November 24, 2010 – Daniel Eugene McDevitt was born on November 18, 1932 in New York and passed away on November 20, 2010, just two days after his 78th birthday in Covington, Georgia. McDevitt was originally signed by the New York Yankees in 1951 as a free agent but the Yankees released him after the 1951 season. After he was released by the Yankees he served in the US Amy during the Korean War before being signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers after his tour ended in 1952. McDevitt, a lefty pitched in the big leagues for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins, and the Kansas City A’s for all or parts of six seasons between 1957 and 1962. Danny McDevitt was a hard throwing left hander with control issues but he pitched in 155 big league games, starting 60 of them and had a career record of 21-27 with an ERA of 4.40. Danny only had 13 complete games and 4 shutouts in his career but one of them took place on September 24, 1957 when he and his Brooklyn Dodgers teammate’s shut out the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0 with 6,702 fans in attendance in what turned out to be the final game the Dodgers would play at Ebbets Field. Just two weeks later team owner Walter O’Malley announced that the team was moving to LA.
McDevitt had Minnesota ties going back to 1957 and 1958 when he pitched for the Dodgers AAA minor league team the St. Paul Saints where he went 15-8. On June 14, 1961 the New York Yankees traded McDevitt to the Minnesota Twins for infielder Billy Gardner who would later become a Twins manager. Danny’s stay in Minnesota was short as the Twins sold him to the Kansas City A’s on April 10th 1962. During his brief career as a Minnesota Twin, McDevitt pitched in 16 games, all but one in relief and finished his Twins career with a 1-0 record and an excellent ERA of 2.36. McDevitt’s big league career ended after the 1962 season although he did pitch in a couple of minor league games in 1963. After baseball he worked as a minor league umpire, held various government jobs in Mississippi and Alabama, then sold real estate in Georgia. We at Twins Trivia pass on our condolences to the McDevitt family and friends.