Ron Reed

Ronald Lee Reed (born November 2, 1942) is a retired American starting/relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Atlanta Braves (1966–75), St. Louis Cardinals (1975), Philadelphia Phillies (1976–83) and Chicago White Sox (1984). He batted and threw right-handed.

In a 19-season career, Reed posted a 146-140 record with a 3.46 ERA, 103 saves, 1,481 strikeouts, eight shutouts, 55 complete games, and 2,477 ²⁄₃ innings in 751 appearances (236 as a starter).

He is one of only five pitchers in MLB history to have 100 wins, 100 saves and 50 complete games. The other four are Ellis Kinder, Firpo Marberry, Dennis Eckersley, and John Smoltz^[1]

Highlights

In Reed's second full season of baseball, he was chosen to represent the Atlanta Braves as a member of 1968 National League All-Star team. He pitched in the ninth inning, following future Hall of Famers Don Drysdale, Juan Marichal, Steve Carlton and Tom Seaver on the mound for the NL, and helped preserve a 1-0 victory.

The following season, he won a career-high 18 games to help Atlanta to its first NL division title. On April 8, 1974, he was the winning pitcher the night Hank Aaron hit his record-breaking 715th home run.^[2]

Reed led MLB with 13 relief wins in 1979 while a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Reed is one of only eight pitchers in history (with John Smoltz, Elroy Face, Dennis Eckersley, Bob Stanley, Rich Gossage, Dave Giusti and Hoyt Wilhelm) to have at least 100 wins and 100 saves.

In 2005, Ron Reed was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.^[3]

Postseason appearances

Over the course of his career, Reed's teams have reached the postseason on 7 occasions. He pitched the inaugural National League Championship Series in 1969 with Atlanta (vs. New York) as well as in 1976 with Philadelphia (vs. Cincinnati), 1977–1978 (vs. Los Angeles), 1980 (vs. Houston), and 1983 (vs. Los Angeles). He also pitched in the inaugural National League Division Series in 1981 with Philadelphia (vs. Montreal); the Division Series format was adopted as a result of the players' strike.

Reed also pitched in 2 World Series while with Philadelphia: 1980 (vs. Kansas City) and 1983 (vs. Baltimore).

In the 7 seasons, Reed compiled an 0-2 record and 1 save, 5.06 ERA over 32 innings in 22 games.

Basketball career

Reed graduated in 1965 from the University of Notre Dame, where he was a three-year letterman on the varsity basketball team. He is currently 37th in school history with 1,153 total career points. He was selected in the third round (23rd overall) by the Detroit Pistons in the 1965 National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft.^[4]

He later played in NBA for the Detroit Pistons (1965–67).

See also

• List of Major League Baseball all-time saves leaders

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors) or Baseball Library

• Career statistics and player information from Basketball-Reference.com or NBA