About Billy Pierce
Walter William Pierce was an American starting pitcher in Major League Baseball between 1945 and 1964 who played most of his career for the Chicago White Sox. He was the team's star pitcher in the decade from 1952 to 1961, when they posted the third best record in the major leagues, and received the Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award for the American League (AL) in 1956 and 1957 after being runner-up in both 1953 and 1955. A seven-time All-Star, he led the AL in complete games three times despite his slight build, and in wins, earned run average (ERA) and strikeouts once each. He pitched four one-hitters and seven two-hitters in his career, and on June 27, 1958 came within one batter of becoming the first left-hander in 78 years to throw a perfect game. It really was a thrill to throw around that 'league' ball." After starting out as a first baseman, he switched to pitching to emulate his hero, Detroit Tigers star Tommy Bridges, who like Pierce had a slight build. He holds the White Sox franchise record for career strikeouts (1,796), and his club marks of 186 wins, 2,931 innings and 390 starts are team records for a left-hander.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.