Today's New York-Penn League Birthday: Frank Lary, 1950 Jamestown Falcons

The Decatur Daily via newspapers.com

Former PONY (New York-Penn since 1957) League prospect Frank Lary (Jamestown Falcons, 1950) was born on this date in 1930 in Northport, Alabama.

Lary was signed by Toledo in the American Association (Detroit Tigers farm team) as an amateur free agent in 1950 after playing for the University of Alabama. He was initially assigned to the Thomasville Tigers in the Georgia-Florida League (4-0, 3.00 ERA) and finished the season pitching in 10 games for the Jamestown Falcons (67 IP, 5-2, 1.88 ERA).

He spent the 1951 and '52 seasons in the military and returned to the minor leagues with the Buffalo Bisons, where he spent the 1953 (17-11, 4.00 ERA) and '54 (15-11, 3.39 ERA) seasons. He was called up to the Detroit Tigers near the end of the 1954 season and appeared in 3 games.

Lary pitched for the Tigers for 11 seasons (123-110, 3.46 ERA) and was sold to the New York Mets on May 30, 1964. He was traded to the Milwaukee Braves on August 8, 1964 and returned to the Mets on March 28, 1965. After being traded to the Chicago White Sox on July 8, 1965, he was released on October 19, 1965 and retired from baseball.

During his 12 year major league career (128-116, 3.49 ERA), Lary was known as the "Yankee Killer" based on his ability to beat the New York Yankees on a regular basis. He had two 20-win seasons during his career (1956, 1961) and was named to two American League All Star teams (1960, 1961).

Frank Lary died on December 14, 2017 in Northport, Alabama.

Topps Co. via The Trading Card Database

Sources: Baseball Reference; Newspapers.com

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