Ron Perranoski

Left-hander Ron Perranoski’s sinking fastball, sharp-breaking curve and ability to thrive in critical situations made him one of baseball’s top relievers. Over 13 seasons (1961-1973) with four teams, mostly the Dodgers and Twins as well as the Tigers and Angels, he pitched in five postseasons and three World Series — earning championship rings with Los Angeles in 1963 and 1965 — saved 178 games and earned Fireman of the Year recognition twice.

“I don’t care if I ever start another game as long as I live,” he said after starring in the 1963 season. “If you want to make the majors, you got to take things as they come. When it was decided I was to be a relief pitcher (in 1961 spring training), that was it as far as I was concerned. I love the challenge. I can’t wait to throw the ball when I get in there. The tougher the situation, the better.”1 After completing his playing career, Perranoski spent 16 years as a respected pitching coach.

Ronald Peter Perranoski was born on April 1, 1936, in Paterson, New Jersey and raised in a working-class family in neighboring Fair Lawn. His parents, Peter and Emily (Yates) Perranoski later had one other child, daughter Pat. Both of Ron’s paternal grandparents were born in Poland, and the family surname was still spelled Perzanowski in 1940. Peter worked as a textile dyer and Emily was a telephone operator at New Jersey Bell for 33 years.2 Perranoski is also the cousin of former major leaguer Stan Perzanowski.

Perranoski, who grew up rooting for the nearby Yankees, played baseball and basketball at Fair Lawn High School.3 After turning down a bonus to sign with the White Sox following his 1954 graduation, he accepted a scholarship to attend Notre Dame but changed his mind and went to Michigan State.4

At MSU, he won 16 of 19 decisions from 1957-58 and was chosen as the Spartans’ most valuable pitcher both seasons. He also was all-Big Ten in 1958 and starred on the same staff as future major league relief ace Dick Radatz.5

That summer, Perranoski honed his skills pitching for Watertown in the South Dakota Basin League.6 He became a professional on June 9, 1958, when he signed with Cubs’ scout John Streza for a $21,000 bonus.7 Fortunately, the infamous Bonus Baby rule mandating that players signed for $4,000 or more had to remain on the major league roster and not go to the minors was rescinded in 1958.

In 18 appearances (13 starts) for the Burlington Bees of the Class B Illinois-Iowa-Indiana (Three-I) League, Perranoski was just 5-9 with a 6.43 ERA, but he struck out 92 batters in 84 innings –16 of them in a 1-0 victory over Green Bay on August 13.8 One week later, he was promoted to the Fort Worth Cats of the Double-A Texas League and pitched twice before season’s end. He was not involved in the decision in either of his appearances.

The San Antonio Missions became the Cubs’ Texas League affiliate in 1959, and Perranoski struck out a club-record 139 batters in 199 innings — including 14 Corpus Christi Giants in a 2-1 win on August 23.9 Overall, he was 11-10 with a 3.12 ERA. After the Missions fell in the Texas League finals, he returned to Fort Worth — by then a Triple-A American Association team — to help them compete in their playoffs.10

On April 8, 1960, while in the Army at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Perranoski learned that he’d been traded to the Dodgers with fellow minor leaguers Lee Handley, John Goryl and $25,000 for Don Zimmer. Handley, Goryl and Perranoski all reported to the Montreal Royals, L.A.’s Triple-A International League team.11 After making 34 of his 47 appearances out of the bullpen and compiling a 9-8 (2.87) record in 138 innings, Perranoski was sent to the St. Paul (Minnesota) Saints of the Triple-A American Association in August.12 There, the southpaw pitched 26 consecutive scoreless innings before he allowed a run in the first inning of a 3-0 loss to Houston on September 4.13 He finished 3-3 (1.58) in 40 innings.

