Yesterday it was announced that former big leaguer Don Gullet died. Many today are asking who was Don Gullet. For those people, I feel sorry that you didn’t know him. Don Gullet was one of the Yankees’ first free agents. He was signed in the winter of 1976 after as a member of the Cincinnati Reds (the Big Red Machine) helped sweep the Yankees in the 1976 World Series. His Reds manager Sparky Anderson used to say that Gullet was as definite a hall of famer as he had ever seen. Let’s not forget that Sparky had Pete Rose and Johnny Bench on that team.
During the 1977 World Championship season Gullet had a record of 14 and 4 even though it was an injury-plagued season. He even pitched well in the Series, injury and all.
The incredible thing about Gullet was that he was actually a better football and basketball player but once told me that he was just in love with baseball.
In 1977 Gene Michael was our eye in the sky. That meant that he would sit up in the press box with binoculars and report to Billy Martin anything and everything. At one point Gene thought it would be a good idea if we would use a radar gun to clock our pitchers. It was not an official situation at the time so it was something that was done every once in a while.
Whenever that happened I was the guy that would keep the gun. It was nothing complicated, meaning that you didn’t have to go to Yale to write down the reading on the gun.
I remember one time I gave Gene the radar chart after a game that Gullet had just pitched and he was shocked that the Gullet fastball was a consistent 98-99. I also told Gene that many of the 99s had to of been 100 because our gun only had two digits.
He may have been our hardest thrower, let’s not forget that we had Ron Guidry on our staff, and in 78 we had the flame thrower, Goose Gossage.
The thing that I loved most about Gullet was that he was absolutely positively one of the most beautiful people that you could ever meet. He had the most energizing smile ever. He was a guy from Kentucky who didn’t know what racism was because he treated everyone equally and beautifully. He had a wonderful sense of humor and was accepted almost immediately after getting to the Yankees even though the year before he made the Bronx Bombers look like his whipping boys in the World Series.
Thurman Munson once said that had Gullet had an injury-free season he would have won 30 games.
Today I spoke to Sweet Lou Piniella and I have to admit that he brought me to tears.
Lou reminded me that they were roommates and had an instant brotherly love for each other. Lou said that Don was one of the finest young men that he had ever known. Lou was undoubtedly shaken by this. He wanted to send his condolences to the Gullet family and all the people who knew and loved him.
Willie Randolph like Lou felt numb and reminded me that they just didn’t come as nice as Gullet.
There was an extraordinary family unit that came together during that first Steinbrenner dynasty of the 70s, and when we lose one of our members, I can only say that the pain is overwhelming.
Most baseball fans today don’t know who Don Gullet was… I thank God that like Sweet Lou and Willie I got to be friends with one of Baseball’s all-time great people!
