Jerry Reuss, baseball player, 1969-1990

Jerry Reuss

Born: 6/19/1949 in St. Louis, MO, USA

MLB Debut: 1969-09-27 | Final Game: 1990-10-03

Bats: L | Throws: L | Height: 6'5" | Weight: 200 lbs

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Biography

Jerry Reuss was a prominent left-handed pitcher who enjoyed a successful Major League Baseball career from 1969 to 1990. Born in 1949, Reuss established himself as a reliable and skilled starter over two decades, culminating in a record of 220 wins against 191 losses and an earned run average (ERA) of 3.64. Known for his finesse and ability to control the game, he struck out 1,907 batters throughout his career and notched 11 saves. His performance earned him two selections to the All-Star Game, highlighting his status as one of the top pitchers of his era. Reuss played during a transformative time in baseball, which saw the evolution of pitching styles and strategies. His longevity in the game and ability to adapt to different organizations exemplified the persistence and skill required to thrive amidst changing dynamics in the sport. Over his career, he played for several teams, including the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he left a lasting impact both on the mound and in the clubhouse. Reuss remains a respected figure in baseball history, celebrated for his contributions to the game and his impressive pitching record.

Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
220 191 628 547 127 39 11 3669.7 3734 1483 245 1127 1907 3.64 0

Career ERA 3.64 vs. league average 3.78 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1969 STL NL 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 7.0 2 0 3 3 0.00 — -
1970 STL NL 7 8 20 20 5 2 0 127.3 132 58 49 74 4.10 3.89 (-5%) -
1971 STL NL 14 14 36 35 7 2 0 211.0 228 112 109 131 4.78 3.47 (-38%) -
1972 HOU NL 9 13 33 30 4 1 1 192.0 177 89 83 174 4.17 3.26 (-28%) 1379.3
1973 HOU NL 16 13 41 40 12 3 0 279.3 271 116 117 177 3.74 3.75 (avg) 2715.4
1974 PIT NL 16 11 35 35 14 1 0 260.0 259 101 101 105 3.50 3.63 (+4%) -2192.2
1975 PIT NL 18 11 32 32 15 6 0 237.3 224 67 78 131 2.54 3.71 (+32%) 4317.8
1976 PIT NL 14 9 31 29 11 3 2 209.3 209 82 51 108 3.53 3.51 (avg) 874.8
1977 PIT NL 10 13 33 33 8 2 0 208.0 225 95 71 116 4.11 4.00 (-3%) 3289.5
1978 PIT NL 3 2 23 12 3 1 0 82.7 97 45 23 42 4.90 3.69 (-33%) 816.4
1979 LAD NL 7 14 39 21 4 1 3 160.0 178 63 60 83 3.54 4.00 (+11%) -
1980 LAD NL 18 6 37 29 10 6 3 229.3 193 64 40 111 2.51 3.84 (+35%) -
1981 LAD NL 10 4 22 22 8 2 0 152.7 138 39 27 51 2.30 3.58 (+36%) -
1982 LAD NL 18 11 39 37 8 4 0 254.7 232 88 50 138 3.11 3.86 (+19%) -
1983 LAD NL 12 11 32 31 7 0 0 223.3 233 73 50 143 2.94 3.87 (+24%) -
1984 LAD NL 5 7 30 15 2 0 1 99.0 102 42 31 44 3.82 3.81 (avg) -
1985 LAD NL 14 10 34 33 5 3 0 212.7 210 69 58 84 2.92 3.89 (+25%) -
1986 LAD NL 2 6 19 13 0 0 1 74.0 96 48 17 29 5.84 3.97 (-47%) -
1987 LAD NL 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2.0 2 1 0 2 4.50 — -
1987 CIN NL 0 5 7 7 0 0 0 34.7 52 30 12 10 7.79 4.29 (-81%) 108.6
1987 LAA AL 4 5 17 16 1 1 0 82.3 112 48 17 37 5.25 4.29 (-22%) -
1988 CHW AL 13 9 32 29 2 0 0 183.0 183 70 43 73 3.44 3.73 (+8%) -
1989 CHW AL 8 5 23 19 1 1 0 106.7 135 60 21 27 5.06 3.71 (-36%) -
1989 ATL AL 1 4 7 7 0 0 0 33.7 36 20 13 13 5.35 3.71 (-44%) -
1990 PIT NL 0 0 4 1 0 0 0 7.7 8 3 3 1 3.52 — 0.0

Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
631 1024 71 171 24 1 1 58 1 69 433 0.167 0.220 0.195 0.415 -5661.4

Career AVG .167 vs. league average .257 across their career seasons — 35.1% below league average.

Career OBP .220 vs. league average .323 across their career seasons — 32.0% below league average.

Career SLG .195 vs. league average .382 across their career seasons — 48.9% below league average.