Perranoski began the winter with Maracaibo in Venezuela’s Occidental League, then joined the Leones del Caracas of the Venezuelan Association when the former club folded.14 By January 28, Perranoski was pitching for Caguas in the Puerto Rican League.15 After seeing him in winter ball, Dodgers scouting director Al Campanis said, “I was told he had only a fair fastball, but from what I saw of him, he has a good one, a real major league hummer in my book.”16 Although Perranoski was not on the Dodgers’ 1961 spring training roster, L.A. was in desperate need of a left-handed reliever, and he took advantage of being the right man in the right situation. 17 With five scoreless innings in Grapefruit League play, he clinched a spot on the Opening Day roster.18

In an impressive rookie year, Perranoski led the Dodgers with a 2.65 ERA in 91 2/3 innings, tied Larry Sherry for the staff lead in games (53) and amassed a 7-5 record with six saves. The Los Angeles Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) recognized his contributions by naming him 1961 “Dodger Rookie of the Year.”19

Despite having been predicted to win the pennant by The Sporting News, the 89-65 Dodgers wound up four games behind surprising Cincinnati, which the same publication had picked to finish sixth.20 The Reds moved into first place to stay by sweeping a twilight doubleheader from L.A. before a league record twin-bill crowd of 72,140 at the Los Angeles Coliseum on August 16. Perranoski yielded one hit over four shutout innings in the opener, relieving Sherry, who had started the game, in the third inning, and hurled a scoreless two-thirds of an inning in the nightcap, but the Dodgers were shut out, 6-0 and 8-0.21

In 1962, Perranoski led NL pitchers with 70 appearances ­– then a record workload for major league lefties and all Dodger hurlers. Met Pedro Feliciano set the new standard for big league lefties by appearing in 92 games in 2010, and right-hander Mike Marshall set the major league mark for the Dodgers with 106 appearances in 1974.22 On May 19, Perranoski gave up Stan Musial’s 3,431st hit — a line single to right — that enabled the Cardinals great to surpass Honus Wagner with the most hits in National League history.23 (Pete Rose currently holds the NL and major-league record with 4,256 hits.)

Overall, Perranoski posted a 2.85 ERA in 107 1/3 innings, and a big reason for his success was his stinginess in allowing home runs. He yielded just one all season — to the Giants’ José Pagan at Dodger Stadium on September 4. The Los Angeles BBWAA voted Perranoski the 1962 “Dodger Sophomore of the Year.”24

Despite moving from a football stadium into Dodger Stadium — a beautiful new ballpark built specifically for baseball — in 1962, L.A. experienced a disheartening year, suffering through one of the worst collapses in baseball history. Leading the Giants by four games, the Dodgers lost six of their last seven contests to finish the regular schedule deadlocked with their archrivals from the north at 101-61. Perranoski saw action in all three playoff games and held the lead in Game Two to help Los Angeles even the series, but San Francisco prevailed in the finale to earn the right to meet the Yankees in the World Series. S.F. went on to lose the Fall Classic in seven games while the Dodgers were called “choke-ups” and “crybabies” for blowing the pennant and keeping the media out of the clubhouse after the last game.25

The Dodgers rebounded to win the pennant in 1963 with Perranoski notching 21 of the club’s 29 saves. His phenomenal season included a 16-3 record, good for the majors’ top winning percentage (.842), and his 1.67 ERA would’ve also been the big leagues’ best had his 129 innings pitched been enough to qualify.26 He also shattered the big-league mark for most wins by a southpaw reliever set by Luis Arroyo (15-5) in 1961 and was selected as Fleer’s NL Player of the Month for August (coincidentally college teammate Radatz also won for August in the AL). Moreover, Perranoski repeated as the league leader in appearances (69) and placed fourth in voting for the NL MVP.

Perranoski starred in a crucial three-game series sweep in St. Louis from September 16-18 that all but clinched the pennant for L.A. The Dodgers had been in first place since July 2, but the high-flying Cardinals had pulled within one game by winning 19 of 20 contests.27 In the opener, Perranoski pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 18th save in a 3-1 win in relief of Johnny Podres. After Sandy Koufax blanked St. Louis, 4-0, in the second game, Perranoski came on to allow no runs and three hits (including a lead-off triple by Dick Groat in the 10th) over the last six innings of the finale to get credit for a thrilling 6-5, 13-inning victory to complete the sweep.28

Los Angeles finished 99-63 to 93-69 for second-place St. Louis, which, including the series with the Dodgers, lost eight of its last 10 games.

In the World Series, the Dodgers shocked the baseball world by sweeping the Yankees, winners of four consecutive pennants. Los Angeles pitchers completely throttled New York’s hitters, holding them to a .171 batting average as Koufax and Don Drysdale combined for three complete-game victories. In Game Two, the only contest in which an L.A. starting pitcher failed to go the distance, Perranoski relieved Podres and recorded the last two outs of a 4-1 win over the team he’d rooted for as a child after allowing a run-scoring single to Elston Howard.

