Pat Zachry, who was a co-winner of the Nationwide League Rookie of the Yr award in 1976, however who might be greatest recognized for being one of many gamers traded to the New York Mets a 12 months later for Tom Seaver, died on Thursday on the dwelling of his son, Josh, in Austin, Texas. He was 71.
Jay Horwitz, a spokesman for the Mets, introduced the loss of life. He didn’t specify the trigger, saying solely that Zachry died after a protracted sickness.
Zachry, a 6-foot-5 right-hander, started his profession with the Reds in 1976 and bought off to a promising begin. He went 14-7 with a 2.74 earned run common in his first season and tied the San Diego Padres pitcher Butch Metzger for Rookie of the Yr. He beat the Philadelphia Phillies in Sport 2 of the Nationwide League Championship Sequence and the Yankees in Sport 3 of the World Sequence, which the Reds gained in 4 video games for his or her second straight championship.
The Mets determined to commerce Seaver, a future Corridor of Famer and the workforce’s star participant, in June 1977 after a chronic contract dispute between Seaver and the workforce’s chairman, M. Donald Grant. They despatched him to Cincinnati for the infielder Doug Flynn, the outfielders Steve Henderson and Dan Norman, and Zachry.
The New York Occasions, in a Web page 1 article, referred to as it “one of many blockbuster trades in baseball historical past.”
“The premier pitcher in baseball for the final decade,” The Occasions famous, had been traded for “4 gamers of far much less magnitude.”
Met followers weren’t happy; in keeping with The Occasions, the workforce’s switchboard was “besieged” with offended telephone calls even earlier than the deal was formally introduced.
“We weren’t going to interchange Tom. Nobody may,” Flynn stated in a press release issued by the Mets after Zachry’s loss of life. “We simply caught collectively and performed as arduous as we may.”
Zachry’s first full season as a Met started nicely. He gained seven of his first eight selections, was chosen for the Nationwide League All-Star workforce and was 10-3 on the midway level of the season.
However he misplaced his subsequent three selections, and when he allowed a go-ahead single to George Foster of the Reds on July 24 and was taken out of the sport by the Mets’ supervisor, Joe Torre, he kicked a helmet within the dugout, caught a spike on the steps and broke his left foot, ending his season.
The remainder of his profession was undistinguished. In 10 main league seasons with the Reds, Mets, Dodgers and Phillies, he was 69-67 with a 3.52 E.R.A.
Patrick Paul Zachry was born on April 24, 1952, in Richmond, Texas, southwest of Houston, and was chosen by Cincinnati with the 454th decide within the nineteenth spherical of the 1970 beginner draft. He made his main league debut towards Houston on April 11, 1976.
Along with his son, a former school soccer participant, Zachry is survived by a daughter, Meredith Knight, an equestrian.
The New York Occasions contributed reporting.