Former West Haven Yankee Ron Guidry Recalls "So Bad" Experience Playing At Quigley Stadium

Ron Guidry is undeniably one of the best Yankee pitchers in their franchise history. Wearing pinstripes his entire career, Guidry would be a four-time all-star, two-time World Series champion and a Cy Young recipient by the end of his 14-year career in the majors.

Before Guidry posted his 1.74 ERA in 1978 and won 22 games in 1985, he was a West Haven Yankee. In fact you can argue the fact that Guidry was one of the worst players to come to the Connecticut shoreline team. 

Starting 1974 in Double-AA with West Haven, Guidry was widely considered to be a starter in the Yankees organization - having 36 of 42 games being starts. When it came to West Haven, Guidry did not fare well as both a starter and reliever. His poor outings had him designated to the West Haven bullpen.

The 23-year-old only started in eight of the 37-games he appeared in on a team that saw over 10 different players record at least one start on the mound in what would end up being a 58-79 season. Guidry recorded 77 innings and pitched to the tune of a 5.26 ERA. 

When Ron Guidry recalled his 1974 West Haven stint, he was more than less favorable on his tenure. Guidry said in a 1980 interview that his road trips were “hard and long” and that the buses he and his fellow teammates had to ride on weren’t the best. In another interview, Guidry described Quigley Stadium, which was home to the Yankees, as “so bad, you couldn’t even tell how well you played.” 

When it came to the locker rooms at Quigley, there was one toilet that lacked a surrounding stall for quite some time. Players had to sit full view in front of their piers and anyone else who was in the room.

"There were only two showers in that place." Guidry said, while also stating that after every home game, "guys would run in and see who could undress the fastest to get in there [the shower] first. If you weren't fast, you'd have to wait about an hour and a half to take a shower. And if you were one of the last guys in, you might've run out of hot water."

The Louisiana Lightning was by far not a complainer, but he also expressed his displeasure on how the lighting system was as well Guidry did not like how the lights were inside the fences. Quigley Stadium is a field of odd dimensions at 325-400-315. The 315-foot short porch in right field proved to be very valuable to lefty hitters, while being a pitcher's nightmare.

Overall very little can be found of minor league records from the 1970s and prior years, making it hard to pin-point Guidry’s home stats at Quigley. The home field advantage has always been real, with home teams winning around 54% of the time historically. Considering Guidry disliked Quigley, could be seen as part of his opinion being swayed by a poor home field performance - although Guidry would have a sub 3.00 home ERA in the majors throughout his career (189 home games). If you do a clean cut of 38.1 innings pitched at home with K numbers down, but keeping WHIP up, you get an ERA around 5.51, which is a translation of about 24 earned runs. That would also put Guidry's road ERA at 5.01 in 38.2 innings for him to achieve those 77 innings pitched. Overall though these are just projections.

Guidry would be promoted to Triple-AAA for the 1975 season despite his poor pitching line and would end up getting his call to The Show for 10 games. It would not be until 1978, that Guidry would become a cemented starter for New York - earning his spot as a full-time starter in what would be a Cy Young winning year. 

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