Although Perranoski placed second to Lindy McDaniel for The Sporting News’s NL Fireman of the Year Award, honoring the league’s top relief pitcher, he actually beat the Cubs right-hander using today’s updated statistics. In October of ’63, Perranoski was credited with 16 saves and 32 points instead of the revised total of 21 saves and 37 points. McDaniel, who had 13 victories, was updated to 21 saves instead of 22 for 35 points.29

Perranoski stayed active in the winter making personal appearances for Sports Illustrated, working in public relations for the Wilson (meat) Packing Co., attending banquets and playing golf. As a reward for the Dodgers’ World Series success, he also performed with teammates Drysdale, Tommy Davis, Willie Davis, Bill Skowron and Frank Howard for seven weeks on The Joey Bishop Show in Las Vegas and Sparks, Nevada. In January, Perranoski began planning to open a restaurant near his home in Van Nuys, California. After some delays, the restaurant, Ron Perranoski’s Stadium Club in Sepulveda, California, opened in August 1967.30

In 1964, the Dodgers slumped to an 80-82-2 record, tying Pittsburgh for sixth place. Although Perranoski led the Dodgers with 14 saves and placed second on the club with 72 appearances behind league-leader Bob Miller (74), he finished 5-7 with a disappointing 3.09 ERA in 125 1/3 innings. A pulled left thigh muscle incurred while covering first base against the Braves on April 25 cost him a week of action, after which he lost his pitching rhythm and did not regain his effectiveness.31 During the offseason, when he wasn’t working out three days a week, Perranoski performed in an episode of the TV series Branded with ex-major leaguer Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford.32 The episode aired on March 7, 1965.

Perranoski bounced back from his forgettable 1964 season to record a team-high 18 saves and 2.24 ERA in 104 2/3 innings over 59 games in 1965. At the conclusion of that season, his career ERA of 2.48 was the lowest among active pitchers with at least 500 innings.33 The Dodgers were 4 ½ games behind the Giants on September 16 following San Francisco’s 14-game winning streak, but Los Angeles won 13 in a row and 15 of its last 16 to finish 97-65 and overtake the Giants by two games. In 21 appearances after August 6, Perranoski was 3-1 with 10 saves and a 0.38 ERA in 47 2/3 innings.

Perhaps emotionally and physically drained from the tense pennant race, the Dodgers lost the first two games of the 1965 World Series against the Twins at Metropolitan Stadium. In the opener, Perranoski hurled two scoreless innings in relief of Drysdale but after taking over for Koufax in Game Two, he surrendered the last three runs of L.A’s 5-1 defeat. Perranoski’s eighth-inning balk was the first in a Fall Classic since Vic Raschi in 1953 and he did not pitch again in the series, which the Dodgers came back to win in seven games.34

Perranoski’s 1966 season was a complete reversal of the previous year. His ERA was 1.80 through August 7, but he gave up 18 earned runs over his last 27 innings to end up at 3.18, his highest figure as a Dodger.35 One of his more notable moments down the stretch came on September 12 when he fanned the first six Mets he faced to tie the NL record for consecutive strikeouts by a reliever set by Jack Meyer in 1958 and tied by Pete Richert (1962).36 Perranoski, finished 6-7 with six saves and lost his status as the Dodgers’ top relief pitcher to Phil Regan — a December acquisition from Detroit nicknamed “The Vulture” for the way he opportunistically got wins when the Dodgers came from behind after he entered games or, on occasion, came from behind after Regan surrendered leads. Regan’s 14-1 (1.62) mark with 21 saves earned him the NL Fireman of the Year Award.

Los Angeles battled the Giants and Pirates before clinching another pennant on the season’s final day, edging surging San Francisco by 1 ½ games with a 95-67 record. The Dodgers were embarrassed by first-time AL champion Baltimore in the 1966 Fall Classic, however, swept in four games. L.A. failed to score after the third inning of the opener and committed six errors in Game Two. Perranoski pitched in both of those contests, allowing two runs in 3 1/3 innings for a 5.40 ERA.

