Cloyd Boyer


Cloyd Victor Boyer Jr. is a former right-handed pitcher and pitching coach in Major League Baseball who played between and for the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Athletics.

Biography

Boyer was born in Alba, Missouri. He was the eldest son in a family that included third basemen Ken Boyer and Clete Boyer. Ken, National League Most Valuable Player, an 11-time Major League Baseball All-Star and five-time Gold Glove Award winner, had a 15-year big-league career with the Cardinals, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers; Cletis won only one Gold Glove because of the presence of Brooks Robinson, but played all or parts of 16 MLB seasons for the Athletics, New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves.
In a five-season career, Cloyd Boyer posted a 20–23 record with 198 strikeouts and a 4.73 earned run average in 395⅔ innings pitched, including 13 complete games, three shutouts, and two saves. Boyer also played for the Duluth Dukes, a Cardinals minor league team, in 1947. During the 1947 season in Duluth, Boyer compiled a record of 16 wins against 9 losses. He struck out 239 and took the strikeout lead in the Northern League. After that season, he was sold to the Houston Buffs, for whom he played in 1948.
After his playing career, Boyer became a scout, minor league pitching instructor and major league pitching coach—spending much of his time in the New York Yankees' organization. He was the pitching coach during Bobby Cox's first term as manager of the Atlanta Braves. Boyer is credited with helping Fritz Peterson become a star pitcher.