Larry Shepard

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Lawrence William Shepard (born April 3, 1919 in Lakewood, Ohio) is a former manager in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1968 to 1969. During his playing days, Shepard was a righthanded pitcher who played minor league baseball from 1941 through 1956, with time out for military service during World War II.

Shepard became a playing manager in the Brooklyn Dodgers farm system in 1948, with Medford of the Class D Far West League. His club finished second, thanks to the 22-3 record of his star pitcher – himself. Shepard then moved up to Billings of the Class C Pioneer League, where as a pitcher he won 21, 22 and 24 games in successive (1949-51) seasons. As a skipper, his 1949 club won the league playoffs.

In 1952 and part of 1953, Shepard took a break from managing, becoming strictly a relief pitcher for the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League. Concurrently, he left the Dodger system for the Pirates organization. He resumed his managerial career in the middle of the 1953 season in the Pittsburgh system, winning the 1956 Western League title with the Lincoln Chiefs. From 1958 through 1966, he managed at the AAA level for Pittsburgh with the Salt Lake City Bees and Columbus Jets, notching three first-place finishes.

In 1967, Shepard reached the major league level when he was named pitching coach of the Philadelphia Phillies. After only one season, he was named manager of the Pirates. In his two seasons as skipper of the Bucs, he had a combined record of 164-155, finishing sixth in the ten-team National League in 1968 and third in the NL East in 1969. He was a manager of the legendary Roberto Clemente.

After his firing by the Pirates with seven games remaining in the '69 season, Shepard returned to the coaching ranks. He was the pitching coach of the fabled Cincinnati Reds "Big Red Machine" dynasty under Sparky Anderson from 1970 through 1978, and finished his career in uniform in a similar post with the 1979 San Francisco Giants.

He currently resides in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he managed the city's Western League club during the mid-1950s.