Despite losing Koufax to retirement and veteran shortstop Maury Wills via trade to Pittsburgh before the 1967 season, the Dodgers still hoped to contend for a third consecutive pennant. Perranoski regained his workhorse role by pitching in eight of nine games between April 29 and May 10, including seven in a row. He ended the year tied with Ted Abernathy for the NL lead with 70 appearances and paced the Dodgers with 16 saves and a 2.45 ERA in 110 innings.37 Perranoski’s heroics weren’t enough, however, as the Dodgers dropped to eighth with a 73-89 record. Feeling the need to shake things up, Los Angeles swapped Perranoski, Miller and catcher John Roseboro to the Twins on November 28 for shortstop Zoilo Versalles and pitcher Mudcat Grant. As of 2021, Perranoski’s 101 saves for the Dodgers rank sixth in franchise history behind Kenley Jansen (335), Eric Gagne (161), Jeff Shaw (129), Todd Worrell (127) and Jim Brewer (125).

Perranoski found American League hitters to his liking in 1968. He tied Bill Dailey’s 1963 Minnesota mark by pitching in 66 games and finished 8-7 (3.10), but the Twins ended up in seventh with a 79-83 record.

Utilized even more the following season by new skipper Billy Martin, Perranoski thrived with the additional workload.

“When the Dodgers were on the way to the World Series against the Twins in 1965, I had 31 consecutive scoreless innings in August and September and that was mostly because I was being used a lot,” Perranoski recalled. “When I’m working a lot, my control is better. My pitches sink more when I’m tired. I have the confidence I can get my breaking ball over the plate whenever I want.’’38

In 1969, he appeared in a club-record 75 games, compiled a 2.11 ERA in 119 2/3 innings, and led the league with 31 saves — an AL record at the time. He won the AL Fireman of the Year Award by 11 points over California’s Ken Tatum, as the Twins went 97-65 and claimed the inaugural AL West division title by nine games over Oakland.

In the first ever, best-of-five ALCS, Perranoski yielded game-winning hits in extra innings of each of the first two games in Baltimore, and the AL East champion Orioles swept Minnesota in three straight. In the opener, he hurled 3 2/3 innings but lost when Paul Blair’s stunning bunt single with two out in the last of the 12th scored Mark Belanger for a 4-3 Baltimore victory. In Game Two, Perranoski relieved starter Dave Boswell with two out in the last of the 11th of a scoreless tie and runners on first and second. Pinch-hitter Curt Motton — the first batter he faced — promptly singled off Rod Carew’s glove to send home the winning run. Perranoski also allowed the final two runs in Baltimore’s 11-2 rout in the third game and finished 0-1 with a 5.79 ERA in 4 2/3 postseason innings.

After being named the Twins’ Fireman of the Year by the Twin Cities BBWAA on January 19, Perranoski barely escaped death in February while in New York to take a stockbroker’s course.39

“I had just stepped off the curb when a board weighing five pounds with two nails sticking out hit me in the back,” he recalled. “If I hadn’t taken that step, the board would have hit me on the head and killed me.” The projectile had fallen 32 stories and broke a piece of bone off his vertebra, putting the hurler in the hospital for a week.40

Although Perranoski survived the accident, he was plagued by a sore shoulder during spring training and had to undergo pregame back treatments the entire 1970 season.41 Nevertheless, he had 13 saves through the first 50 games, including three in consecutive contests on April 18 and 19 (against Oakland) and April 21 (against the White Sox) as a prelude to another outstanding year.42 Despite having 20 saves at the All-Star break, the 33-year-old was not chosen to the AL squad which consisted entirely of starting pitchers.43 In fact, Perranoski was never selected for an All-Star team during his time in the major leagues.

With 25 saves, a 1.36 ERA and 6-2 record through the end of July, Perranoski seemed headed toward one of the top relief pitching seasons of all time. In August, however, errors, bloop hits and other misfortunes combined to burden him with 11 earned runs allowed in 13 1/3 innings. While going 1-4 that month, he lost his status as the team’s top reliever to Stan Williams and Tom Hall.44

Still, Perranoski finished 7-8 with a 2.43 ERA in 111 innings and became the first pitcher to win the AL Fireman of the Year two years in a row. He broke his own league record with 34 saves (Sparky Lyle of the Yankees surpassed it with 35 in 1972.) Perranoski also became the first relief pitcher to get a first-place vote in the history of the Cy Young Award. He and right-hander Williams combined for 49 saves to help lead Minnesota to a 98-64 record and a second straight AL West crown.

