Pat Zachry obit

Former Mets pitcher Pat Zachry dead at 71

 

He was not on the list.

Former Mets pitcher Pat Zachry has died at the age of 71 after a lengthy illness.

Zachry, who pitched for the Mets from 1977 and 1982, was part of return from Cincinnati when the Mets infamously traded Tom Seaver to the Reds in 1977.

"You couldn’t find a better teammate than Zach," Doug Flynn -- another Met who came from Cincinnati as part of the Seaver trade -- told Mets vice president of media relations Jay Horwitz. "We will all miss him dearly."

In six seasons with the Mets, Zachry had a 3.63 ERA.

He was an All-Star in 1978.

Before joining the Mets, Zachry was the Rookie of the Year in 1976 with the Reds.

His 10-season big league career also included stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies.

With the Reds, Zachry won the Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award for his play in the National League in 1976. He was one of the players traded to the Mets for Tom Seaver in one of the Mets' "Midnight Massacre" trades. After pitching for the Mets through 1982, he pitched for the Dodgers in 1983 and 1984 and for the Phillies in 1985.

Zachry attended Richfield High School in Waco, Texas. The Cincinnati Reds selected Zachry in the 19th round of the 1970 Major League Baseball draft. In six seasons in their farm system, he compiled a 54–42 record, even 3.00 earned run average and 619 strikeouts. While a member of the Tampa Tarpons in 1971, Zachry received notice of his military draft eligibility for the nation's on-going engagement in Vietnam, however, he failed the U.S. Army's physical examination.

At the Winter Meetings after the 1975 season, the reigning World Series champion Reds traded starting pitcher Clay Kirby to the Montreal Expos for third baseman Bob Bailey in order to make room in their starting rotation for Zachry. He made his major league debut on April 11, 1976, as a relief pitcher and the Reds moved him into the starting rotation shortly afterwards. On May 28, he shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers to improve to 4–0 with a 1.17 ERA. For the season, Zachry compiled a 14–7 record, 2.74 ERA, and a team leading 143 strikeouts in 204 innings pitched. In the post-season, Zachry won game two of the 1976 National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies in Veterans Stadium, and won game three of the 1976 World Series with the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

The Big Red Machine became the first team to sweep the entire post-season since the Championship Series were begun in 1969, en route to winning their second consecutive world championship. After the season, Zachry had a hernia operation, and was in the process of recovering when he and San Diego Padres closer Butch Metzger were named co-winners of the National League Rookie of the Year Award. It was the first time in major league history co-winners of the award were named. Zachry was also the first ever Rookie of the Year Award winning pitcher to start and win a World Series game during his rookie season.

After retiring he was a coach for the San Antonio Missions.