Norm Sherry
Norman Burt Sherry (born
July 16,
1931 in
New York City) is a retired
American catcher,
manager and
coach in
Major League Baseball. He is best known as the man who, while still an active player as the second-string catcher for the
Los Angeles Dodgers, helped the great lefthanded
pitcher Sandy Koufax harness his talent and transform himself from a wild "thrower" into one of the most dominant hurlers of all time - and (ultimately) a member of the
Baseball Hall of Fame.
Coincidentally, Sherry and Koufax belong to the relatively small fraternity of
Jewish baseball players. Sherry's two brothers, George and
Larry Sherry, played professional baseball. Larry, a relief pitcher, was the Most Valuable Player of the
1959 World Series as a teammate of Norm's (and Koufax'). Norm signed with the Dodgers while they were still in their original home of
Brooklyn in
1950. A righthanded hitter, Sherry spent seven years working his way through the Dodger
farm system, and another two in military service. By the time Norm reached the Dodgers, in 1959 for a two-game "cup of coffee," he was 28 years of age and the team was based in
Los Angeles.
Sherry made the team as second-string backstop (behind
John Roseboro) from
1960 through
1962. Early in that tenure, Sherry took aside the prodigal Koufax - who was struggling to become a consistent winner in the majors despite a blazing
fastball and one of the best
curveballs of all time - and convinced him to take something off of his
fastball to get better control. The results were astounding: despite finger and arm miseries, Koufax dominated the
National League from 1962 through his
1966 swan song, winning three
Cy Young Awards and leading the Dodgers to three NL championships and world titles in
1963 and
1965.
As for Sherry, he
batted .283 with eight
home runs in a part-time role in 1960, but his statistics suffered as he sat on the bench, or in the bullpen, in 1961-62. His average plummeted to .256 (
1961) and then to .182 (1962). The Dodgers sold his contract to the lowly
New York Mets on October 11, 1962, to afford Sherry more playing time, but he batted only .136 in a career-high 63 games played (and 147
at-bats) in New York in
1963 and his major league playing career ended. All told, in 194 games over all or part of five seasons, Sherry batted .215 with 18 home runs.
In 1965, Sherry began his managerial career in the Dodger organization, and switched to the
California Angels system in
1969. He coached for the Angels in
1970 and
1971 and returned to the
minor leagues to manage their AA and AAA affiliates from
1972 through
1975 before rejoining the California coaching staff for
1976 under
Dick Williams.
Williams had been extremely successful in his previous terms with the
Boston Red Sox and
Oakland Athletics, but his cold and hard-edged demeanor did not go over well with a losing Angels club. The Halos were 18 games under the .500 mark on July 23, 1976 and in the midst of a player revolt when Williams was given his walking papers. Sherry, named his replacement, salvaged the season somewhat with a 37-29 record as skipper. That winter, the Angels signed high profile free agents such as
Bobby Grich and
Joe Rudi and expected to contend in the
American League West in
1977. But the team struggled and was only 39-42 and in fifth place on July 11 when Sherry was released in favor of his third-base coach,
Dave Garcia. The firing marked the end of his major league managing career, with a career ledger of 76 wins and 71 defeats (.517).
However, Sherry returned to the coaching ranks, ultimately as an "official" pitching coach, working with Williams with the
Montreal Expos and
San Diego Padres, and with another ex-Dodger,
Roger Craig, with the
San Francisco Giants.
