HOF Plaque- Jerry Syed

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HOF Plaque- Jerry Syed

Post by recte44 » Tue Oct 23, 2012 7:48 pm

Born July 15, 1951 in the USA
Drafted in the 37th round, 870th overall pick by Seattle in 1973 MBBA Dispersal Draft
Debut April, 1976


Was selected to the 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989 All-Star Games

Was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1991 as a unanimous selection with all 28 ballots cast in favor of his induction.

Outside of the "Home Plate Gate" at the House of Hoffa, the MBBA Hall of Fame is slowly filling up with the heroes, the stars, the real faces of the MBBA. When you hand your ticket to the usher, and move through the turnstile, odds are that you can name all the members of the hall of fame, and remember their accomplishments. What you may not remember though, is the story of where they started, how they got to be where they are today, how they achieved such great success in the MBBA, and how unlikely some of these stories are.

The life story of Jerry Syed, and how he wound up in this shrine, this hall of heroes, is an unusual one to say the least. Jerry was born in 1951 in Honolulu Hawaii, the son of a Naval officer stationed there. At the age of 4, Jerry's parents left for Japan, with his father Robert Syed, taking a position teaching military doctrine to the new Japanese Defense Navy. This move turned out to be a long-term change, and in 1960, his maternal grandparents moved to Japan to witness Jerry and his 2 sisters growing up. Unknown to those in Japan, young Jerry had his own pitching coach, former major league starter Jack Bentley was his grandfather. Bentley was never a great pitcher in the Major Leagues, but his knowledge of the art of pitching made it so that the young Syed would learn from a relative master, and those lessons would eventually show up in his professional career.

Going to school as one of the few American children in the city provided it's challenges to Jerry, but his advantages in what was quickly becoming the favorite pastime for the Japanese meant that Syed quickly was able to make friends and impress the youth baseball coaches of the area. Based on some bias however, he was not allowed to pitch in his youth, and was able to avoid some of the typical injuries that sometimes harass very young pitchers. But playing short stop, he did develop a strong arm as a youth, and learned the basics of the game at an early age, both by study from his Grandfather, and by practice by playing in the infield.

By the time that Syed made it to secondary school, his coachs realized that even if he was not a Japanese player, that he was talented enough to pitch, and it was then they first sent him to the mound. By the time he was in his last year of high school, he was a minor star of the area, and earned a scholarship for a university. In his last game in high school though, he suffered his first arm injury, and that cost him his first year of college ball. That lost year cost him a spot on the Japansese Youth Team, and made it so that he was able to stay out of view of most American scouts. But this year off is when Bentley really made his mark, and with that time, Syed truly learned how to pitch. This was the year that in all ways, prepared Jerry for his eventual trip to Hackensack to the Hall of Fame.

At the time of the 1973 Dispersal Draft, the Seattle Storm were one of a small group of teams that had bothered to scout Japan. Initial team owner, Dan Schroeder, traveled prior to the draft to meet with his scouts, and the last player they discussed was Jerry Syed. The scout, saving the best for last, told Schroeder that no other MBBA scouts had seen him pitch, and the fact that Syed was not on the Japanese National Youth Team meant that his name was under the radar. So, on day four of the draft, when Schroeder informed the league of who he was drafting, no attention was paid to this player, the 870th player selected. As of this time, there are no players who came from such obscurity in the draft to make such a tremendous impact onto the league.

Drafted at the age of 20, Syed spent his first three seasons in the minor league, putting together solid, if not completely spectacular numbers there. His brilliance did show in the 1974 season in AA, when he went 9-4 with a 2.03 ERA, but even then, the expectations for Syed throughout the league were small. The prize of Seattle's scouts was about to appear on the scene. When he finally did show up in Seattle in 1976, the FLP did not know what hit them. Going only 10-13 with a 3.94 ERA, batters in the Frick League were shocked to see the power and finesse of Syed, and were seen striking out to him 228 times in just 185 innings pitched. Even though his record was mediocre, it was clear that the Seattle Slinger had arrived.

The improvement in 1977 for Jerry was clear. He flipped his record around, going 15-8 and lowering his ERA to 3.19, while striking out a career high 253. Seattle finished 4th in the FLP that season, going only 67-95, but the growth of Syed was a clear sign of a change for the Storm. And what a change there was in '78, where the Storm went 92-71, winning the FLP and seeing Syed run his record to 18-11 and his ERA dropped down to 2.62 while striking out 249 batters. This was the first of 5 consecutive play-off appearances for the Storm, and it was in the post season the Syed may best be remembered for. Although the Storm only made it to the Cartwright Cup once, there can never be any blame given to Syed. His career play-off numbers speak for themselves, where he only went 7-5, however his ERA was a startling 1.89 in 123 and 2/3rd innings pitched. He allowed only 92 hits while striking out 101, holding opposing hitters to a .211 batting average.

His best season in Seattle is considered by many to be 1984, when he went 17-12 for a team that was 2 games over .500, giving the Storm 241 innings, and an ERA of 2.20, with 197 Ks and only 22 walks.

After being traded to New Orleans in the middle of the 1986 season, his career was not done. He finally won a ring with New Orleans in 1988, helping the Crawdads in their sweep of the Sluggers. In 1988, his last chance in the post season, Syed went out in style, going 3-0 with NO RUNS ALLOWED in 20 and 2/3rd innings. Giving up only 13 hits and striking out 21, Syed once again made the opposing hitters look and feel foolish. This time, at the hand of the old master, not the kid that no one had heard of.

His career regular season numbers are indeed some of the best ever posted in the MBBA. Going 202 and 107 in his career, he put together a career ERA of 2.84. In 2909.2 IP, he held batters to a .234 batting average, and struck out a total of 2600 batters, walking only 615. His 99 Home Runs allowed show his ability to keep the ball in the park, and he only allowed 2,549 hits.

*plaque written by Matt Bornac

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