Larry Bearnarth: Native New Yorker & St. Johns College World Series Winner (1963 - 1966)

Lawrence Donald Bearnarth was born on September 11, 1941, in Staten Island, New York City. He was the son of a Swedish banker, the third son to John & Josphine Lennarth.

Larry attended St. Peters Boys High School in the New Brighton section of Staten Island. There he was a star athlete playing baseball & basketball.

The six-foot two right hander was a star pitcher in the New York area during his high school & college days.

St John's University: The local boy earned an English literature degree at St. John's University where he also pitched for the Red Men baseball team. In his St. Johns career (1960-1962) he was 32-2 under Hall of Fame coach Jack Kaiser. He was a member of the St. Johns team that won the 1960 College World Series.

In his senior year he was 9-1 with a 1.30 ERA gaining lots of attention. His focus was on the new Mets franchise, thinking he'd have a better chance to get into big league games with a new club.

In 1961, the expansion New York Mets were looking for some home-grown talent & they didn’t have to go too far in finding a pitcher. They chose the kid with the great sinker ball pitch.

The six-foot two right hander was signed & sent directly to AAA Syracuse. Obviously, he was rushed through the ranks of a young organization eager to push a local player to the ballclub. 

In his first year of minor league ball, Bearnarth went 2-13 with a 6.67 ERA in 1962. It didn’t matter, the 21-year-old right hander was still brought up to the 1963 Mets pitching staff.

Mets Debut: On April 16th, Bearnarth made his MLB debut pitching in relief at Wrigley Field in Chicago. He went three innings allowing just one run, finishing up a 7-4 Mets loss.

On May 5th, at the Polo Grounds, Larry had one of his best early outings pitching four shutout relief innings against the San Francisco Giants in a Mets loss. 

First Career Win: On May 12th, Bearnarth came into a game in the 6th inning ahead of the Reds 11-8, with two men on he faced Rookie Pete Rose. Rose hit a two run double & Vada Pinson followed with another, putting the Mets down 12-11. But in the bottom of the 8th the Mets scored two runs giving Bearnarth his first victory in a wild 13-12 win in the second game of a Polo Grounds double header.

On June 2nd, in the Polo Grounds, he got another win, coming against the Pirates. The Mets won it in the 10th inning, as Hot Rod Kanehl scored the winning run-on Willie Stargell's fielding error. He would blow two more games that month & take three losses to fall to 2-3.

 On July 18th, he made a spot start against the Giants & gave up four runs on twelve hits, pitching seven innings taking no decision in the loss. 

On August 14th, he earned his first save, closing out two innings of a 4-2 win over the Pirates at the Polo Grounds.  Bearnarth would earn two saves over the Pirates that month. In between he lost three straight decisions, all in relief.

On August 16th in New York, he came in to pitch in the 4th inning facing the Dodgers. He allowed three runs on eight hits finishing the game taking the loss to fall to 2-4. On August 20th he gave up a walk off HR to the Phillies Tony Taylor.

On September 1st, Bearnarth earned his third victory, coming in relief of Roger Craig in the 10th
inning. Bearnarth went on to pitch five scoreless innings, through the 16th inning, getting the win when Tim Harkness hit a walk off HR.

That month he earned a save in Cincinnati & another in San Francisco where he struck out Matty Alou to end the game, with two men on in a 5-4 win.

On September 29th, he made a start & gave up a season high seven runs to the Colt 45's in Houston in a 13-4 loss.

Overall Bearnarth would have his best year in his 1963 rookie season. He made 58 appearances, going 3-8 with four saves. Between his saves & victories, he was involved in almost one quarter of the Mets 40 wins that season. He struck out 48 & walked 47 posting a 3.42 ERA. He finished off 34 games. sixth most in the NL.

the "Bear "Moniker: He was the best of the bunch in the bullpen that year and his aggressive pitching style along with his name, earned him the nickname of Bear. He later commented on Casey Stengel's mix up of players names.

Quotes- Larry Bearnarth: "He would call down to the bullpen for a relief pitcher & I would hear him tell the pitching coach, 'get Big Ben ready'. Once I realized that was the way Casey was with everybody, it no longer bothered me".

He did impress his manager Casey, who told the press "Big names & big uniforms don't frighten him. He throws those double play sinkers to them all".

That off season a Bronx Little League survey voted him the most popular Met.

1964: Larry began the month of April in the new Shea Stadium, going 0-3 with a 6.97 ERA. On an April 18th start, he matched last season's final start, by giving up seven runs in a 9-5 loss to the Pirates. On April 29th, he walked in the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning, issuing a base on balls to the Cardinals Jeoff Long.

From May 3rd to May 22nd, he had a good eleven game stretch where he went 3-0 with two saves.
This was as good as any stretch a Mets pitcher had on the season. In the 11 games he gave up four runs in 15.1 innings for a 2.35 ERA. One of those runs was a HR to Willie Mays, blowing a save in San Francisco.

