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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are pleased to honor Chicago White Sox legend
4Billy Pierce for his baseball career and continuing
5humanitarian work; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Billy Pierce was born in Detroit on April 2, 1927;
7he played baseball for Highland Park (Michigan) High School; he
8came to the Chicago White Sox in a trade with the Detroit
9Tigers on November 10, 1948; and
 
10    WHEREAS, During his major league career, he accumulated the
11following awards and stellar statistics: 211 wins; 1,999
12strikeouts; 193 complete games; a 3.27 earned run average; 38
13shutouts; and 5 one-hitters; he is the White Sox career leader
14in strikeouts with 1,796; he was the starting pitcher for the
15American League in the 1953, 1955, and 1956 All-Star games, and
16was a member of the American League All-Star team in 1953,
171955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, and 1961; he was the 1956 and
181957 Sporting News Pitcher of the Year; he accumulated more
19wins than any other pitcher for the Chicago White Sox during
20the 1950s; his 182 wins are the most wins of any lefty in White
21Sox history; he pitched 39 and 2/3 consecutive scoreless
22innings for the White Sox in 1953; in 1955, he had an earned
23run average of 1.97; with the exception of 1954, he had at

 

 

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1least 14 wins every season from 1951 to 1960; and
 
2    WHEREAS, He is considered to be one of the greatest
3pitchers in Chicago White Sox history; in addition to his 7
4all-star selections in the 13 years he spent with the White
5Sox, he won 186 games and struck out 1,796 batters; as a member
6of the 1959 American League Champion White Sox, he threw 4
7scoreless innings out of the bullpen during the World Series;
8he was also a member of World Series teams in Detroit in 1945
9and San Francisco in 1962; in the 1962 3 game National League
10playoff against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he was the winning
11pitcher in game one over Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, throwing a
123-hit shutout and saving game 3 by pitching a perfect ninth
13inning; in game 6 of the 1962 World Series, he again only gave
14up 3 hits in a complete game victory over Hall of Famer Whitey
15Ford and the New York Yankees, forcing a seventh game; he
16retired from baseball in 1964; and
 
17    WHEREAS, He continues to serve as an ambassador for the
18White Sox organization, appearing at various community events
19on its behalf; and
 
20    WHEREAS, He is also known for his continuous work raising
21money for the Chicago Baseball Cancer Charities, raising over
22$13 million for the organization, which has gone toward cancer
23patient care, education, and research programs; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, He played his last 3 seasons with the Giants, but
2moved his family back to Chicago, where he owned an automobile
3dealership for 2 years, worked as a stockbroker, and was an
4unofficial scout for the White Sox; he later worked for and
5retired from Continental Envelope Company; and
 
6    WHEREAS, In 1987, the Chicago White Sox retired his number
719; upon Nellie Fox's selection to the National Baseball Hall
8of Fame, the Nellie Fox Society was renamed the Billy Pierce
9Society, in part to create awareness of the fact that Billy
10Pierce belongs in the National Baseball Hall of Fame; in 2007,
11a bronze likeness of Billy Pierce was unveiled at U.S. Cellular
12Field; and
 
13    WHEREAS, He and his wife of over 60 years, Gloria, have 3
14children, Bill, Patti, and Bob; and 5 grandchildren; therefore,
15be it
 
16    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
17NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
18we declare May 16, 2012 as Billy Pierce Day in the State of
19Illinois in honor of his baseball career and continuing
20humanitarian work; and be it further
 
21    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be

 

 

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1presented to Billy Pierce as a symbol of our respect and
2esteem.