(November 18, 1932 - November 20, 2010)
McDevitt was born on November 18, 1932, in Manhattan. He relocated together with his family to Hallstead, Pennsylvania, where he was a star player on his high school baseball team.[1] He attended St. Bonaventure University in Olean, New York, but dropped out after he was signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in September 1951.[2] He was released by the Yankees and served in the United States Army during the Korean War before being signed by the Dodgers after the completion of his military service.[1]
McDevitt is most remembered as the starting pitcher for the Dodgers last home game at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn on September 24, 1957, during his first season in the major leagues, in which McDevitt pitched a 2–0 complete game shutout victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in front of a crowd of 6,702, in a game in which he threw nine strikeouts and gave up five hits.[1][3] He finished the 1957 season with a 7-4 record, to go along with 90 strikeouts and an earned run average of 3.25.[2] The Dodgers finished the season with a three-game series on the road against the Philadelphia Phillies, and ended the year in third place.[1] In October, just weeks after what turned out to be the team's final game in Brooklyn, owner Walter O'Malley announced that the Dodgers would be moving to Los Angeles.[3]
He pitched three more seasons with the Dodgers, achieving a career-best 10 wins against eight losses in 1959, when the Dodgers would go on to win their first World Series championship in California, defeating the Chicago White Sox in six games, though McDevitt did not appear in the series.[1][2] He played for both the Yankees and the Minnesota Twins during the 1961 season, and ended his major league career with the Kansas City Athletics in 1962.[2]
McDevitt lived in Social Circle, Georgia, but died in Covington, Georgia, at the age of 78.[4]
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