The Twins again were swept by Baltimore in playoffs, however. Unlike 1969, when two of the games were decided by one run, all three contests were decisive Orioles victories. Perranoski worked a scoreless ninth inning in Minnesota’s 10-6, Game One loss, but he was charged with five runs on five hits in just 1 1/3 innings in Game Two as Baltimore romped, 11-3. The game was stopped for about five minutes in the eighth when plate umpire Bill Haller told Perranoski to remove a sticky foreign substance from his left hand. The reliever said it was resin, but Haller said it was pine tar.45 Perranoski ended up with a horrific 19.29 postseason ERA and did not pitch in the third game in Baltimore.

Perranoski’s dismal performance carried over into 1971. He was 1-4 with five saves and a 6.75 ERA in 42 2/3 innings through July 29 before he was selected off waivers by Detroit. The Tigers were managed by Billy Martin, who had guided the Twins during Perranoski’s 31-save 1969 season.46 For Detroit, Perranoski compiled a 2.50 ERA in 18 innings and went 0-1 with two saves.

The Tigers released Perranoski on July 31, 1972. At the time, his record was 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA. He signed with the Dodgers on August 7, rejoining his former team after a five-year hiatus, and went 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA in 16 2/3 innings for L.A. without a save.

Released again on October 19, the left-hander joined the Angels for his final playing season. Pitching in pain in 1973, Perranoski went on the disabled list with a sore left shoulder on June 22 and appeared in just eight games and 11 innings. He had a 4.09 ERA, no saves and an 0-2 record. While on the sidelines, he previewed the next phase of his career by serving as Angels’ bullpen coach.47 Perranoski’s 13-year major league career ended with a 79-74 record, 178 saves and a 2.79 ERA in 737 appearances.

From 1974-80, Perranoski served as the Dodgers’ minor league pitching instructor with Terry Forster and Rick Sutcliffe two of his more notable pupils48 He then became L.A.’s pitching coach under manager Tom Lasorda from 1981-1994. During Perranoski’s tenure, Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser won NL Cy Young Awards, Alejandro Peña led the league in ERA, and Ramón Martínez developed into a 20-game winner.49 Although Dodger pitchers finished first or second in the circuit in team ERA in nine of his 14 years as coach, Perranoski was unceremoniously terminated when the team expanded minor league pitching instructor Dave Wallace’s duties to include working with his young proteges at the big league level. “If there had been any communication, if I had known they were even thinking about it, I’d have been able to get my ducks in a row,” Perranoski lamented.

Perhaps having second thoughts about the way they fired such a loyal, long-term employee, Los Angeles owner Peter O’Malley, general manager Fred Claire and Lasorda helped Perranoski get hired about two months later as the Giants’ coordinator of minor league pitching.50 In 1997, Perranoski became San Francisco’s bench coach under manager Dusty Baker, a former Dodgers standout. He served as Baker’s pitching coach in 1998 and 1999 and counseled staff members Shawn Estes, Russ Ortiz and Robb Nen.51 Perranoski then moved into the administrative side of the game as special assistant to Giants general manager Brian Sabean, from 2000 to 2014. Perranoski retired to Vero Beach, Florida when Sabean became executive vice president of baseball operations.

Perranoski was inducted into the National Polish American Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.52 He had three sons — Ron, Brad and Michael — with his first wife, Sue Ellen, a first-grade teacher at Napa School in Northridge, California, during his playing days whom he’d met at Michigan State. Perranoski was 84 when he died of complications from a long illness on October 2, 2020, in Vero Beach.53

Last revised: November 15, 2021 (zp)

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Malcolm Allen and Keith Thursby and fact-checked by Kevin Larkin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the notes, the author relied on information from Baseball-Reference.com, Baseball Almanac, 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers Yearbook, 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers Yearbook, 1967 Los Angeles Dodgers Yearbook, Minnesota Twins 1970 Press — Radio — TV Guide, statscrew.com, and MLB.com.

Notes

1 Bill Wise, 1964 Official Baseball Almanac (Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1964), 120.

2 “Emily Perranoski,” Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey), January 23, 2008.