Career OPS 0.415 vs. league average 0.706 across their career seasons — 41.2% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1969 STL NL 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0.333 — — — — 0.0
1970 STL NL 20 40 3 2 0 0 0 1 1 3 32 0.050 — — — — 0.0
1971 STL NL 36 65 6 8 1 0 0 4 0 10 36 0.123 .249 (-51%) .316 (-24%) .365 (-62%) .682 (-45%) -442.2
1972 HOU NL 33 66 5 7 2 0 0 1 0 5 40 0.106 .243 (-56%) .310 (-46%) .353 (-61%) .664 (-54%) -559.7
1973 HOU NL 42 95 7 13 3 0 0 8 0 4 45 0.137 .256 (-47%) .325 (-48%) .378 (-56%) .703 (-52%) -847.5
1974 PIT NL 35 86 7 13 1 0 0 4 0 8 25 0.151 .256 (-41%) .324 (-31%) .369 (-56%) .693 (-44%) -609.7
1975 PIT NL 32 71 6 14 2 0 0 2 0 5 27 0.197 .257 (-23%) .327 (-24%) .374 (-40%) .701 (-32%) -372.0
1976 PIT NL 31 66 7 16 1 1 0 8 0 9 22 0.242 .255 (-5%) .320 (+4%) .360 (-20%) .681 (-9%) -64.5
1977 PIT NL 35 70 3 12 2 0 0 6 0 6 26 0.171 .264 (-35%) .329 (-28%) .401 (-50%) .730 (-40%) -471.3
1978 PIT NL 23 27 1 5 2 0 0 1 0 0 12 0.185 — — — — 0.0
1979 LAD NL 39 42 4 7 1 0 0 1 0 3 19 0.167 — — — — 0.0
1980 LAD NL 37 68 4 6 1 0 1 3 0 6 25 0.088 .264 (-67%) .326 (-50%) .387 (-62%) .714 (-57%) -650.8
1981 LAD NL 22 51 3 10 0 0 0 3 0 0 18 0.196 .255 (-23%) .320 (-39%) .368 (-47%) .688 (-43%) -347.1
1982 LAD NL 39 77 8 17 3 0 0 3 0 2 28 0.221 .261 (-15%) .324 (-26%) .388 (-33%) .712 (-30%) -389.2
1983 LAD NL 32 71 4 20 2 0 0 3 0 2 28 0.282 .260 (+8%) .324 (-7%) .389 (-20%) .714 (-14%) -167.0
1984 LAD NL 30 24 2 4 1 0 0 2 0 3 9 0.167 — — — — 0.0
1985 LAD NL 34 74 1 10 0 0 0 7 0 2 28 0.135 .257 (-47%) .323 (-52%) .390 (-65%) .714 (-59%) -740.3
1986 LAD NL 19 20 0 5 1 0 0 0 0 1 6 0.250 — — — — 0.0
1987 LAD NL 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1987 CIN NL 7 8 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.125 — — — — 0.0
1987 LAA AL 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1988 CHW AL 32 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1989 CHW AL 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1989 ATL AL 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1990 PIT NL 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
11 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 13 0.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1985 NLCS LAN 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1983 NLCS LAN 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.000
1981 NLCS LAN 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
1981 NWDIV LAN 2 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0.000
1981 WS LAN 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0.000
1975 NLCS PIT 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
1974 NLCS PIT 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
2 8 11 11 0 62.7 57 25 25 25 3.59

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1985 NLCS LAN 0 1 1 1 0 1.7 5 2 1 0 10.80
1983 NLCS LAN 0 2 2 2 0 12.0 14 6 3 4 4.50
1981 NLCS LAN 0 1 1 1 0 7.0 7 4 1 2 5.14
1981 NWDIV LAN 1 0 2 2 0 18.0 10 0 5 7 0.00
1981 WS LAN 1 1 2 2 0 11.7 10 5 3 8 3.86
1975 NLCS PIT 0 1 1 1 0 2.7 4 4 4 1 13.50
1974 NLCS PIT 0 2 2 2 0 9.7 7 4 8 3 3.72

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
P 628 548 170 603 42 38

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1969 SLN P 1 1 0 2 0 0
1970 SLN P 20 20 8 18 1 0
1971 SLN P 36 35 6 26 2 0
1972 HOU P 33 30 4 25 4 0
1973 HOU P 41 40 4 37 3 2
1974 PIT P 35 35 11 37 5 1
1975 PIT P 32 32 6 48 0 1
1976 PIT P 31 29 8 26 2 2
1977 PIT P 33 34 7 40 3 2
1978 PIT P 23 12 4 10 0 4
1979 LAN P 39 21 2 35 3 1
1980 LAN P 37 29 18 40 5 5
1981 LAN P 22 22 10 38 1 4
1982 LAN P 39 37 21 46 3 4
1983 LAN P 32 31 17 52 4 4
1984 LAN P 30 15 4 16 1 0
1985 LAN P 34 33 12 27 3 0
1986 LAN P 19 13 5 16 0 1
1987 LAN P 1 0 0 0 0 0
1987 CIN P 7 7 1 3 0 1
1987 CAL P 17 16 7 18 1 3
1988 CHA P 32 29 10 27 1 2
1989 CHA P 23 19 3 9 0 1
1989 ML4 P 7 7 1 5 0 0
1990 PIT P 4 1 1 2 0 0

Career Games by Position

Position Games
Pitcher 629

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1982 Player of the Week Week of 1982-06-18
1980 Pitcher of the Month June
1980 Player of the Week Week of 1980-06-27
1980 TSN Comeback Player of the Year
1975 Player of the Week Week of 1975-09-05

Salary History

Year Team League Salary
1989 CHA AL $590,000
1988 CHA AL $200,000
1987 LAN NL $1,100,000
1986 LAN NL $1,000,000
1985 LAN NL $980,000
Total Career Earnings $3,870,000

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1980 Cy Young Award NL 2nd 55.0 120 1
1980 Most Valuable Player NL 20th 2.0 336 0
1975 Most Valuable Player NL 23th 2.0 336 0