On May 8th Joe Christopher's Walk off single won the game for him over that year's World Champion Cardinals. On May 22nd, Frank Thomas' 8th inning double off Houston's Hal Brown got him the win. That month he was on the positive side of almost half of the Mets 12 victories.

Another Classic Casey Stengel Story & a Triple Play: On May 31st, Larry pitched in both ends of a long ten-hour, double header loss to the Giants in the Polo Grounds. In the seven hour & twenty-three-minute, 23 inning second game, Larry came into a tie game in the 8th inning & would pitch seven relief innings. 

In the top of the 14th inning with two on & no one out, Orlando Cepeda was coming to bat. Casey Stengel came out to the mound to talk to Bearnarth, Casey left him singing "tra-la la". Cepeda lined to short & the Mets pulled off a triple play. When Bearnarth got to the dugout & asked Casey what tra-la-la meant, he replied "tr-la-la triple play". Galen Cisco gave up two runs in the top of the 23rd inning as the Mets took the loss.

Thay May after the departure of Jay Hook, Bearnarth became the Mets Player Representative.

Mets Record-Ten Inning Relief Effort: On June 9th he had an epic outing at Shea Stadium, pitching ten innings of relief. The ten-relief innings are still a Mets record. Bearnarth came into a tied game with the Cubs at the Polo Grounds, in the 4th inning relieving Tom Sturdivant. 

After shutting down the Cubs thru nine innings, he gave up an RBI single to Dick Bertell in the 12th inning. But the Mets came back to tie it & win it on Jesse Gonder's walk off single. Larry struck out six along the way walking three to get his fourth win (4-3) of the year.

He would get another win in September & collect three saves along the way.

On the year he made 44 appearances, going 5-5 with three saves & a 4.15 ERA. He struck out 31 while walking 38 in 78 innings pitched finishing off 20 games.

Off Season Work: In the off season he worked as a substitute teacher & wrote a sports column for Long Island Weekly.

1965: In the second game of the season, Larry came into a 3-3 tie with Houston at the Polo Grounds in the top of the 11th inning. He got the first out then Jimmy Wynn reached on an error. He got the second out then it all fell apart. He threw two wild pitches, walked three straight batters & get relieved by Galen Cisco who gave up two more hits. Bearnarth took the loss.

On June 1st, he came into the game in the 5th inning & pitched five relief innings at Wrigley Field. The Mets put up ten runs earning him his first win of the 1965 season.

On June 14th he came to a scoreless game against the Reds at Crosley Field in the 9th inning. Jim Maloney had no-hit the Mets thru ten innings but then gave up a HR to Johnny Lewis & a single to Roy McMillan. Bearnarth pitched two scoreless innings earning the win to get to 2-1.

He beat the Cubs once again & pitched well enough to go 3-1 into early July. But then was hit hard the rest of the month. From July 7th to July 29th in eight appearances he gave up 16runs (14 earned) in just five innings pitched for a 25.20 ERA. He took two losses & blew a save in that time.

In early August when he was sent down to AAA Buffalo, where he went 3-2. He returned to the Mets bullpen at the very end of September. 

Overall, for the '65 season, Bear made 40 appearances, finishing off 17 games going 3-5 with one save, striking out 16 batters & walking 28 in 60 innings. 

Trivia: Over the 1964-1965 seasons, he walked 19 more batters (66) than he struck out (47) in 138 innings, posting a 4.37 ERA.

1966: This season he was 2-3 with a 4.45 ERA, he struck out 27 & walked 20 but gave up a career high 11 HRs in 54 innings of work. Larry was sent back to the AAA in early August. Arm issues would factor into shortening his career.

He would pitch in the Mets minor leagues for the next five seasons. 

Post Mets Career: In October 1970, his contract was purchased by the Milwaukee Brewers. In 1971 after five years, he returned to the big leagues for two appearances. He allowed six runs in three innings of work. He decided to retire that season, at the age of 30. 

Career Stats: In his five-year career he was 13-21 with eight saves & a 4.13 ERA. He struck out 124 batters with 135 walks in 322 innings over 173 appearances, making seven starts & finishing off 84 games.

Retirement: After his playing career he became a successful minor league coach in the Montreal Expos organization. He helped develop pitchers Steve Rogers, Don Stanhouse & Shane Rawley to name a few.

He then became the Expos pitching coach for seven years (1985 - 1991) under his friend, manager Buck Rogers.

In 1990 in Montreal, he put together a staff which led the league in ERA & had a bullpen that tied the NL lead for the most saves. Dennis Martinez credited his newfound success to pitching coach Bearnarth.

In 1993 Bearnarth became the first pitching coach for the expansion Colorado Rockies staff. He later scouted for the Detroit Tigers from 1996-1999.

Family: Larry & his wife Barbara were married in June 1962. Together they had four had children, two daughters & two sons.

Passing: In 2000 Larry suddenly passed away from a heart attack in St. Petersburg, Florida he was just 58 years old.