3 Bob Hunter, “Ex-Spartan Sparklers Sponge Up Relief Honors,” The Sporting News, June 29, 1963: 3-4.

4 Wise, 1964 Official Baseball Almanac. Also, Hunter, “Ex-Spartan Sparklers Sponge Up Relief Honors,”

5 Wise, 1964 Official Baseball Almanac. Also, Hunter, “Ex-Spartan Sparklers Sponge Up Relief Honors,”

6 Don Lindner, “Fast South Dakota Circuit Grooming Kids for Big Time,” The Sporting News, July 14, 1962: 13.

7 Hunter, “Ex-Spartan Sparklers Sponge Up Relief Honors.”

8 “Blue Jays Set Twin-Kill Mark,” The Sporting News, August 27, 1958: 43.

9 “Texas League: Moreno Wields Hot Bat,” The Sporting News, September 2, 1959: 33.

10 “Vito Returns, Nixon Dropped,” The Sporting News, September 30, 1959: 44.

11 Bob Hunter, “L.A. in Revolving Door – Go With Kids or Old Pros?”, The Sporting News, April 13, 1960: 11.

12 “Player Transactions,” The Sporting News, August 24, 1960: 37.

13 “Association Atoms,” The Sporting News, September 14, 1960: 42.

14 Olaf E. Dickson, “Maracaibo’s Decision to Quit Reduces League to Two Teams,” The Sporting News, December 14, 1960: 35.

15 Miguel J, Frau, “Plaskett Cops Triple Crown in Fast Finish,” The Sporting News, February 8, 1961: 20.

16 Bob Hunter, “Top Rookie Howard Old Pro Performer as Gateway Flasher,” The Sporting News, December 7, 1960: 28.

17 Bob Hunter, “Dodgers Weed Out Vets – – Clear Decks For Kid Stars,” The Sporting News, October 26, 1960: 30. Dickson, “Occidental: Maracaibo’s Decision to Quit Reduces League to Two Teams.”

18 Bob Hunter, “Sleeper Cops relief Post on Dodger Staff,” The Sporting News, March 22, 1961: 8.

19 Bob Hunter, “Angels and Dodgers Hailed at Gala Fling,” The Sporting News, April 11, 1962: 34.

20 J.G. Taylor Spink, “Choices Based on Youth and Tight Hurling,” The Sporting News, April 12, 1961: 7.

21 Bill Shaikin, “Baseball from another dimension,” Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2008.

22 Hunter, “Ex-Spartan Sparklers Sponge Up Relief Honors.”

23 “Musial’s Record-Setting Hit Gave Ron His Biggest Kick,” The Sporting News, December 14, 1963: 3.

24 Bob Hunter, “L.A. Fans Fete Dodgers, Angels at Scribes’ Party,” The Sporting News, April 20, 1963: 31.

25 Bob Hunter, “Giants Plunge L.A. Fans Into Smog of Defeat,” Also, “Dazed Dodgers Barred Clubhouse Door,” The Sporting News, October 13, 1962: 10 and Sandy Grady, “’Dodgers Won It This Year for Bavasi’ — Walls,” The Sporting News, October 5, 1963: 18.

26 “Fleer player-of-the-month award for August,” The Sporting News, September 28, 1963: 23.

27 “National League”: “How They Stand,” The Sporting News, September 7, 1963: 21.

28 Bob Hunter, “Dodgers Pluck Fine-Feathered Birds,” The Sporting News, September 28, 1963: 5.

29 Jerome Holtzman, “McDaniel and Miller Grab Relief Crowns in Hot Stretch Duels,” The Sporting News, October 12. 1963: 4.

30 Bob Hunter, “No Rest for the Wicked—or Perranoski,” The Sporting News, December 14, 1963: 3-4. Also, Bob Hunter, “Howard Picks Home Over Homers; Buzz Alone By Telephone,” The Sporting News, March 28, 1964: 6 and Bob Hunter, “Brewer of Dodgers – – Unsung and Unlucky,” The Sporting News, August 19, 1967: 21.

31 Bob Hunter, “Dodgers Shuck Sickly Pallor As Hospital Patients Recover,” The Sporting News, May 16, 1964: 9. Also, Bob Hunter, “That’s Right – – Six Dodger Southpaws,” The Sporting News, April 17, 1965: 9, 12.

