Where Are They Now? - famous baseball players - Brief Article - Interview

Baseball Digest, Sept, 2000 by John Hartsock

Former Pitcher JERRY REUSS Embarks on A Coaching Career

Left-hander won more than 200 games in the majors, including 39 shutouts and three 18-victory seasons

FROM PITCHER'S MOUND TO broadcast booth to coaching box, Jerry Reuss has done it all in a long and colorful baseball career.

Reuss is part of a select group of major league players whose career spanned four separate decades.

The strapping 6-5 left-handed pitcher won 220 major league games in a 22-year career that began with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1969 and concluded with a second tour of duty as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1990.

Reuss wound up playing for eight different teams--Cardinals, Astros, Pirates, Dodgers, Reds, Angels, White Sox, and Brewers.

Reuss felt that the key to his longevity was a combination of good health and good luck.

"I was blessed," he said. "I had very good pitching mechanics, and I was free of major injuries for most of my career."

Reuss possessed an overpowering fastball in the first half of his career, but he stuck around by throwing a fine breaking ball and keeping hitters off-balance with his off-speed stuff during his later years in the majors.

"I made adjustments when adjustments needed to be made," said Reuss, who logged 1,907 career strikeouts.

This season, Reuss has been trying to use his knowledge of how to maximize natural pitching ability with the flexibility to make changes when necessary in his first year as pitching coach with the Harrisburg Senators in the Class AA Eastern League.

The Senators are an affiliate of the National League's Montreal Expos, and have developed a plethora of excellent major league talent over the past decade.

"This (coaching) is something that I've always wanted to do," said Reuss, now 50 years old.

That doesn't mean he's doing the job with an overzealous, know-it-all attitude, however.

"I knew that I wasn't ready for coaching in the big leagues, and I knew that I wasn't ready for coaching in (Class) AAA," Reuss said. "And in some ways, I may not be ready for coaching in Class AA.

"This job requires a lot of concentration on and off the field, and for me, it's been an education on how to budget one's time, and at the same time, to carry out the wishes of the people who hired me," Reuss said.

In this respect, Reuss is learning something about the game as well as teaching something about it.

"It's a learning experience for me, and it will probably be that way for a good part of the year," Reuss said.

In any event, Reuss has changed gears again. Since retiring as a major league player in 1990, he spent the past 10 years as a baseball analyst for ESPN, the Anaheim Angels, and SportsChannel.

"I wanted to spend some time at home with my kids," Reuss said of his decision to turn to a career in broadcasting. "But now, they're grown, and they have lives of their own."

Reuss' work life today is centered around cultivating young pitching talent and helping minor league players reach their potential and become major leaguers.

"Some of these guys are close to becoming major league players and some aren't quite as close," Reuss said. "But I've really been enjoying my work as a coach."

JERRY REUSS' CAREER PITCHING STATS

Year     Team               W     L    ERA        IP

1969     Cardinals          1     0   0.00       7.0
1970     Cardinals          7     8   4.11     127.0
1971     Cardinals         14    14   4.78     211.0
1972     Astros             9    13   4.17     192.0
1973     Astros            16    13   3.74     279.1
1974     Pirates           16    11   3.50     260.0
1975     Pirates           18    11   2.54     237.0
1976     Pirates           14     9   3.53     209.1
1977     Pirates           10    13   4.11     208.0
1978     Pirates            3     2   4.88     830.0
1979     Dodgers            7    14   3.54     160.0
1980     Dodgers           18     6   2.52     229.0
1981     Dodgers           10     4   2.29     153.0
1982     Dodgers           18    11   3.11     254.2
1983     Dodgers           12    11   2.94     223.1
1984     Dodgers            5     7   3.82      99.0
1985     Dodgers           14    10   2.92     212.2
1986     Dodgers            2     6   5.84      74.0
1987     LA/Cin./Cal.       4    10   5.97     119.0
1988     White Sox         13     9   3.44     183.0
1989     ChiSox/Mil.        9     9   5.13     140.1
1990     Pirates            0     0   3.52       7.2
Totals                    220   191   3.64   3,669.1

Year     Team             SO    ShO

1969     Cardinals          3     0
1970     Cardinals         74     2
1971     Cardinals        131     2
1972     Astros           174     1
1973     Astros           177     3
1974     Pirates          105     1
1975     Pirates          131     6
1976     Pirates          108     3
1977     Pirates          116     2
1978     Pirates           42     1
1979     Dodgers           83     1
1980     Dodgers          111     6
1981     Dodgers           51     2
1982     Dodgers          138     4
1983     Dodgers          143     0
1984     Dodgers           44     0
1985     Dodgers           84     3
1986     Dodgers           29     0
1987     LA/Cin./Cal.      49     1
1988     White Sox         73     0
1989     ChiSox/Mil.       40     1
1990     Pirates            1     0
Totals                  1,907    39