

Californians Vote to Accelerate Their Decline