32 Bob Hunter, “Dodgers Have That OK Feeling After Signing Osteen, Kennedy,” The Sporting News, February 27, 1965: 23. Also, “Coward Step Aside,” Internet Movie Database, https://imdb.com/title/tt0531266/ (last accessed September 3, 2021).

33 Bob Hunter, “Dodgers Expecting Another Sleeper – – Maybe Tillotson?”, The Sporting News, February 5, 1966: 11.

34 “Series Sparklers,” The Sporting News, October 23, 1965: 23.

35 Bob Hunter, “Big D Could Furnish Answer to ‘X’ on Dodgers’ Hill Staff,” The Sporting News, January 28, 1967: 26.

36 ‘Bible’ Rates Rave from Ron,” The Sporting News, September 24, 1966: 8.

37 “Major Flashes,” “National League,” “String by Perranoski,” The Sporting News, May 27, 1967: 25.

38 Arno Goethel, “Ever-Ready Ron Writing History as Positive Pole,” The Sporting News, June 7, 1969: 22.

39 Mike Lamey, “Extra Step Saved Perranoski’s Life,” The Sporting News, May 9, 1970: 8

40 Lamey, “Extra Step Saved Perranoski’s Life,”

41 Lamey, “Extra Step Saved Perranoski’s Life,” Also, “Perranoski, Last Twin To Sign, Gets $54,000,” The Sporting News, April 4, 1970: 6 and Mike Lamey, “Demotion to the Bullpen Bugs Boswell,” The Sporting News, June 13, 1970: 10.

42 Lamey, “Extra Step Saved Perranoski’s Life.”

43 “A.L. Flashes,” The Sporting News, August 1, 1970: 26.

44 Bob Fowler, “When It Rains on Perranoski, It Pours,” The Sporting News, September 19, 1970: 8.

45 Lowell Reidenbaugh, “Orioles Polish Off Twins in Repeat Performance,” The Sporting News, October 17, 1970: 8.

46 Chris Roewe, “Pitching Averages Including Games of July 29,” The Sporting News, August 14, 1971: 28. Also “Billy Asks for Reliever—Tigers Land Perranoski,” The Sporting News, August 14, 1971: 34.

47 “Baseball Transactions,” New York Times, June 23, 1973: 24. Also, Dick Miller, “Ex-Fireman Perranoski Eyes Coaching Career,” The Sporting News, September 15, 1973: 15.

48 Gordon Verrell, “Forster Tries Knife to Sharpen Up His Skills,” The Sporting News, November 11, 1978: 45. Also, Gordon Verrell, “Sutcliffe Provides Early Dodger Eye-Opener,” The Sporting News, April 28, 1979: 17.

49 Gordon Verrell, “Artful Dodger Fernando Valenzuela,” The Sporting News, May 9, 1981: 9. Also, Gordon Verrell, “Howe Finds Flaw And ERA Plummets,” The Sporting News, July 5, 1982: 39, Gordon Verrell, “Welch’s Curveball Sparks L.A. Surge,” The Sporting News, August 23, 1982: 19, “N.L. West,” “Dodgers,” The Sporting News, March 24, 1986: 40, Joe Gergen, “Morgan Appears to Have Come Full Circle,” The Sporting News, May 29, 1989: 8 and Gordon Verrell, “At 22, Martinez Rockets to Prominence,” The Sporting News, September 3, 1990: 8.

51 Gordon Verrell, “Los Angeles Dodgers,” The Sporting News, March 6, 1995: 48. Also, Mark Gonzales, “San Francisco Giants,” The Sporting News, November 21, 1994: 42.

51 Henry Schulman, “San Francisco,” “Shoulder Problems Add to Snow’s Slow Start,” The Sporting News, June 8, 1998: 59. Also, Henry Schulman, “San Francisco,” “Learning to Vary Speeds Puts Ortiz in Fast Lane,” The Sporting News, August 17, 1998: 51 and Henry Schulman, “San Francisco,” “Nen Needs a New Pitch to Throw at Lefthanders,” The Sporting News, July 5, 1999: 34.

52 Beth Harris, “Ron Perranoski, Lefty Bullpen Ace for World Series-winning Dodgers,” Day (New London, Connecticut), October 5, 2020: A8.

53 Bob Hunter, “Ex-Spartan Sparklers Sponge Up Relief Honors,” Also, Harris, “Ron Perranoski, Lefty Bullpen Ace for World Series-winning Dodgers.”